FLORIDA WATERWAYS
“Weather Forecasting for Fishermen”
By Kevin McCarthy
Captions:
1. Vice-Admiral FitzRoy
2. The modest plaque outside his dwelling
3. His burial place
4. One of Fitzroy’s so-called “fisheries barometer” in the Orkneys
5. An old barometer
6. A modern barometer
Every boater and fisherman who checks the weather forecast before setting out for a day on the water, owes a special thanks to a relatively little-known English meteorologist named Robert FitzRoy (1805 – 1865). Best known as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin’s famous five-year voyage in the 1830s, Fitzroy has no doubt saved the lives of many boaters and fishermen with his inventions, but also encouraged the development of modern weather forecasting.
I first learned about Fitzroy when reading a 2013 book by J. Edward Chamberlin entitled “Island: How Islands Transform the World”: “In later years, [FitzRoy] founded the British Meteorological Office and designed easy-to-use barometers for fishermen, providing an instruction manual … to make it easy to remember.” (p. 107)
He began as head of the Meteorological Office in December, 1843, a long 175 years ago this month. He called his weather predictions “forecasts,” and their accuracy and timeliness no doubt saved the lives of many who went to sea. One way that he was able to acquire much weather data was to have ship captains note weather conditions and then tell his staff, relying on instruments that FitzRoy provided the captains. And he directed officials at ports to hoist storm-warning signs when a gale was coming. He had the authority to order fishing fleets to stay in port at such times. Fishing company owners of fishing fleets objected to that authority, but he no doubt saved the lives of many.
The early barometers that Vice-Admiral FitzRoy developed also led to more advanced instruments that we rely on today. His early barometers combined the standard mercury barometer with a thermometer and included a posted explanation nearby to interpret the changes. Among FitzRoy’s achievements was the placing of barometers at every port in England for fishermen before they set out to sea. Some of those historic barometers are still visible in ports. He also established monitoring stations on land around the country that allowed people in those ports to telegraph the daily weather in those places. He had “The Times” newspaper publish those reports, beginning in 1861. When he died, his systems were abandoned for a short time, but fishermen pressured officials to resume the warning system, realizing that FitzRoy’s methods had probably prevented drownings at sea during bad storms.
According to his 2003 biography by John and Mary Gribbin entitled “FitzRoy: The Remarkable Story of Darwin’s Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast,” his publication of the simply titled “Weather Book” in 1862, allowed many ordinary people to better understand weather patterns and led to the modern sophisticated weather forecasting that we rely on today. FitzRoy would deserve a place in the world’s Fishing Hall of Fame, if there ever is such an institution.
Kevin McCarthy, the author of North Florida Waterways 2013 – (available at amazon.com), can be reached at ceyhankevin@gmail.com.