Vice Admiral Robert Fitzroy

The third of our celebrated Cape Horners is Vice Admiral Robert Fitzroy a British Royal Navy officer and scientist who Captained HMS Beagle on two expeditions to Cape Horn in the early 1800s – the second with famous biologist Charles Darwin onboard – to chart the surrounding waters and find a sea route through the islands to the Pacific, now named as the Beagle Channel.

Fitzroy and Darwin spent time exploring Cape Horn and left a time capsule beneath a cairn of stones on top of the cape discovered in 1990. The capsule, a porcelain pot buried under the rocks, contained coins, a dinner plate from HMS Beagle, a Royal Marines belt buckle and a Royal Navy White Ensign.

The Award is presented to the Royal Navy and Royal Navy Sailing Association in England, represented today by Capt. Nigel Chambers

Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y9ItqCcmWk