Monday, September 29, 2008

Twas on a Monday morning ...

Robert Fitzroy was the second governor of Nu Zulun back in 1843. But he had other claims to fame. He took Darwin as a companion to the Galapagas Islands.

Well apparently, he woke up one morning (probably a Monday), took uo a razor and slit his throat. Rather a grizzley end. But it gets more intriguing. It seems he had an uncle or such like who set an example of throat slitting some years before.

He also had a captain on a boat he was serving on – earlier in life – who grew depressed, took up a gun and shot himself.

Fitzroy was an ardent believer in the literal interpretation of the Bible and somehow felt responsible that he play a key role in facilitating Darwin’s discoveries and his eventual publication of The origin of Species”.

1 comment:

Darryl said...

Did you see that a new book on the history of Auckland came out this week by Gordon McLauchlin? Looks like a good read and has had some good reviews . . .