diff --git a/ports/cfitsio/0004-pkg-config.patch b/ports/cfitsio/0004-pkg-config.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..65d98b56a629f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ports/cfitsio/0004-pkg-config.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+diff -urw cfitsio-3-7822097674.clean/cfitsio.pc.cmake cfitsio-3-7822097674/cfitsio.pc.cmake
+--- cfitsio-3-7822097674.clean/cfitsio.pc.cmake	2020-08-12 20:01:04.000000000 +0200
++++ cfitsio-3-7822097674/cfitsio.pc.cmake	2021-05-06 08:46:49.160351519 +0200
+@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
+ Name: cfitsio
+ Description: FITS File Subroutine Library
+ URL: https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/
+-Version: @CFITSIO_MAJOR@.@CFITSIO_MINOR@
++Version: @CFITSIO_VERSION@
++Requires.private: @PKG_CONFIG_REQUIRES_PRIVATE@
+ Libs: -L${libdir} @PKG_CONFIG_LIBS@
+ Libs.private: -lm
+ Cflags: -I${includedir}
diff --git a/ports/cfitsio/CONTROL b/ports/cfitsio/CONTROL
deleted file mode 100644
index 85ff874322201b..00000000000000
--- a/ports/cfitsio/CONTROL
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-Source: cfitsio
-Version: 3.49
-Homepage: https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/
-Description: Library of C and Fortran subroutines for reading and writing data files in FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) data format
-Build-Depends: zlib
-
-Feature: curl
-Description: UseCurl
-Build-Depends: curl
-
-Feature: pthreads
-Description: Thread-safe build (using pthreads)
-Build-Depends: pthreads (windows)
diff --git a/ports/cfitsio/portfile.cmake b/ports/cfitsio/portfile.cmake
index 095a9e62e8c71b..05821771a0b3a5 100644
--- a/ports/cfitsio/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/cfitsio/portfile.cmake
@@ -11,14 +11,19 @@ vcpkg_extract_source_archive_ex(
         0001-fix-dependencies.patch
         0002-export-cmake-targets.patch
         0003-add-Wno-error-implicit-funciton-declaration-to-cmake.patch
+        0004-pkg-config.patch
 )
 
-vcpkg_check_features(OUT_FEATURE_OPTIONS FEATURE_OPTIONS
-    curl        UseCurl
+vcpkg_check_features(
+    OUT_FEATURE_OPTIONS FEATURE_OPTIONS
+    FEATURES
+        curl        UseCurl
 )
 
+set(PKG_CONFIG_REQUIRES_PRIVATE zlib)
 if ("curl" IN_LIST FEATURES)
     set(FIND_CURL_DEPENDENCY "find_dependency(CURL CONFIG)")
+    string(APPEND PKG_CONFIG_REQUIRES_PRIVATE " libcurl")
 endif()
 
 if ("pthreads" IN_LIST FEATURES)
@@ -34,8 +39,11 @@ endif()
 vcpkg_configure_cmake(
     SOURCE_PATH ${SOURCE_PATH}
     PREFER_NINJA
-    OPTIONS ${FEATURE_OPTIONS}
+    OPTIONS
+        ${FEATURE_OPTIONS}
         -DUSE_PTHREADS=${WITH_PTHREADS}
+        "-DPKG_CONFIG_REQUIRES_PRIVATE=${PKG_CONFIG_REQUIRES_PRIVATE}"
+        -DPKG_CONFIG_LIBS=-lcfitsio
 )
 
 vcpkg_install_cmake()
diff --git a/ports/cfitsio/vcpkg.json b/ports/cfitsio/vcpkg.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..fe2794b54221db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ports/cfitsio/vcpkg.json
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{
+  "name": "cfitsio",
+  "version": "3.49",
+  "port-version": 1,
+  "description": "Library of C and Fortran subroutines for reading and writing data files in FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) data format",
+  "homepage": "https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/",
+  "dependencies": [
+    "zlib"
+  ],
+  "features": {
+    "curl": {
+      "description": "UseCurl",
+      "dependencies": [
+        "curl"
+      ]
+    },
+    "pthreads": {
+      "description": "Thread-safe build (using pthreads)",
+      "dependencies": [
+        {
+          "name": "pthreads",
+          "platform": "windows"
+        }
+      ]
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/versions/baseline.json b/versions/baseline.json
index 729cc1c7efa2ff..297cdb5edacf8d 100644
--- a/versions/baseline.json
+++ b/versions/baseline.json
@@ -1154,7 +1154,7 @@
     },
     "cfitsio": {
       "baseline": "3.49",
-      "port-version": 0
+      "port-version": 1
     },
     "cgal": {
       "baseline": "5.2",
diff --git a/versions/c-/cfitsio.json b/versions/c-/cfitsio.json
index 5763f0addc3d99..adf8116dd3323e 100644
--- a/versions/c-/cfitsio.json
+++ b/versions/c-/cfitsio.json
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 {
   "versions": [
+    {
+      "git-tree": "0ed894cb8efbfd277570991a78f29b70e4e931cd",
+      "version": "3.49",
+      "port-version": 1
+    },
     {
       "git-tree": "cd71c6293e902542ed6cb0c146b5de5d6d7906a9",
       "version-string": "3.49",