Robert Fitzroy

“ We stood into two bights, looking for anchorage, but, finding only rocks and breakers, steered along shore, rounded Ipswich Island, and hauled into a spacious bay, at the northern side of which there appeared to be several openings like harbours. In working across, we were agreeably surprised to find it a continued roadstead, open only towards the S.E., and having regular soundings, from twenty to fourteen fathoms. We anchored about a mile from the entrance of what seemed to be a harbour, at the N.W. corner, having worked up against a fresh N.W. wind. ”

“ We sailed south-eastward, close to the south shore, until the evening; when from the summit of some hills, about three hundred feet above the sea, we had a view down the Sound, which almost convinced us it would prove to be a channel. The rock at this place differed from any we had seen in the Strait. The mountains are high, and evidently of clay-slate; but the point, near which we anchored, is a mass of hard, and very quartzose sand-stone, much resembling the old red sand-stone formation of Europe, and precisely like the rock of Goulburn Island, on the north coast of New Holland. ”

“ Ranges of bare, rugged, rocky mountains now presented themselves, and where wood was seen, it was always stunted and distorted. A long swell rolled in upon the shore, and every thing seemed to indicate a stormy and inclement coast. There are a few bays and coves, in which is anchorage depth, with a pretty good bottom of dark coarse sand: but rock-weed in large patches, seen in some of them, denoted foul ground; and they are all more or less exposed, and extremely unsafe. ”

“ Our anchorage, called Orange Bay, is excellent; and one of the few on this coast which are fit for a squadron of line-of-battle ships. Its approach from the sea is as easy as the harbour is commodious. There are three fathoms close to the shore; yet in no part are there more than twenty; and every where there is a sandy bottom. Water is abundant; wood grows close to the sea; wild-fowl are numerous; and although shell-fish are scarce, plenty of small fish may be caught with hook and line among the kelp, and in the summer a seine will furnish abundance. ”

“ We stood into the bay which lies between False Cape and New Year Sound; but it offered nothing inviting to a ship, being a leeward bight, with rocks and islets scattered along it near the shore. Perhaps there is shelter for a vessel amongst them; but I would not choose their neighbourhood, if it could be avoided, as the bay is exposed to the S.W. winds, which on this coast are the worst. ”

“ The wind blowing strong, directly against us, and strengthening as we advanced, caused a hollow sea, that repeatedly broke over us. The tide set us through the Narrow very rapidly, but the gale was so violent that we could not show more sail than was absolutely necessary to keep the ship under command. Wearing every ten minutes, as we approached either shore, lost us a great deal of ground, and as the anchorage we left was at a considerable distance from the entrance of the Narrows, the tide was not sufficient to carry us through. ”

“ At daylight (24th) , being off Cape Good Success, we bore up, and ran towards the Strait of Le Maire, with a fresh gale at south, and thick snow squalls. The strait appeared clear of all obstacles, no rocks, nor even kelp being visible. The shore from Cape Success to the north head of Success Bay is high and bold, with water for a ship as near to it as she could desire, or ought to go. We hauled our wind during a severe snow squall, lest we should run beyond the harbour, and afterwards bearing up, ran into Good Success Bay, and anchored under the lee of its south head as a temporary berth. ”

“ My wanderings had shown me that from the apparent sea coast to the base of that snowy chain of mountains which runs eastward from the Barbara Channel, there is much more water than land, and that a number of islands, lying near together, form the apparently connected coast; within which a wide sound-like passage extends, opening in places into bays and gulfs, where islands, islets, rocks and breakers, are very numerous. These waters wash the foot of the snowy chain which forms a continued barrier from the Barbara Channel to the Strait of Le Maire. ”

“ Between the high and low tide marks there is a smooth beach of the same green clay as the masses above-mentioned, which appears to have been hardened by the action of the surf to the consistence of stone. Generally this beach extends for about one hundred yards farther into the sea, and is succeeded by a soft green mud, over which the water gradually deepens. The outer edge of the clay forms a ledge, extending parallel with the coast, upon the whole length of which the sea breaks, and over it a boat can with difficulty pass at low water. ”

“ Standing towards the shore, we quickly shoaled our water, and found a ground swell increasing. Having made what I supposed to be Cape Sebastian, and seeing from the mast-head a large opening to the northward of it similar to that laid down in the chart, with low distant land yet farther northward corresponding to the shores of 'Bahia de Nombre de Jesus,' I stood on confidently, thinking how well the chart of this coast had been laid down, and regardless of the soundings decreasing as we went on. ”

“ It is a little cove, just round the eastern point of the Bay of San Nicolas, about a hundred yards wide and three times as long. Here, moored to the shore, a ship may lie in eight fathoms, perfectly sheltered from any wind, the water as smooth as in a wet-dock. Shapely trees, of all dimensions, are growing within a few yards of the shore; and the wood, when felled, may be hoisted on board from the beach, by tackles from the yard-arms. Here, too, with very little trouble, a supply of water may be got from the many streams that make their way through the underwood which skirts the cove. ”

“ Cranberries and berberis-berries were plentiful: I should have liked to pass some days at this place, it was so very pretty; the whole shore was like a shrubbery. I cannot account for the exaggerated accounts of the Fuegian coasts given by some voyagers: it is true that the peaks of the mountains are covered with snow, and those sides exposed to the prevailing west winds are barren, and rugged; but every sheltered spot is covered with vegetation, and large trees seem to grow almost upon the bare rock. ”

“ On the north shore we noticed some extraordinary effects of the whirlwinds which so frequently occur in Tierra del Fuego. The crews of sealing vessels call them 'williwaws,' or 'hurricane-squalls,' and they are most violent. The south-west gales, which blow upon the coast with extreme fury, are pent up and impeded in passing over the high lands; when, increasing in power, they rush violently over the edges of precipices, expand, as it were, and descending perpendicularly, destroy every thing moveable. ”

“ As the trade of the island is principally carried on by water, roads are seldom used for that purpose, for which, indeed, the few that exist are far from being convenient. Between San Carlos and Castro there is a road cut through the forest, forty or fifty feet in width, in the middle of which is a causeway, four or five feet wide, formed of logs of wood, laid transversely. This is the only way of communication, unless, which rarely occurs, the weather has been dry during some days; for, off the causeway, there is a mere bog, in which a horse frequently sinks up to the girths in mud. ”

“ The river San Tadeo, although of small size, being navigable only for eleven miles, is the largest river of the coast south of the archipelago of Chilóe, and therefore merits a particular description. At seven miles from the mouth it is fed by two streams or torrents, the currents of which are so strong that a fast-pulling boat can hardly make way against it. One of these streams takes its rise in a mountainous range, over which perhaps the communicating road passes; and the other is the drain of an extensive glacier or plain of ice of fifteen miles in extent. ”

“ Having approached as near as we could, and sounded, and taken angles, we steered so as to pass outside of some very outlying rocks, near the middle of the bay; for in-shore of them, I saw from the mast-head numerous breakers, rocks, and islets, in every direction. A worse place for a ship could scarcely be found; for, supposing thick weather to come on when in the depth of the bay, she would have lurking rocks and islets just awash with the water, on all sides of her, and no guide to take her clear of them, for soundings would be useless ”

“ A species of wild celery, also, which grows abundantly near the sea-shore, was valuable as an antiscorbutic. The trees in the immediate vicinity of the shore are small, but the beach was strewed with trunks of large trees, which seemed to have been drifted there by gales and high tides. A river falls into the bay, by a very narrow channel, near its south end; but it is small, and so blocked up by trees as not to be navigable even for the smallest boat: indeed, it is merely a mountain torrent, varying in size according to the state of the weather. ”

“ The climate must be much like that of the east coast of Patagonia, as shrubs grow here like those I saw at Port Desire. While walking, the leaves and dry sticks crackled under foot, which is very different from what one observes about the Strait of Magalhaens, where everything is wet and spungy. I was inclined to think this place suitable for a settlement. There is water, wood, and good soil, fit for planting, besides pasture land; the climate is not bad; and probably the Patagonian Indians might be induced to trade in guanaco meat, as they now do at Gregory Bay ”

“ When we started, it snowed fast but without wind, and we steered by compass for the Sphinx. I sketched what I could see of the south side of this gulf, but did not consider it worth delaying longer, in such weather, for so unimportant a place, while anxious that the Beagle should reach Chilóe before her provisions were expended, and that I should fall in with the Adelaide before leaving the Strait. If ever a minute survey is made of this gulf, it should be after all others have been examined, as it is utterly useless. ”

“ We unmoored, weighed, stood to the eastward and anchored with the stream anchor, and a large hawser, in fifty fathoms water, about three miles from Success Bay. After taking the required angles and bearings we weighed at eleven, and stood towards Cape San Diego with the first of the flood. The tide being strong, we made rapid progress, and were soon out of the strait; but wishing to see as much of the N.E. coast as possible, in our progress northward, we hauled to the wind and kept near the land during the night, as the weather was fine and settled. ”

“ The smoke of natives' fires was seen near the entrance of the Barbara Channel; and on Prince Island, where we stopped a few minutes, the first man seen had on an old pair of sailor's trowsers, which he had obtained from the Beagle, tied round his legs in six places. The wigwam these people were living in was not half covered: both wind and rain passed through it. How they bear the cold is surprising, being without clothes: one minute sitting close to the fire, and the next perhaps up to the waist in water, getting muscles or sea-eggs. The women dive for sea-eggs, even in the middle of winter ”

“ The S.E. inlets end in rivers rushing down from the mountains, and a rocky shore: not the smallest shelter could I find, even for the boat. Two days and nights I was forced to keep her hauled up on a rock, just above high-water mark, in a strong gale, while the williwaws were so violent, that we were all obliged to add our weight to that of the boat, to prevent her from being blown off: and twice we were washed out of our resting-places, on the beach, by the night tide rising about fifteen or sixteen inches above that of the day. ”

“ The canoe, from which the boy came, paddled towards the shore; but the others still paddled after us, holding up fish and skins to tempt us to trade with them. The breeze freshening in our favour, and a strong tide, soon carried us through the Narrow, and half an hour after dark we stopped in a cove, where we had passed the second night of this excursion. 'Jemmy Button,' as the boat's crew called him, on account of his price, seemed to be pleased at his change, and fancied he was going to kill guanaco, or wănăkāye, as he called them—as they were to be found near that place. ”

“ Our cutter required too many men, and was neither so handy, nor could she pull to windward so well as a whale-boat; and our small boat was only fit for harbour duty. The weather on this coast was generally so thick and blowing, as not to admit of any thing like exact surveying while the vessel was under sail: the swell alone being usually too high to allow of a bearing being taken within six or eight degrees: and the sun we seldom saw. ”