HMS Beagle

“ Sholl. His appearance, under such circumstances, of course raised fears for the Beagle's safety; but, on approaching, his gratifying shout, "all's well!" at once removed anxiety.
Mr. Sholl informed me, that the Beagle had picked up a boat, belonging to the schooner 'Prince of Saxe Cobourg,' wrecked in Fury Harbour, at the south entrance of the Barbara Channel; and that she had put into Port Gallant, whence Captain Stokes had gone with the boats to assist the Sealers, leaving Lieut. Skyring on board. ”

“ In the afternoon we saw the Beagle's mast-heads, and soon afterwards arrived on board, and enjoyed the happiness of finding all hands well, and every thing ready for farther progress. Lieutenant Kempe had turned the few hours of light, each day afforded, to the best account. Those who have had the care of ships in remote places, will know my feelings at finding all as it should be, after a long absence, in a country little known. Not a man had been ill; and the weather had been very tolerable compared with what was expected. ”

“ ON the 27th of December, 1831, his Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of Captain Fitz Roy, R. N., sailed from Devonport, England, on an expedition the purpose of which was to complete a survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego that had been begun under Captain King (1826-'30) ; to survey the shores of Chile and Peru, and of some islands in the Pacific; and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round the world. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Captain Fitz Roy determined to send the yawl and one whaleboat back to the ship; and to proceed with the two other boats, one under his own command (in which he most kindly allowed me to accompany him) , and one under Mr. Hammond, to survey the western parts of the Beagle Channel, and afterwards to return and visit the settlement. The day to our astonishment was overpoweringly hot, so that our skins Avere scorched: with this beautiful weather, the view in the middle of the Beagle Channel was very remarkable. ”

“ Our departure from the Strait was attended with beautiful weather; the moon was full, and the wind fair and moderate. {186}Cape Virgins was passed soon after sunset, and we proceeded on our course with rapidity.
The timely supply of guanaco meat had certainly checked the scurvy, for we had no new cases added to the number of the sick, now amounting to twenty. The Beagle was not so sickly; but, during the last cruise, upwards of forty cases, principally pulmonic, had occurred, and several were not yet recovered. On the passage, a man fell overboard from the Beagle, at night, and was drowned. ”

“ The spray was carried up by whirlwinds, threatening complete destruction to every thing that opposed them. In less than half an hour it had diminished to a strong S.W. gale, which lasted during the night.
Just before the pampero commenced, L'Aréthuse, French frigate, was observed over the point of land under all sail; but not being seen after the squall cleared off, we were much alarmed for her safety. At daylight, however, the next morning, she was seen at anchor under Lobos Island, and near her was our consort, the Beagle, of whose approach we had known nothing ”

“ I brought up there, because I should not be in the way of the frigates and line-of-battle ships; and I should have thought it a most injudicious step, had I placed my sloop in such a situation so as to have prevented the services of a larger force: nor neither was there room between the Imperieuse and the Palles shoal for any more than one, which situation the Indefatigable took up. Moreover, I explained that I had neither chart nor any person on board that had ever been there before. The tide then falling, had I touched upon the Palles, the Beagle must inevitably have been lost. ”

“ Bougainville observes, that 'Cape Froward has always been much dreaded by navigators.' [59] To double it, and gain an anchorage under Cape Holland, certainly cost the Beagle as tough a sixteen hours' beat as I have ever witnessed: we made thirty-one tacks, which, with the squalls, kept us constantly on the alert, and scarcely allowed the crew to have the ropes out of their hands throughout the day. But what there is to inspire a navigator with 'dread' I cannot tell, for the coast on both sides is perfectly clear, and a vessel may work from shore to shore. ”

“ We now hurried across the beach, and on gaining the highest part of it saw the little schooner riding safely at anchor. A gun being fired all became life and expectation on board the vessel; and whilst the boat pulled ashore we searched for our letters. These had however not yet been deposited at the spot indicated, and I therefore conjectured that we should find them on board.
On reaching the vessel we learnt that the mate was gone to the Beagle, now lying in Port George the Fourth but expected to sail this very day. ”

“ Lieutenant O’Reilly, with his former companions in the batteries, was conspicuously active; every ship in the squadron sent a proportion of seamen, under their respective officers, and they behaved uniformly well. The loss on both sides during the assault, must have been considerable, as artillery of all descriptions was playing on the enemy while disputing the breach and walls. Captain John Smith, of the Beagle, who was slightly wounded on the island, has the command of the seamen there landed. ”

“ There were no signs of a recent visit from the Fuegians, though at the entrance of the cove we found three or four wigwams in good repair; whence it seems probable, that the place is one of their frequent haunts. When the Beagle came here last year, some station staves were left standing; but, before her return, every one had been removed; and when Captain Stokes went down the Barbara Channel, to the relief {135}of the Saxe Cobourg's crew, those staves were seen in the possession of the Indians. ”

“ I landed on the Barnevelt Islands, and took sights for time, latitude, and true bearing, besides a round of angles, while the Beagle was making slow progress to the northward, the wind being very light, and variable. There is no good landing-place on those islands; but as the water was then comparatively smooth, we were enabled to land upon a steep rocky part, where the surf did not break much. They are two low islets, lying nearly north and south, covered with grass, tussac, and weeds. The largest is about half a mile long, and one-third of a mile wide ”

“ There is also a great deficiency of a circulating medium. I have seen a man bringing on his back a bag of charcoal, with which to buy some trifle, and another carrying a plank to exchange for a bottle of wine. Hence every tradesman must also be a merchant, and again sell the goods which he takes in exchange.
November 24th.—The yawl and whale-boat were sent under the command of Mr. (now Captain) Sulivan to survey the eastern or inland coast of Chiloe; and with orders to meet the Beagle at the southern extremity of the island ”

“ Stewart Harbour, in which the Beagle remained during the last boat cruise, proved to be a good one, and, having three outlets, may be entered or quitted with any wind, and without warping. Wood and water are as abundant as in other Fuegian harbours; and it may be easily known by the remarkable appearance of Cape Castlereagh, which is on the island that shelters the anchorage from the S.W. wind and sea. The outlets are narrow, and can only be passed with a leading wind; but if one does not serve, another will answer. ”

“ The few quiet days we had during our stay at Port Dalrymple, enabled us satisfactorily to complete the soundings at the entrance. Beacons were also erected on the shore by the Beagle's crew, for guiding vessels through the channels; they, however, require to be kept white, in order to show well against the dark ground behind. ”

“ The anchorage outside might be more convenient for procuring guanaco meat from the Indians than Gregory Bay, but it is exposed to winds between W.S.W. and S.S.E.
"At my return to the Beagle, I was much surprised to find that Lieutenant Kempe, Mr. Bynoe, and a boy, had not yet come back from a shooting excursion. A boat had been to the appointed place at sun-set, and had waited an hour without seeing them. At seven, a light was seen on the top of Quoin Hill, and I sent a boat to the spot, with cautions about landing, being in doubt whether it was shown by them or by the Indians ”

“ Baury, Lieutenant Frederick, iii. 81. Bay Point. See Fort Beauregard. Bazely, Lieutenant John, captures the Lexington, i. 119, 120. Beagle, American ship, captures Cape Cruz, iii. 334. Beaufort, Confederate gun-boat, takes crew off the Congress after she surrenders to the Merrimac, iv. 208. Beauregard, Confederate ram, attacks the Queen of the West at Fort Pillow, iv. 301; rammed and sunk by the Monarch, 302. Bell, Henry H., iv. 314. Belligerent ships, rules and orders regarding, issued by British Government, iv. 411. Belligerents, rights of, iv. 86. Belmont, on the Mississippi, battle at, iv. ”

“ Beagle sails from San Carlos—Enter Strait—Harbour of Mercy—Cape Pillar—Apostles—Judges—Landfall Island—Cape Gloucester—Dislocation Harbour—Week Islands—Fuegians—Latitude Bay—Boat's crew in distress—Petrel—Passages—Otway Bay—Cape Tate—Fincham Islands—Deepwater Sound—Breaker Bay—Grafton Islands—Geological remarks—Barbara Channel—Mount Skyring—Compasses affected—Drawings—Provisions—Opportunities lost. ”

“ The sight of kelp, however, fringing the coast, warned me off, and we were obliged to return to an anchorage in Possession Bay. The Beagle had already anchored in a very favourable berth; but the tide was too strong to permit us to reach the place she occupied, and our anchor was dropped a mile astern of her, in nineteen fathoms. The tide was then running five, and soon afterwards six miles an hour. Had the western tide set with equal strength, we should have succeeded in passing the Narrow. ”

“ If the naval position is improving today, as it is, it is due to the fact that the British and American fleets are working in closest accord, supported by an immense body of skilled workers on both sides of the Atlantic, who are turning out destroyers and other craft for dealing with the submarine, as well as mines and bombs. Some of the finest battleships of the United States Navy are now associated with the British Grand fleet. They are not only splendid fighting ships but they are well officered and manned. ”

“ The position of the American squadron was such that the British were forced to attack "bows on," thus exposing themselves to a raking fire. By means of springs on their cables, the Americans were enabled to keep their broadsides to the enemy, and thus improve, to the fullest, the advantage gained by their position. The British came on gallantly, and were greeted by four shots from the long eighteens of the "Eagle," that had no effect. ”

“ On a calm day in 1782 the great hundred-gun line-of-battle-ship Royal George sank at her anchors in the harbor of Spithead, carrying down almost a thousand souls; thirty years ago the Captain, then one of the finest of England’s steam turret-ships, capsized at sea, and not a man survived. Each of these vessels was perhaps the best of its kind in the world. No better navigators exist than naval officers, yet they ran the historic old steam-frigate Kearsarge on Roncador Reef, in the Caribbean Sea, in broad daylight, and left her there a total wreck. ”

“ July 24th, 1833.—The Beagle sailed from Maldonado, and on August the 3rd she arrived off the mouth of the Rio Negro. ”

“ The Americans had only carronades, while the gun-boats had long twenty-fours. So the British kept out of range of the Yankee short guns and kept up a fire from the long twenty-fours until the Eagle had a plank knocked off under water, when she sank instantly. The Growler had her main boom and forestay shot away, and grounded. The British captured both and obtained for a time the mastery of that lake. The Americans in this fight had one man killed and nineteen wounded, who, with ninety-two unhurt men, fell into the British hands. ”

“ About the middle of August, the Americans launched their new brig, the "Eagle;" and the little squadron put out at once into the lake, under command of Capt. Thomas Macdonough. Eight days later, the British got their new ship, the "Confiance," into the water. She possessed one feature new to American naval architecture,—a furnace in which to heat cannon-balls.
By this time (September, 1814) , the invading column of British veterans, eleven thousand strong, had begun its march into New York along the west shore of the lake. Two thousand Americans only could be gathered to dispute their progress ”

“ But the speed of these vessels was much greater than that of any sailing ship, and this alone made them very desirable. For many years steam frigates were the most formidable vessels in the navy. The first successful steamship of war was the English frigate Penelope, which was built in 1843, and carried forty-six guns. One of the earliest and most noted American vessels of the same type was the Powhatan. The first screw line of battle ship was built by the French in 1849. It was called the Napoleon, and carried one hundred guns. ”