Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836

Mr. Kirke, with a boat and boat's crew, will be sent to assist you.

To Lieut. Thos. Graves,

Commanding His Majesty's schooner Adelaide.

It is my direction that you put yourself under the orders of Lieutenant Skyring, and co-operate with him in the execution of the service on which he is about to be employed.

Mr. Kirke, with a boat and five men, will be sent to assist.

I have, &c.

(Signed) Robert Fitz-Roy.

To Lieut. Thos. Graves, Commander.

His Majesty's schooner Adelaide.

It is my direction that as soon as you consider the rates of the chronometer on board the Adelaide sufficiently settled, you proceed in her to search for, and, if practicable at this season of the year, survey such part of the passage which is supposed to lead from the vicinity of Cape Tamar to Concepcion Strait and the Gulf of Trinidad, as your time and provisions will allow.

Your chief object will be to open a passage from Cape Three Points to Cape Tamar, between the mass of islands which lie between those capes.

When to the northward of Cape Tamar, and before reaching as far north as Oracion Bay, or the latitude of 52° 6′, should you notice an opening to the eastward, with a current or stream of tide setting through it, and an appearance of its joining another body of water, of considerable extent, you will endeavour to ascertain whether it communicates with the Skyring Water, provided that, in so doing you do not turn from your chief object more than a few days.

In the execution of the above orders you will act as you may consider best for the service of his Majesty; and if, at any time before its completion, you find your provisions getting short, the climate too severe, or yourself, or those under your orders, in bad health, you will immediately make the best of your way to Chilóe.

You will endeavour to be at San Carlos, in the island of Chilóe, before the 20th of September, and will let nothing that can be avoided detain you beyond that time.

To Lieutenant Wm. Geo. Skyring,

His Majesty's sloop Beagle.

By Phillip Parker King, Esq., Commander of His Majesty's surveying vessel Adventure, and Senior Officer of an Expedition for the survey of a part of South America.

As soon as you shall have completed the rates of your chronometers and be otherwise ready, it is my direction that you proceed to sea in His Majesty's sloop under your command, to survey the sea-coast of Tierra del Fuego, from Cape Pillar to the east entrance of the Strait of Magellan, in the progressive examination of which you will be guided by the state of the weather, and other circumstances, keeping in view that the most interesting part of the coast is that portion between Christmas Sound and the Strait Le Maire, particularly the openings of New Year Sound and Nassau Bay, and the openings to the eastward of the latter as far as New Island; as there is reason to believe that there is a considerable body of water to the eastward of the termination of Admiralty Sound, communicating with the sea by some one if not many openings in the neighbourhood of Nassau Bay, and with an outlet on the N.E. coast (St. Sebastian Channel); and as the existence of such a strait would be of the greatest importance to small vessels bound to the westward round Cape Horn, you will see it fitting not to spend so much time to the westward of Cape Noir as may in the least impede the determination of the question, or prevent it being completely explored. It is my intention to be at Port Famine by the 1st of April, and at Rio de Janeiro by the 1st June, calling in my way at Monte Video, or Gorriti, for chronometrical observations; and if can, conveniently, I shall also go to Port Desire for the same purpose. But as it is at present uncertain what orders I may find for me at Valparaiso, you are to act according to your own discretion, so that you arrive at Rio by the 20th of June to rejoin me.

Given under my hand, on board the Adventure, at St. Carlos de Chilóe, November 18th, 1829.

Phillip P. King, Commander

To Robert Fitz-Roy, Esq.,

Commander of H.M.S. Beagle.

By Phillip Parker King, Esq., Commander of His Majesty's surveying vessel Adventure, and Senior Officer of an Expedition for the survey of a part of South America.

As soon as the Adelaide Tender is ready, you will proceed to sea, in the execution of the following orders: —

As your principal object will be to trace the main-land from the peninsula of Tres Montes to the southward, by penetrating into all the openings that lead easterly, you will commence at the Channel Mouths, and explore them to their termination.

In the event of their affording a communication with the Gulf of Trinidad, and your having time, you will examine the channels that you have reported to exist in the neighbourhood of Neesham Bay, so as to complete the Fallos Channel, which separates Campana from the land within it.

Should the Channel Mouths not afford the expected termination, you will proceed through the Mesier or Fallos Channels, in which, and in the channels more to the southward, you will explore all openings leading into the interior, and, if possible, not lose sight of the main-land until you reach the Strait of Magellan; by doing which it is expected, from the results of your last survey, that you will pass through the Skyring and Otway Waters, and enter the Strait by the Jerome Channel. The above being the principal object of your operations, you will take every opportunity of examining all other interesting parts of the coast, in the vicinity of your anchorages, among which the following seem to be of most interest: —

The Guaianeco Islands, and the probable place of the Wager's wreck, which would seem to be to the southward of, and not far from the Dundee Rock of your former survey.

If time afforded, it would be interesting to lay down the shores of Concepcion Strait; also to examine the deep opening on the west side of St. Estevan Channel, in the latitude of 51° 8′.

Lord Nelson Strait is also of much interest, and any extension of our knowledge of the land that bounds the western side of Smyth Channel.

But in these you will be guided by your own discretion, keeping in mind the principal object of the present survey, that of tracing the shores of the main-land.

The Adventure will be at Port Famine by the 1st of April, if nothing occurs to prevent it; and at Rio de Janeiro by the 1st of June, where you will rejoin me; but you are at liberty to call at Monte Video, on your way, for any supplies which you may require.

(Signed) Phillip P. King

7th Dec. 1829. San Carlos de Chilóe.

To Lieutenant W. G. Skyring, commanding H.M. schooner Adelaide,

Tender to H.M.S. Adventure.

Some Observations relating to the Southern Extremity of South America, Tierra del Fuego, and the Strait of Magalhaens; made during the Survey of those Coasts in his Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1830. By Captain Phillip Parker King, F.R.S., Commander of the Expedition.

—

[The original paper, from which the following observations have been extracted, was read before the Geographical Society of London on the 25th of April and 9th of May 1831; and was printed in the Journal of that Society for the same year.

It is here reprinted, with a few omissions and very slight alterations, in order that this volume may contain all that the Author has yet published respecting South America; excepting particular Sailing Directions.]

—

Considering the vast extent of the sea-coast of the southern extremity of America, it is not a little surprising that it should have been so frequently passed by, during the last century, without having been more explored. Within the last twenty years, however, it has been very much resorted to by English and American vessels in the seal trade, and to the observing portion of their enterprising crews many of its intricacies are well known; but as the knowledge they have derived from their experience has only in one instance, that of Mr. Weddell's voyage, been published to the world, our charts cannot be said to have been much improved for the last fifty years.

The eastern coast of Patagonia, by which name the country between the River Plata and the Strait of Magalhaens244 is known, was coasted, as well as the north-eastern side of Tierra del Fuego, by Malaspina; and the charts of his voyage not only vie with any contemporaneous production for accuracy and detail, but are even now quite sufficient for the general purposes of navigation.

The Strait of Magalhaens has been explored by several navigators; but, among the numerous plans of it extant, those of Sir John Narborough and Cordova are the most correct. The first is particularly noticed in the late Admiral Burney's very useful work, and the result of the last has been published in the Spanish language, and is entitled "Ultimo Viage al Estrecho de Magallanes." A second voyage was also made by Cordova to the Strait, the proceedings of which form an appendix to the above work. It is furnished with a good general chart of the coast, another of the Strait, and many plans of the anchorages within it. Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Bougainville, had already made considerable additions to Narborough's plan, from which a chart had been compiled that answered all the purposes of general geographical information, and might even have been sufficient for navigation: for the latter purpose, however, Cordova's chart was much superior; but, being published in Spain only, and its existence little known in England, I found great difficulty in procuring a copy before I sailed, for my own use.

The southern coast of Tierra del Fuego, between Cape Good Success, the southern limit of Strait le Maire, and Cape Pillar at the western end of the Strait of Magalhaens, was very little known. Cook's voyage affords several useful notices of the coast between Cape Deseado and Christmas Sound, and the Dutch fleet under Hermite partially explored the neighbourhood of Cape Horn: a confused chart of this coast, however, was the best that could be put together; and although Mr. Weddell has more recently published an account of the harbours and anchorages near Cape Horn and New Year Sound, yet little available benefit was derived from it, because these different navigators having confined their examinations to small portions of the coast, it was difficult to connect their respective plans, even on so small a scale as that of the general chart.

The western coast of South America, which is very intricate, extending from Cape Victory (the north-west entrance of the Strait of Magalhaens) to the island of Chilóe, may be said to have been wholly unknown; for since the time of Sarmiento de Gamboa nothing in the least descriptive of it had been published, with the exception of the brief notices of two missionary voyages in piraguas, from Chilóe to the Guiateca and Guaianeco islands.

Every person conversant with South American geography, must be acquainted with the voyage of Sarmiento. From the determined perseverance shown by that excellent and skilful navigator, through difficulties of no ordinary nature, we are possessed of the details of a voyage down the western coast, and through the Strait of Magalhaens, that has never been surpassed. His journal has furnished us with the description of a coast more difficult and dangerous to explore than any which could readily be selected – for it was at that time perfectly unknown, and is exposed to a climate of perpetual storms and rain: yet the account is written with such minute care and correctness, that we have been enabled to detect upon our charts almost every place described in the Gulf of Trinidad, and the channels to the south of it, particularly their termination at his Ancon sin Salida.

It would be irrelevant to enter here into the history of Sarmiento's voyage, or indeed of any other connected with these coasts. Modern surveys are made so much more in detail than those of former years, that little use can be made of the charts and plans that have been hitherto formed; but the accounts of the voyages connected with them are replete with interesting and useful matter, and much amusement as well as information may be derived from their perusal, particularly Sir John Narborough's journal, and Byron's romantic and pathetic narrative of the loss of the Wager.

The Cordillera of the Andes, which is known to extend from the northern part of the continent almost to its southern extremity, decreases in elevation near the higher southern latitudes. In the neighbourhood of Quito, Chimborazo and Pinchincha rear their summits to the height of nearly twenty-two thousand feet above the level of the sea; near Santiago de Chile the highest land is supposed to be fourteen thousand feet; farther south, near Concepcion, it is lower; and near Chilóe there are few parts of the range exceeding seven thousand feet. Between Chilóe and the Strait of Magalhaens the average height may be taken at three thousand feet; though there are some mountains which may be between six and seven thousand feet high.

By a reference to the chart it will be seen that about the parallel of 40° the coast begins to assume, and retains to its furthest extremity, a very different appearance from that which it exhibits to the northward, where the sea, which is kept at a distance from the Cordillera by a belt of comparatively low land for continuous intervals of some hundred miles, washes a long unbroken shore, affording neither shelter for vessels nor landing for boats; but, to the southward of that parallel, its waters reach to the very base of the great chain of the Andes, and, flowing as it were into the deep ravines that wind through its ramifications, form numerous channels, sounds, and gulfs, and, in many instances, insulate large portions of land. In fact, the whole of this space is fronted by large islands and extensive archipelagoes, of which the most conspicuous are the great island of Chilóe, Wellington Island, the Archipelago of Madre de Dios, Hanover Island, and Queen Adelaide Archipelago. The last forms the western entrance of the Strait on its north side. The land of Tres Montes, however, is an exception: it is a peninsula, and is the only part of the continent within the above limits that is exposed to the ocean's swell. It forms the northern part of the Gulf of Peñas, and is joined to the main by the narrow isthmus of Ofqui, over which the Indians, in travelling along the coast, carry their canoes, to avoid the extreme danger of passing round the peninsula. It was here that Byron and his shipwrecked companions crossed over with their Indian guides: but it is a route that is not much frequented; for this part of the coast is very thinly inhabited, and the trouble of pulling to pieces and reconstructing the canoes,245 an operation absolutely necessary to be performed, is so great, that I imagine it is only done on occasions of importance. In this way the piraguas which conveyed the missionary voyagers to the Guaianeco Islands were transported over the isthmus; the particulars of which are fully detailed in their journals.246

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. The river falls into the Gulf of St. Estevan over a shallow bar, upon which there is scarcely two feet water, and at low tide is probably dry.

At the head of St. Estevan Gulf is St. Quintin Sound; both were examined and found to afford excellent anchorage, and they are both of easy access should a ship, passing up the coast, find herself upon a lee shore and not able to weather the land, as was the case with the ill-fated Wager.247

The Guaianeco islands form the southern head of the Gulf of Peñas; then follows Wellington Island, separated from the main by the Mesier Channel, which had not been previously explored, its mouth only being laid down in the charts, compiled from the information of Machado, a pilot who was sent in 1769 by the Viceroy of Peru to examine the coast from Chilóe to the Strait of Magalhaens.248 This channel is also noticed in one of the two missionary voyages above mentioned; but the object of these expeditions being for the purpose of converting the Indians to Christianity,249 and not for the extension of geographical knowledge, little information of that nature could be obtained from their journal: the entrance of the Mesier, however, is described by them; and on one occasion they were obliged to take refuge in it for fifteen days.250 With this exception I cannot find that it had ever been entered before our visit.

The length of the channel is one hundred and sixty miles, and it joins the Concepcion Strait behind the Madre de Dios archipelago, at the Brazo Ancho of Sarmiento. Lieutenant Skyring, who superintended this particular part of the survey, called the land which it insulates, Wellington Island; the seaward coast of which is fronted by several islands. Fallos Channel, which separates the Campaña and Wellington Islands, was examined, from its northern entrance, for thirty-three miles, and was conjectured, after communicating with the sea at Dynely Sound, to extend to the southward, and fall into the Gulf of Trinidad by one of the deep sounds which were noticed on the north shore.

About thirty miles within the Mesier Channel, from the northern extremity, the west side appears to be formed by a succession of large islands, many of which are separated by wide channels leading to the south-west, and probably communicating with the Fallos Channel. On the eastern shore the openings were found to be either narrow inlets or abruptly terminating sounds.

On both sides of the channel the coast is hilly, but not very high, and in many places there is much low and generally thickly wooded land. This character distinguishes the Mesier from other channels in these regions.

The trees here are nearly of the same description as those which are found in all parts between Cape Tres Montes and the Strait of Magalhaens. Of these the most common are an evergreen beech (Fagus betuloides), a birch-like beech (Fagus antarctica), the Winter's bark (Winterana aromatica251), and a tree with all the appearance and habit of a cypress, of which the Indians make their spears. Among others there is one, the wood of which being extremely hard and weighty, answers better than the rest for fuel: the sealers call it 'the red wood,' from its colour. From the great quantity of timber which grows here it would be naturally supposed probably that spars for masts could be easily obtained, or at least wood useful for less important purposes; but although many trees were found that were sufficiently large at the base, they grew to no great height; and, in consequence of the moisture of the climate, and the crowded state of the forests preventing the admission of the sun's rays, the wood generally proved to be decayed in the heart; besides being very apt, even after a long seasoning, to warp and split when exposed to a dry air.

Ten miles beyond White-kelp Cove, which is fifty miles within the entrance, the character of the Mesier Channel changes entirely; the shore on either side being formed of mountainous and precipitous ridges rising abruptly from the water. After this, at Halt Bay, twenty-three miles beyond White-kelp Cove, the channel narrows for a considerable distance, and in three particular places is not more than four hundred yards wide. This part of the channel is called in the chart the English Narrow. It is long and intricate, with many islands strewed throughout; and preserves its tortuous and frequently narrow course to its junction with the Wide Channel, in which the breadth increases to two miles and a half; and then, running thirty-four miles with a direct and unimpeded course, falls into the Concepcion Strait as above stated.

At the point where the Mesier and the Wide Channels unite, a deep sound extends to the N. N. E. for forty-six miles. It was named Sir George Eyre Sound. An extensive glacier sloping into the sea from the summit of a range of high snowy mountains, that are visible from many parts of the Mesier Channel, terminates this sound; and near the head of it several large icebergs, containing no inconsiderable blocks of granite, were found aground.252

Of the archipelago of Madre de Dios we know very little. It has probably many deep openings on its seaward face, and is fronted by islands and rocks. Its character is rocky and mountainous, and by no means agreeable. The wide and safe channel of Concepcion Strait separates it from the main land, which in this part is much intersected by deep sounds, the principal of which, the Canal of San Andres, extends to the base of the snowy range of the Cordillera, and there Lieutenant Skyring describes it to be suddenly closed by immense glaciers.

Behind Hanover Island, which is separated from Madre de Dios by the Concepcion Strait, the main-land is very much intersected by sounds like the San Andres Channel, extending to the base of the Andes.

South of Hanover Island is Queen Adelaide Archipelago, through which are several channels that communicate with the Strait of Magalhaens; of which the principal, Smyth Channel, falls into the Strait at Cape Tamar.

In the winter of 1829, Captain Robert Fitz-Roy, then commanding the Beagle, in examining the Jerome Channel, which communicates with the Strait in that part called Crooked Reach, discovered 'Otway Water,' an inland sea fifty miles long, trending to the N.E., and separated from the eastern entrance of the Strait by a narrow isthmus; the actual width of which was not ascertained, for in the attempt the boats were nearly lost. The south-eastern shore is high and rocky, and generally precipitous, but the northern is formed by low undulating grassy plains, free from trees, and precisely like the country about the eastern entrance of the Strait. At the north-west corner of the water a passage was found leading in a north-west direction for twelve miles, when it opened into another extent of water, about thirty-four miles long and twenty wide. This he called the Skyring Water. Its southern and western sides are bounded by mountainous land, but the northern shore is low, apparently formed of undulating downs and grassy plains, and in some places watered by rivulets. At the western extremity of the water two openings were observed, separated by a remarkable castellated mountain which was called Dynevor Castle. Beyond the southernmost opening there was no land visible, not even a distant mountain, which induced Captain Fitz-Roy to suppose that it was a channel communicating with the western coast; but from what we now know, it is not probable that it can lead to anything of consequence. It is, perhaps, backed by low marshy land reaching to the hills at the bottom of Glacier Bay, which, from the distance being seventy miles, were not visible above the horizon. The northern opening probably passes Dynevor Castle, and, perhaps, nearly reaches the bottom of Obstruction Sound. The Skyring Water was not further explored; partly from want of a sufficient quantity of provisions to undertake it with any prospect of succeeding, and partly from a strong south-westerly gale, from which there was no shelter for the open boats in which this examination was performed. The remainder, therefore, of Captain Fitz-Roy's time was spent in completing what he had commenced; and, after an absence of thirty-two days, he rejoined his ship at Port Gallant.

At the western end of the passage, which unites the waters, the shore is well clothed on the north side with luxuriant grass and trefoil, with here and there a sprinkling of brushwood, but is entirely destitute of trees. The soil, although dry, is light, and tolerably good; but the ground is perforated everywhere by some burrowing animal, probably skunks, or cavias. The tracks of horses were noticed in many places, and the bones of guanacoes were scattered about. Water was not very plentiful, but several small brooks and springs in the sides of the hills were observed, sufficient for all useful purposes.