The Streight of Magellan
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the master returned from his expedition. The master reported that he had found four places, in which there was good anchorage, between the place where we lay and Cape Froward: that he had been on shore at several places, where he had found plenty of wood and water close to the beach, with abundance of cranberries and wild celery. He reported also, that he had seen a great number of currant bushes full of fruit, though none of it was ripe, and a great variety of beautiful shrubs in full blossom, bearing flowers of different colours, particularly red, purple, yellow, and white, besides great plenty of the winter’s bark, a grateful spice which is well known to the botanists of Europe. He shot several wild ducks, geese, gulls, a hawk, and two or three of the birds which the Sailors call a Race-Horse.
At five o’clock in the morning of Sunday the 18th, we made fail, and at noon, being about two miles from the shore. Cape Froward bore N. by E. a bluff point N.N.W. and Cape Holland W.½ S. Our latitude at this place, by observation, was 54° 3’ S. and we found the Streight to be about six miles wide. Soon after I sent a boat into Snug bay, to lie at the anchoring place, but the wind coming from the land, I stood off again all night; and at a mile from the shore, we had no ground with 140 fathom.
In the morning of Monday the 19th, the Swallow having made the signal for anchoring under Cape Holland, we ran in, and anchored in 10 fathom, with a clear sandy bottom. Upon sending the boats out to sound, we discovered that we were very near a reef of rocks; we therefore tripped the anchor, and dropped farther out, where we had 12 fathom, and were about half a mile from the shore, just opposite to a large stream of water which falls with great rapidity from
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, page 386, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/386.html