Continuing Their Course Along Shore S.S.W. They Found Vast
Numbers Of Seals Every Where On The Coast.
January 2d, 1587, they fell
in with a great white cape in lat.
52 deg. S. and had seven fathoms within a
league of the cape. Next day they came to another cape, in lat. 52 deg. 45'
S. whence runs a long beach about a league to the southwards, reaching
to the opening into the Straits of Magellan.[49] January 6th, they
entered the straits, which they found in some places five or six leagues
wide, but in others considerably narrower. The 7th, between the mouth of
the straits and its narrowest part, they took a Spaniard, who had been
left there with twenty-three others of that nation, being all that
remained alive of four hundred, who had been landed three years before
in these straits. This Spaniard shewed them the hull of a small bark,
supposed to have been left by Sir Francis Drake.
[Footnote 49: The cape at the north side of the eastern entrance into
the Straits of Magellan, is named Cape Virgin, and is in lat 52 deg. 28' S.
The great white cape in lat. 52 deg. S. is not so easily ascertained. Cape
Blanco, on this coast, is in lat. 47 deg. S. which cannot have any reference
to the white cape of the text. - E.]
The eastern mouth of the straits is in lat. 52 deg. S. From thence to the
narrowest part is fourteen leagues W. by N. From thence to Penguin
Island is ten leagues W.S.W. by S. They anchored at Penguin Island on
the 8th January, where they killed and salted a great store of seals, to
serve as sea provisions in case of need. Leaving this place on the 9th,
they sailed S.S.W. The fortress built in these straits by the Spaniards,
called Ciudad del Rey Felippe, had four bulwarks or bastions, in each
of which was one large cannon, all of which had been buried, and their
carriages left standing. The English dug them all up, and carried them
away. Tins city seemed to have been well contrived, especially in its
situation in regard to wood and water; but miserable was the life this
forlorn remnant of Spaniards had endured for the last two years, during
which they had hardly been able to procure any other food than a scanty
supply of shell-fish, except when they had the good fortune to surprise
a deer, coming down from the mountains in search of water.
The object of the Spaniards, in erecting this fortress, was to have
fortified the straits, so as to have excluded all other nations from any
passage into the South Sea: but, besides the barrenness of the soil, and
excessive severity of the climate their most implacable enemies, the
Indians, frequently assailed them, so that they were reduced to the last
extremity of distress. All the stores they had brought from Spain were
expended, and none could be procured in the country, which produced
nothing but deer, and when hunting these for the preservation of their
lives, they were sure to be fallen upon by the Indians. At length almost
all the Spaniards died in their houses, and the stench of the putrefying
carcasses became so intolerable to the few survivors, that they were
forced to quit the fortress, and to range along the seacoast living upon
roots, leaves, and sea weeds, or any animals they could occasionally
fall in with. In this miserable extremity they had determined to attempt
exploring their way to the Rio Plata, and were already on their way,
when this Spaniard was taken by the English.
Mr Candish named the haven where the fortress stood Port Famine, owing
to the utter want of all necessaries. It is in lat. 53 deg. S. Leaving this
place on the 14th, they ran five leagues S.W. to Cape Froward, in the
southernmost part of the straits, in lat. 54 deg. S. Sailing five leagues W.
by N. from this cape, they put into a bay, called Muscle Cove, from the
great quantities of muscles found there. Leaving that place on the 21st,
and sailing N. by W. ten leagues, they came to a fair bay, which Candish
named Elizabeth Bay. Leaving that place on the 22d, they found a good
river two leagues farther on, up which a boat was towed for three miles.
The country about this river was pleasant and level, but all the other
land on both sides of the straits was rugged, mountainous, and rocky,
inhabited by a strong and well-made, but very brutish kind of savages,
who are said to have eaten many of the Spaniards, and seemed much
disposed to have feasted also on English flesh; but they failed in their
attempts to circumvent them. Discovering a plot laid by these savages to
entrap him and his men, Candish gave them a volley of musquetry, which
slew several of them, and the rest ran away.
Leaving this river, they sailed two leagues farther, to an inlet named
St Jerome's channel; whence, proceeding three or four leagues W. they
came to a cape to the northward, whence the course to the western
entrance of the straits is N.W. and N.W. by W. for about thirty-four
leagues; so that the entire length of these straits is ninety leagues.
This western entrance is in lat. 52 deg. 40' S. nearly under the same
parallel with the eastern mouth. In consequence of storms and excessive
rains, they were forced to remain in a harbour near this western mouth
of the straits till the 23d of February. By the excessive rains, pouring
down with extreme fury in torrents from the mountains, they were brought
into extreme danger; and were also much distressed for want of food, as
the excessive severity of the weather hardly permitted their landing,
to range the country in search of a supply In their passage through
these straits, it was observed that there were harbours on both shores,
at every mile or two, tolerably safe and convenient for small ships.
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