132 WINTER VOYAGE THROUGH STRAITS OF MAGELLAN 



For steamers and smart sailing schooners the vo3'age through is 

 merely one of ordinary care and prudence, but for square-rigged 

 sailing craft the difficulties are almost insuperable ; yet one large • 

 sailing ship, the frigate Flsgard, went through in the astonishing 

 time of 17 days ! 



From Cape Virgins to Cape Pillar the distance by the usual 

 route is 315 nautical miles, and to traverse this from the eastward 

 every course between W.N.W. and S.S.E. must, at one time or 

 other, be .steered, and as the wind is persistently west or southwest 

 (or always dead ahead), the difficulties to the sailing ship are 

 readily seen. Moreover, the character of the strait changes ma- 

 terially as the voyager goes west, for to the eastward of Cape 

 Froward, as a rule, the weather is better, the sun shines brighter, 

 anchorages are more convenient, and the dangers of navigation 

 fewer in number. 



The strait may be geographically divided as follows : (1) From 

 Cape Virgins to Elizabeth island, the termination of the second 

 narrows, 95 miles, where the tides are very strong, the rise and 

 fall extraordinary (43 feet), the land comparatively low and en- 

 tirely destitute of timber, the weather generally good, and an- 

 chorages safe and convenient. (2) From Elizabeth island, where 

 trees first make their appearance and the land commences to rise, 

 to Cape Froward, 80 miles. Here anchorages are frequent and 

 safe, timber is plentiful, the tides are weak (not exceeding 5 feet), 

 and the weather is comparatively pleasant. (3) From Cape Fro- 

 ward to Cape Quod, 50 miles, Avith anchorages few and far be- 

 tween, currents strong and in places dangerous, weather almost 

 constantly tempestuous, mountains of great height and bare of 

 vegetation, their peaks covered with snow or ice, natives savage 

 and dangerous, and voyaging even in steamers attended with 

 risk. Lastly, from Cape Quod to the Pacific, 90 miles, where 

 there are few anchorages, and some of these, as Port Mercy, 

 dangerous in the extreme, there is very little tide, the weather is 

 stormy nearly all the year, and the high mountains are covered 

 with eternal snow — the land aptly termed by Sir John Narbo- 

 rough " Ye Land of Desolation." 



When daylight came on the morning after our arrival we found 

 ourselves anchored off a long, low spit of shingle called by the 

 English navigators " Dungeness," from some fancied resemblance 

 to the headland of that name in the English channel. To 

 the eastward was Cape Virgins, not unlike the chalk cliffs of 

 England. To the westward loomed Cape Possession, a bold, 



