114 



PORT OF COQUIMBO. 



[1823. 



one who has the happiness to be near him. He has been a great trav- 

 eller, and a very close observer, which facts render his conversation 

 peculiarly interesting. He was once a midshipman in the British navy, 

 on board the same ship, and in the same mess, with the then Duke of 

 Clarence, now King of England. I parted from him with regret and 

 affection. I have had occasion to visit him in subsequent voyages, 

 and always with sentiments of increased admiration. 



August 3d. — We this day departed from Valparaiso, with a light 

 breeze from south-south-west, and fair weather. At 8, P. M., we took 

 the wind from the northward, varying from north-west to north-east, at- 

 tended, part of the time, with heavy rains. 



August 7th. — We arrived at the port of Coquimbo, and at 5, P. M., 

 came to anchor in four fathoms of water, mud and clay bottom. Here 

 we found the brig Canada, Captain Hutchins, from Baltimore, on a 

 trading voyage, and waiting for part of a cargo of copper. Captain 

 H. kindly assisted me in my contemplated repairs of the Wasp, by 

 permitting me to transfer her cargo to his brig, which was lying in 

 ballast, and to heave the schooner down by the brig. He likewise let 

 me have his carpenter and a part of his crew, which was of very great 

 assistance, and a courtesy that I shall not easily or speedily forget. 



We immediately commenced overhauling the Wasp, and preparing 

 to turn her keel out of water ; so that on Monday, the eleventh, the 

 starboard side of the schooner's bottom was exposed to view, when we 

 discovered that the cut-water, with a portion of the main stem, also 

 the false keel, with a part of the main keel, together with the heel of 

 the stern-post, had all been beaten off on the rocks in the Gulf of Penas, 

 on the fourth of July. We likewise found that a great part of the 

 copper had been cut off the bottom, from the bends about six feet under 

 water, nearly fore and aft, by the ice in the antarctic circle. 



August 2lst. — We had laboured so diligently that by Monday, the 

 eighteenth, the vessel's bottom was in perfect order ; and on Thurs- 

 day, the twenty-first, we were all ready for sea, with every thing on 

 board. It is but just to remark, in this place, that I received every 

 assistance from Mr. Stewart, the vice-consul of the United States, that 

 my distressed situation required, the damages of the Wasp having ex- 

 ceeded our anticipations. 



The port of Coquimbo is a convenient and safe harbour, much fre- 

 quented, and noted for the extensive copper-mines in its vicinity. In 

 entering this port, it is proper to make the land a few leagues south 

 of it, say in latitude 30° 5' S., and follow the shore to the northward 

 till you approach the nearest point of the bay, which opens to the north 

 like that of Valparaiso. Off this point a number of rocks and rocky 

 islets are visible, which strangers had best leave on the right-hand, 

 although there is water four fathoms deep between them and the point ; 

 but the passage is narrow, and by keeping outside of them, sufficient 

 room is secured to beat to windward, which is generally necessary to 

 reach the anchorage in the south-west part of the bay, abreast of some 

 warehouses. Here a ship may anchor in from eight to three fathoms, 

 with the flag-staff on the fort bearing west, distant about one mile. 

 Here is a fine harbour, and the fairest of weather that it is possible to 



