1832. 



ST. MARTIN COVE — CONTRAST. 



123 



passing Cape Spencer we were assailed by such a furious hail- 

 squall, that for many minutes it was quite impossible to look to 

 windward, or even to see what was a-head of us. We could not 

 venture to wear round, or even heave to, for fear of getting so 

 far to leeward as to lose our chance of obtaining an anchorage ; 

 however, we stood on at hazard, and the squall passed away 

 soon enough to admit of our anchoring in seventeen-fathoms 

 water, quite close to a steep promontory at the south side of 

 St. Martin Cove. 



After being for some time accustomed to the low barren 

 shores and shallow harbours of the Pampa and Patagonian 

 coasts, our position almost under this black precipice was sin- 

 gularly striking. The decided contrast of abrupt, high, and 

 woody mountains, rising from deep water, had been much 

 rem.arked in Good Success Bay ; but here it was so great that 

 I could hardly persuade myself that the ship was in security 

 — sufficiently far from the cliff.* 



25th. Notwithstanding violent squalls, and cold damp 

 weather, we kept our Christmas merrily ; certainly, not the 

 less so, in consequence of feeling that we were in a secure posi- 

 tion, instead of being exposed to the effects of a high sea and 

 heavy gale. 



I said, that " I do not think the bay adjacent to Cape Horn is that which 

 was named by D'Arquistade, ' St. Francis,' and, if my supposition is 

 correct. Port Maxwell is not the place which was called ' St. Bernard's 

 Cove.' " 



If the modern chart be compared with that issued by the Admiralty a 

 few years ago, published by Faden in 1818, it will be seen that the par- 

 ticular plan of St. Francis Bay, given in Faden's chart, agrees much better 

 with the west side of Nassau Bay than with any other place ; and that the 

 " remarkable island, like a castle," noticed in the plan, is evidently 

 " Packsaddle Island," of the modern chart. The rough sketch of land 

 towards the north and east, as far as Cape Horn, on that plan, I take to 

 be the random outline of land seen at a distance by the person who drew 

 the plan, and the name " Cape Horn," affixed to the southernmost land 

 then in sight ; which must have been Cape Spencer. But it is now too 

 late to remedy the mistake, which is indeed of no consequence. 



* As the shores of Tierra del Fuego are so much spoken of in other 

 places, I say no more of them here. 



