310 



APPENDIX. 



No. 54. 



A FEW NAUTICAL REMARKS. 



Without extending this work to an unwieldy size, it would be 

 impossible to give particular descriptions of, or sailing directions for, 

 half the anchorages surveyed by the Beagle and her consorts. I can 

 here only allude to some which are least easy of access; and for 

 details concerning the rest, I must ask the reader to refer to Captain 

 King's Sailing Directions, published by the Admiralty in 1832 ; and, 

 hereafter, to a similar work, which I am compiling. 



In approaching or entering any port between the southern coast 

 of Brazil and Tierra del Fuego,* both leads and charts must 

 be closely attended to, tides and currents must be well considered, 

 and the colour, as well as rippling of the water, narrowly watched. 

 Generally speaking, much of this extent of coast is comparatively 

 shallow, and beset with insidious dangers in the shape of banks and 

 currents. Where rocks occur they are less to be feared, because 

 their position is, in most cases, f pointed out by kelp.j Some of the 

 banks are particularly dangerous, being exceedingly steep-sided and 

 hard. Where there is a strong stream or great rise of tide, or where 

 both are found, the risk of approaching such banks is proportionably 

 increased. 



Of the River Plata I have spoken briefly in Chapter IV., and of 

 Blanco Bay there is a slight description in Chapter V. of the second 

 volume. 



Before entering PortBelgrano (within Blanco Bay), or any similar 

 port, such as False Bay, Green Bay, Brightman Inlet, Union Bay, 

 &.C. 1 should advise anchoring, and ascertaining the ship's position 

 exactly, sending a boat to find the middle of the principal entrance, 

 and there dropping a buoy with a good anchor. If the weather is at 

 all hazy, no marks on the distant low land will be made out by a 

 stranger, until he has had time to take a few angles, look round 

 from the masthead, and examine the chart leisurely. These things 

 cannot be so well done while the ship is saiHng fast ; she may, how- 

 ever, be brought to for a time. 



* Except at the Falklands. 



t That in the entrance of Port Desire is a notable exception to the 

 general rule 



+ Seaweed growing in rocky places. 



