184 



SANTA BARBARA DUNDEE ROCK. April 1828. 



when, having moderated, we bore up and steered N.E. to 

 close the land. At noon a good meridional altitude gave our 

 latitude 48° 30' south, and about the same time we saw the 

 land bearing N.E. b. E., which we soon made out to be Parallel 

 Peak. After allowing amply for heave of sea, and lee- way, 

 we were considerably southward of our reckoning, which 

 indicates a southerly current ; but under such circumstances 

 of wind and weather its exact direction, or strength, could not 

 be ascertained. 



" We proceeded along the land, taking angles and bearings 

 for the survey, and at sunset the N.W. end of Campana bore 

 from us north (magnetic), distant five leagues. Being now off 

 the N.W. end of the island of Campana, which forms the 

 south-western headland of the Gulf of Penas, I considered 

 that, before I proceeded to examine its inlets, I ought to look 

 for the Harbour of Santa Barbara, which has been placed on 

 the old charts in this neighbourhood. Accordingly we lay-to 

 during the night, and at 4 a.m. bore up to close the land ; at 

 daylight the extremes of it were seen indistinctly through a 

 very cloudy and hazy atmosphere, from N. 39° E. to S. 53° E. 

 About noon the weather cleared off, and we got the meridian 

 altitude of the sun, which gave our latitude 48° 09' south.* 

 We directed the course for the Dundee Rock, and when 

 abreast of it, steered N.E. (compass) for an opening in the low 

 part of the coast ahead, backed by very high mountains, which 

 we found was the entrance of Port Santa Barbara. The coast to 

 the southward was lined with rocky islets, rocks, and breakers, 

 extending a league to seaward, and there were others to the north- 

 ward. We were in a channel half a mile wide, through which we 

 continued our course, sounding from fifteen to eleven fathoms, 

 and in the evening anchored near the entrance of the harbour. 



* The N.W. end of the Island de la Campana bearing N. 71°. 40'. E. 

 Two distant hummocky islands (answering pretty well in position with 

 the Guaianeco Islands of the Spanish charts) N. 53°. 30'. E., and 

 N. 55°. 48'. E., and a remarkable rock, the 'Dundee' of Bulkeley and 

 Cummings, about forty-five feet high, rising like a tower from the sea, 

 distant oiF shore five miles, bearing east of us, distant one mile. 



