CHAPTER XX. 



Beag^le sails from San Carlos — Enter Strait — Harbour of Mercy — Cape 

 Pillar — Apostles — Judges — Landfall Island — Cape Gloucester — Dis- 

 location Harbour — Week Islands — Fuegians — Latitude Bay — Boat's 

 crew in distress — Petrel — Passages — Otway Bay — Cape Tate — Fin- 

 cbam Islands — Deepwater Sound — Breaker Bay — Grafton Islands — 

 Geological remarks — Barbara Channel — Mount Skyring — Compasses 

 affected — Drawings — Provisions — Opportunities lost. 



Captain Fitz Roy having received his orders on the 18th 

 of November (see -Appendix), sailed the following morning 

 from San Carlos, and proceeding to the southward, approached 

 the entrance of the Strait of Magalhaens on the night of the 

 24th. The following are extracts from his Journal : — 



" At daylight on the 25th, with the wind at S.W., we made 

 Cape Pillar right a-head (E.N.E. by compass), distant seven 

 or eight leagues. The wind became lighter, and we were set 

 by a current to the S.W., which obliged us, in nearing the 

 Cape, to alter our course from E.N.E. to N.N.E., to avoid 

 being carried too near the Apostle Rocks. A dangerous rock, 

 under water, on which the sea breaks, lies half a mile more 

 towards the north than either of the Apostles. Cape Pillar is 

 a detached headland, and so very remarkable that no person 

 can fail to know it easily. 



" A very good latitude was obtained at noon, from which, and 

 the astronomical bearing of the Cape, we made its latitude 

 within half a mile of that given in the chart by Captain Stokes 

 and Lieutenant Skyring ; and the weather being clear and 

 fine, sketches were taken of all the surrounding land. A t one, 

 we passed the Cape, and at three, anchored in the Harbour of 

 Mercy. By the distance we had run, as shown by the patent 

 log and compared with the chart, there had been a current 

 against us of more than a knot an hour. 



