C H A P . III.
Range from Chrifmas Sound, round Cape Horn, through
Strait L e Maire, and round Staten Land; with an Account
of the Difcovery of a Harbour in that I f and, and
a Defcription of the Coafs.
, 774. A T four o’clock in the morning on the 28th, we began
. ecember'. L~\. to unmoor; and at eight weighed and flood out
Wcdnef, 28. t 0 fea> with a light breeze at N. W., which afterwards
frefhened and was attended with rain. At noon, the eaft
point of the Sound (Point Nativity) bore N. 4 W., diftant
one and a half leagues, and St. Ildefonfo Illes- S. E. 4 S.,
diftant .feven leagues. The coaft feemed to trend in the
direction of E. by S.; but the weather being very hazy, nothing
appeared diftincfl.
We continued to fleer S. E. byE. and E. S.-E., with a frelh
breeze at W. N. W., till four o’clock P. M., when we hauled
to the South, in order to have a nearer view of St. Ildefonfo
Ifles. At this time we were abreaft of an inlet, which lies E.
S. E., about feven leagues from the Sound; but it muff be
obferved that there are fome ifles without this diftindtion.
At the weft point of the inlet, are.two high peaked hills;
and below them, to the Eaft, two round hills, or ifles, which
lie in the direction of N. E. and S. W. of each other. An
ifland, or what appeared to bean ifland, lay in the entrance;
1 and another but fmaller inlet appeared to the Weft of this;
indeed, the coaft appeared indented and broken as ufual.
At
!
At half paft five o’clock, the weather clearing up, gave Df e7f Kr
us a good, fight of Ildefonfo Ifles. They are a group of f - p - y f
iflands, and rocks above water, fituated about fix leagues
from the main, and in the latitude of 550 53' South, longitude
69° 4 r"' Weft..
We now refumed our courfe to the Eaft ; and, at fun-fer,
the moft advanced land bore S. E. by E. 4 E..; and a point,
which I judged to be the weft point of Naflau Bay, dif-
covered by the Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral
Hermite in 1624, bore N. 8a° Eaft, fix leagues diftant. In
fome charts, this point is called falfe Cape Horn, as being
the fouthern point of Terra del Fuego. It is fituated in latitude
53° .39' South. From the inlet above mentioned to this
falfe Cape, the direction of the coaft is nearly Eaft, half a
point South, diftant fourteen or fifteen leagues.
At ten o’clock, having fhortened fail, we fpent the night
in making fhort boards under the top-fails, and at three Ttiurflay 29;.
next morning, made fail, and fleered S. E. by .S., with a
frelh breeze at W. S. W., the weather fomewhat hazy.- At
this time, the weft entrance to Naflau Bay extended from N.
by E. to N. E. 4 E., and the fouth fide of Hermite’s Ifles, E„
by S. At four, Cape Horn, for which we now fleered, bore
E. by S. It is known, at a diftance, by a high round hill
over it. A point to the W. N. W. fhews a furface not unlike
this ; but their fituations alone will always diftinguilh the
one from the other.
At half paft feven, we palled this famous Cape, and entered
the Southern Atlantic Ocean. It is the very fame point of
land I took for the Cape, when I palled it in 1769, which at
that time I Was doubtful of. It is the moft fouthern extremity
on.