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164 SANTA DAKBAI IA D U ND E E 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 Peñas, 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 Bai-bara. The coast to
the southward was lined with rocky islets, rocks, and breakers,
extending a league to seaward, and there were others to the northward.
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 C ampana bearing N. 71°. tO'. 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 off shore five miles, bearing east of us, distant one mile.
Aprill828. OAK REAM OF T H E w a g e r . 165
“ As our present situation was completely exposed to westerly
winds, I went to examine a deep bight in the southern shore,
which proved to be a good harbour, perfectly sheltered from
all winds, with a depth of three and a half fathoms over a fine
sandy bottom. In the afternoon we weighed anchor and
warped into a berth in the inner harbour, where we moored in
three fathoms. I found lying, just above high-water mark,
half buried in sand, the beam of a large vessel * We immediately
conjectured that it had formed part of the ill-fated
Wager, one of Lord Anson’s squadron (of whose loss the tale
is so well told in the narratives of Byron and Bulkeley) ; the
dimensions seemed to correspond with her size, and the conjecture
was strengthened by the circumstance that one of
the knees that attached it to the ship’s side had been cut,
which occurred in her case, when her decks were scuttled to get
at the provisions ; all the bolts were much corroded ; but the
wood, with the exception of the outside being worm-eaten, was
perfectly sound. Our carpenter pronounced it to be English
oak.
“ The land about this harbour is similar to that about Port
Henry. Its shores are rocky, with some patches of sandy
beach, but every where covered with trees, or an impervious
jungle, composed of dwarfish trees and shrubs. The land, in
most places, rises abruptly from the shore to mountains, some
of which attain an altitude of more than two thousand feet, and
are quite bare at their summits and on their sides, except in
sheltered ravines, where a thick growth of trees is found. These
mountains, or at least their bases, where we could break off
specimens, were of basalt, with large masses of quartz imbedded
iu i t ; but on some parts of the shores the rocks were of very
coarse granite.
“ As in the vicinity of Port Henry, the thickness of the
jungle prevented our going far inland; the greatest distance
was gained by Lieut. Skyring, who, with his wonted zeal to
prosecute the survey, ascended some of the mountains for the
• Length twenty feet five inches and a half, sided twelve inches, and
moulded eight inches and a half.