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By an angular measurement of its altitude, and the distance
given by the chart, its height must be nearly five thousand
feet, and the average height of its neighbouring mountains full
three thousand.
A south-west gale now set in, and delayed our reaching
Cape Horn until the 16th, when we anchored off the entrance
of St. Martin’s Cove and found the Chanticleer moored within.
A boat soon after came with the welcome information of all
being well on board her. We were not able to warp into the
Cove until next day, and in doing so found much difficulty,
owing to the violence of the squalls, which repeatedly obliged
us to slacken the hawsers quickly, else we should have carried
them away.
The Adventure was moored in seventeen fathoms, about a
cable’s length within the low green point on the south side:
and the Chanticleer lay in ten fathoms near the head of the
Cove. The summit of Cape Horn being in a line with the
south point of entrance, we were quite land-locked, and perfectly
sheltered from all winds, excepting the williwaws, or
furious gusts from off the high land, which sometimes suddenly
struck the ship, and threw her on her broadside; but being as
momentary in duration as they were sudden in approach, we
found them more disagreeable than dangerous.
During our stay here I made a partial survey of the Bay of
St. Francis, which has since been completed by Captain Fitz
Roy. St. Joachim’s Cove, to the southward of St. Martin’s
Cove, is more exposed than the latter, but is of easier depth.
These coves are separated from each other by a steep and
precipitous mass of hills of greenstone, which in many parts
appear to be stratified, the dip being to the westward, at an
angle of 40°. I landed at the point, and ascended the hill, which
I found more difficult to do than I supposed, the whole surface
being covered with stunted beech bushes, so thickly matted or
interwoven together, that I was obliged to walk or crawl over
their tops. Among them were occasionally seen the berberis
ilicifolia and veronica, the latter of very small size. Another
day. Lieutenant Kendall, of the Chanticleer, accompanied me
If '
to Weddel’s Port Maxwell, which is evidently St. Bernard’s
Cove of D ’Arquistade.f h) Port Maxwell is contained between
Jerdan Island, Saddle Island, and a third island, forming a
triangle. It has four entrances, the principal one being to the
north of Jerdan Island, and affords tolerable anchorage in the
centre, in nineteen and twenty fathoms, sand ;* nearer the shores
of the island the depth is more moderate, but the bottom is
very rocky.
The summit of Saddle Island, which 1 ascended for bearings,
is composed of large blocks of greenstone rock, on one of which
the compass (Kater’s Azimuth, without a stand) was placed;
but the needle was found to be so much influenced by the ferruginous
nature of the rock, composed of quartz and feldspar,
thickly studded with large crystals of hornblende, that the
poles of the needle became exactly reversed. An experiment
was then made, by taking bearings of a very distant object, at
several stations around, about fifty yards from the magnetic
rock, when the extreme difference of the results amounted to
127°. The block upon which the compass stood, in the first
instance, is now conspicuously placed in the museum of the
Geological Society.")-
Saddle Island, like the others near it, is clothed with low
stunted brushwood of beech, berberis, and arbutus, and the
ground is covered with a species of chamitis, and other moun-
tain plants. ’While Mr. Kendall and I were absent from the
boat, the crew caught several kelp fish, which are very delicate
and wholesome food. On the following day, while going
with Mr. Kendall to Wollaston Island, we passed a great many
whales, leaping and tumbling in the water. A blow from one
(h j I do not th in k the bay adjacent to Cape H o rn is th a t which was
named by D’Arquistade ‘ St. Francis,’ and, if my supposition is correct.
P o rt Maxwell is not the place which was called ‘ St. B ernard’s Cove.’ See
Second volume.—R . F .
• According to Capt. Fitz Roy the best berth is in sixteen fathoms.
(Sail. Directions.)
t Nos. 268 to 271, Geo. Soc. Museum.
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