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122 SUl’POSED SAN S E B A S T IA N CH A N N E L .
was sent for them, and we found they were deserters from the
Uxbridge, who had come to volunteer for our ships.
The following day the Adeona and Uxbridge ai-rived, on
their way to Port San Antonio, to boil their o il; but I recommended
Bougainville, or (as the sealers call it) Jack’s Harbour,
as more convenient for their purpose, and more secure from
storms, as well as from troublesome visits of tiie natives.
Upon my offering to restore the three deserters to the Uxbridge,
Mr. Low requested me to keep them, and another, also,
who was anxious to join the Adventure, to which I consented,
as the Adelaide wanted men.
A few days after Mr. Low’s departure, he returned in a
whale-boat to ask assistance in repairing the Uxbridge’s rudder.
Bv our help it was soon made serviceable, and she was enabled
to"^ prosecute her voyage, 4 iich could not otherwise have been
continued.
The Adelaide being ready for sea : her first service was to he
an examination of the St. Sebastian Channel, which, from its
delineation on the old charts, would seem to penetrate through
the large eastern island of Tierra del Fuego. In the voyage of
the Nodales (in the year 1618), an opening on the eastern coast,
supposed to be the mouth of a channel, communicating with
the Strait of Magalhaens, was discovered. After describing the
coast to the south of Cape Fspiritu Santo, the journal of that
voyage states : “ We found, in the channel of St. Sebastian,
twenty fathoms clear ground. The north shore is a beach of
white sand, five leagues in extent, stretching out from the high
land that terminates at Cape Fspiritu Santo, and giving the
coast here the appearance of a deep h a y ; but, on a nearer
approach, a projecting tract of low shore is observed. The
south extremity of this low beach is a sandy point, round which
the channel trends; the mouth is a league and a half wide.
The south shore is higher than the land to the northward, and
in the middle of the bay the depth is from fifteen to twenty
fathoms clear ground, and a good bottom ; but from midchannel
to the south shore the bottom is stony, and the water,
of little depth, there being only six and seven fathoms. From
hence the channel shows itself, and continues, as far as we
could see, of the same breadth. It seemed to be a large sea.
The latitude was observed to be 53° 16'.” *
From the above account, and from the chart that accompanies
it, in which this inlet is made to communicate with the
Strait of Magalliaens by the opening round Cape Monmouth,
our knowledge of the supposed St. Sebastian Channel was
derived. That there is a deep bay, in the latitude of 53° 16',
not only appears from the account of the Nodales, who were
within the heads, although it seems they did not proceed
beyond the stony ground on the south side of the entrance;
but also from the accounts of vessels who have lately seen i t ;
and of one ship-master who was deterred from entering, by the
formidable notice on our charts of its being “ only navigable
for small vessels,” whence he conjectured that the tides ivould
be very strong, and the channel occasionally narrow, as well as
and shoal.
Sarmiento, Narborough, Byron, Wallis, Bougainville, and
Cordova, have severally noticed an opening, which corresponds
to this supposed channel, namely, that between Capes Monmouth
andValentyn^ but the object of those voyagers having
been to make the passage througli the knoivn Strait, to explore
this opening was, in all probability, considered a waste of
time ; yet, that such a channel was supposed to exist, we must
conclude from the conspicuous figure it makes in the charts of
Tierra del Fuego.
Had there been a knowledge of its affording any communication
with the sea, surely Sarmiento and Narborough, as
well as the Nodales, who navigated the Strait from w’est to
east, would have been induced to attempt to pass through ;
and avoid the dangers, as well as difficulties, of the channels to
the northward.
Anxious to set the question at rest, I gave Captain Stokes
orders to proceed to survey the w'estern coasts, between tlie
Strait of Slagalhaens and iatitude 47° south, or as much of
» Relación del Viage, &c. que hicieron los Capitanes B. G .de Nodales
y Gonzalo de Nodales, p. 59.