Chile today and tomorrow

by L. E. Elliott Joyce

[4]. Founder of the City of Buenos Aires, 1535.

With the Spice Isles definitely abandoned, the route to the “South Seas” discovered by Magellan was still valuable as offering an all-sea route to the coast of Peru, and the next expedition was sent from Spain at the instance of the Viceroy of Mexico, Antonio de Mendoza, in 1539. At this time, and for many years to come, the chief route to Lima was by the fever and pirate infested Isthmus of Panama, and the vessels seen in the Pacific were brought in pieces and set up, or, later, built of native timber, chiefly at Guayaquil.

The new mission was headed by Captain Alonso de Camargo, who lost his flagship in the first narrows of the Strait; another vessel lost touch, wintered in a bay of Tierra del Fuego, and then sailed back to Spain; Camargo succeeded in getting the remaining vessel through the storms of the Strait, and reached the Bay of Valparaiso at the time when Captain Pedro de Valdivia was pushing south against the Araucanians. But he did not return to Spain, was killed in the Almagro-Pizarro feuds, and the chief result of his journey seems to have been discouraging; for a long time no attempt was made by Spain to use the Strait. Juan de Ladrilleros, sent in 1557 from Chile to examine the Strait from the Pacific side, discovered Chiloé and the Chonos Archipelago and surveyed as far as Cape Virgins. Including the leader, but three men returned to Valdivia to report to the Governor, Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza.

Sarmiento

In 1579 the West Coast was electrified with the appearance of Francis Drake in the Golden Hind, and when it was said that he had entered the Pacific by way of Magellan Strait the Spanish determined to fortify and close the passage to all foreign vessels. It was still believed that south of the strait lay a great continent, divided from Patagonia only by narrow waterways.

With a view to shutting the channel, the Viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo, equipped an expedition under the command of Captain Pedro de Sarmiento de Gamboa, to survey the southerly regions and sail through the Strait to Spain. Sarmiento was a fine seaman, with the discovery of the Galapagos Islands already to his credit, an acute observer, good historian, and a tireless and resourceful leader. He remarks, in the beginning of his narrative, that it was then “held to be almost impossible to discover” the entrance from the Pacific side, “owing to the innumerable openings and channels which there are before arriving at it, where many discoverers have been lost who had been sent by the Governors of Peru and Chile.” Even the people who entered from the North Sea (Atlantic) “never succeeded. Some were lost, and others returned, so tossed about by storms and uncertain of what could be discovered, that there was a general dread of that navigation.” The viceroy’s object now was to dispel that fear, and to find the best means of closing the Strait; Philip II’s suggestion of a stout chain was no doubt considered.

Two ships were selected and fitted; the crew of 112 was collected with difficulty, for “nobody wished to embark, and many ran away and hid themselves,” but the expedition set sail on October 11, 1579, from Callao. By November 11 they had sailed 573 leagues, and were off Chiloé; ten days later Sarmiento formally took possession of land off what is today called Wolsey Sound; and, climbing to the top of a very rugged mountain, often found it easier to “go along the tops of the trees, from branch to branch, like monkeys” until, reaching the top, they counted 85 islands in the broken archipelago below. Deserted by the second ship, Sarmiento found, in the flagship, Nuestra Señora de Esperanza, his way into the Strait on Feb. 2, 1580, after much experience of bad weather when surveying the westerly channels, and next day made another formal landing and proclamation of possession. They got into touch with Indians, who told them by signs of the visit of other bearded strangers, probably the men of Drake’s three ships; it was not until February 9 that they encountered the big Patagonians of the east, users of the bow. On the 13th they passed Cape Froward and the Bay of the Natives, “Bahia de la Gente,” where the little river San Juan was named, and where two years later the ill-fated City of Philip was founded. Sarmiento took possession and set up a cross at this spot, leaving a letter with orders for the missing ship, the Almirante, in case she came that way.

Balmaceda Glacier, South Chile.