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8
NAVIGATION AND VOYAGE OF
de Magalhāes ordered much artillery to be fired for rejoicing;[1] and before they went forth from this strait they found two islands, the first one larger, and the other nearer towards the outlet is the smaller one: and they went out between these islands and the coast on the southern side, as it was deeper than on the other side. This strait is a hundred leagues in length to the outlet; that outlet and the entrance are in fifty-two degrees latitude.[2] They made a stay in this strait from the 21st October to the 26th of November,[3]
- ↑ The ships S. Antonio and Conception were sent on this exploration of the Straits; they were with difficulty able to double the Cape Possession, named thus in Bougainville's map, and in others. They at length entered a narrow opening, which in the maps is named the first gut, and they proceeded thence to another bay, which is named Boucant bay, or Boucam. At the end of this they entered into another strait, named the second gut, and having passed that, they came out into another bay larger than the former ones. Then, seeing that the strait was prolonged and offered an outlet to the ships, they returned with the good news to Magellan, who was waiting for them, and on seeing him, they fired off all their artillery and shouted for joy. The fleet then sailed together as far as the third bay, and as they found two channels, Magellan despatched the two vessels, S. Antonio and Conception, to examine whether the channel, which took the S.W. direction, would issue into the Pacific sea. Here it was that the ship S. Antonio deserted, going ahead of its companion for that purpose. The other two ships, Victoria and Trinity, meanwhile entered the third channel, where they waited four days for the explorers. During this interval, Magellan despatched a well equipped boat to discover the cape with which the strait ought to terminate: this having been sighted, and the boat returning with the news, all shed tears of consolation, and they gave to this cape the name of Cape Desire; it is that which is at the outlet of the strait on the South side. They then turned back to seek for the ships Conception and S. Antonio, and leaving marks by which this one might steer, in case of its having lost the way (for they were still ignorant of its desertion), they sailed forward until they came out into the Pacific Ocean. Lisbon Ac. note.
- ↑ The Paris Manuscript has "fully in 52 degrees." Lisbon Ac. note.
- ↑ Pigafetta remarks: In the strait in which they were, in the month of October, the night was only of three hours; and Transylvan says that, in November the navigators found the night of little more than five hours; and that on one night they saw to the left hand many fires. It
