Note 12 — INTRODUCTION.

STEAM THROUGH THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN TO THE PACIFIC.—In a work like this, almost specially devoted to an exemplification of the achievements and the prospects of steam enterprise in South America, we take the earliest opportunity of placing on record the efforts of a gentleman, who, in those distant waters first explored by Magellan, and through the very straits named after that daring navigator, conducted a steamer to the West Coast long before the Royal Mail Company, as mentioned in our prefatory remarks, sent any of their paddle-wheels to the East Coast. The first steamers that ever navigated these straits were the Peru and Chili, belonging to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, under the orders of Captain George Peacock, a gentleman well known in connection with naval steam tactics, now superintendent of the Southampton docks, and vice-consul for the Uruguay at that port. Leaving England in command of the Peru, in July, 1840, and touching only at Rio de Janeiro for a supply of fuel, he anchored in Port Famine, Patagonia, on the 13th of September, after a passage at sea of only 43 days. These vessels, built by Messrs. Curling and Young, of Limehouse, were contracted and fitted out with great care, under the superintendence of Captain Peacock, being also rigged on a new plan proposed by him, whereby they were enabled to proceed under sail alone during a great part of the voyage, the steam only having been used for 21 out of the 43 days occupied between Plymouth and Port Famine. This was an unprecedented feat in the annals of steam navigation up to that period, and has scarcely been surpassed since, as these vessels carried out a large amount of general cargo to Valparaiso, besides their spare machinery, and a great quantity of stores, proving the importance of all steamships for long voyages, whether screw or paddle-wheel, being fully and properly rigged. The Pacific Steam Navigation Company was projected in 1833 by William Wheelwright, Esq., an enterprising American gentleman, who had passed many years on the West Coast of South America, and who obtained exclusive privileges, from the Chilian and Peruvian governments, for establishing steam in the Pacific, provided steamers were placed on the coast within a given period. On Mr. Wheelwright’s arrival in England he found great difficulty in forming a company, although no one doubted but that the navigation and requirements of the West Coast were, perhaps, better adapted for steam navigation than any other spot on the face of the globe. Unfortunately for the projector, the extreme pressure of the money-market at that time, coupled with the distance of the intended scene of operations, the want of confidence in the grants of South American states, and the political changes to which they were exposed, all conduced to impede the enterprise; and, after passing upwards of three years of untiring patience and suffering, numberless anxieties, heart-sickening vexations, and even personal privations (the fate of too many enterprising men in the prosecution of new and useful projects), and when his capital was nigh wrecked, and his favourite scheme about to be abandoned as hopeless, he had the good fortune to meet with the late Lord Abinger, who, together with the noble members of the Scarlett family, warmly espoused the undertaking, and with the aid of other kind friends, the company was at length formed, and, towards the close of the year 1839, two vessels, of 750 tons and 180 horse power each, were contracted for. The keels were laid Jan., 1840, and the ships built, launched, fitted out, and sent to sea in July, within a period of seven months, no expense being spared to effect this object, with a view of saving the privileges to be conceded by the Chilian government.

This proved to be impracticable, notwithstanding the extraordinary exertions that had been made, owing to the vexatious annoyances of the port authorities at Rio de Janeiro, who exacted such stringent regulations and created such difficulties, that the steamers were delayed fourteen days, where 48 hours would have sufficed. The fine harbour of Port Stanley, at the Falkland Islands, was not then known to possess the facilities it now does for such repairs, nor were there at the time the necessary means of effecting them; otherwise Captain Peacock, who has the highest opinion of that harbour, and has urged it as a port of call and for coaling on the captains of all sailing or steam-vessels coming home from Australia by Cape Horn, would have at once resorted to it, and so saved the almost ruinous delay and vast expense occasioned him at Rio. The consequence of this detention was, that the vessels did not arrive at Port Famine, the southern-most harbour claimed by the republic of Chili, until the 13th of September, whilst the privileges, already alluded to, expired on the first of that month.

By the 18th of September both ships were completed with wood and water, every man, from the captain downwards, assisting in sawing and splitting up drift-wood, found in abundance along the shores of the harbour, an American axe having been provided for each person on board, together with cross-cut saws and iron wedges, for such object, before leaving England. This day, being the ‘diesiocho,’ or great anniversary of the Chilian Independence, Captain Peacock caused a beacon, 30 feet high, with a large diamond-shaped head, to be erected on the heights of Santa Anna, the western point of the entrance; and, hoisting the Chilian flag upon it at noon, saluted the same from the guns of both ships, accompanied by three hearty British cheers; and having buried a parchment manuscript at the foot of the beacon, in a sealed jar, descriptive of this event and the particulars of the voyage, &c., together with a few new coins of the year 1840, the steamers proceeded into the Pacific, accomplishing the passage from ocean to ocean, a distance of 300 miles, in 30 hours’ steaming. Four years subsequently, the Chilian government sent a vessel of war, and took formal possession of this harbour, for a convict establishment, naming it Port Bulnes, after the President at that time in power, when a fort was built round the before mentioned beacon, the jar was dug up, and the manuscript, &c., taken to St. Jago, the capital, and there lodged in the government archives. Upon the arrival of the steamers at Valparaiso, by a representation to the government, the privileges of the company were immediately renewed for a period of ten years; and probably nothing has contributed so much to the advancement, welfare, and prosperity of the Chilian and Peruvian republics, as the successful establishment of steam navigation upon this coast, where the names of Don Guilliermo Wheelwright and Don Jorje Peacock, will perhaps never be forgotten, as they certainly ought not to be. The Chilian government, in the course of last year, (1853) renewed its relations with the Pacific Company for continuing steam communication with England, through the Straits, and also for extending steam intercourse to other parts of Europe, in connection with the vessels now rounding the Horn, granting liberal subsidies for that purpose. See end of chapter on Amazon.