The Darwin Sound forms a westward continuation of the Beagle Channel and links it to the Pacific Ocean at Londonderry Island and Stewart Island, not far from the southern tip of South America. It thus forms a navigable link across Tierra del Fuego between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as an alternative to going round the hazardous rocky headland of Cape Horn. Sea lions on La Isla de Los Lobos in the Beagle Channel Glacier on the north shore of the Beagle Channel Beagle Channel is a strait separating islands of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, in extreme southern South America. ... Stewart Island is the third largest island of New Zealand. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Tierra del Fuego (Spanish: land of Fire) is an archipelago at the southernmost tip of South America. ... Cape Horn is often said to be the southernmost point of South America. ...

Glacier on the north shore of the Beagle Channel

It was given the name Darwin Sound during the Voyage of the Beagle by HMS Beagle's captain Robert FitzRoy after Charles Darwin's prompt action saved them from being marooned. To carry out their hydrographic survey work the ship’s boats were often used at a considerable distance from the ship. In the Beagle Channel they looked at its north shore in amazement at the vast "beryl blue" glaciers on the steep mountains of the Cordillera of the Andes, which fed down to the water and formed icebergs. On one day early in 1833 they had their boats drawn up on the beach about half a mile (1km) from the ship and were dining when a huge mass of ice fell from the face of a glacier and plunged into the water with a "thundering crash". "Great rolling waves" rushed toward the shore threatening the small boats. Darwin was the first to act. He rushed down to the shore with other men and they hauled the boats to safety just as the first breaker crashed down, at considerable danger to themselves. Captain Fitzroy was impressed and next day named a nearby expanse of water Darwin Sound. Darwin felt that he had acted out of fear rather than bravado, noting in his Diary that, had they lost the boats, "how dangerous would our lot have been, surrounded... by hostile Savages & deprived of... provisions." Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 302 KB)I took this picture. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 302 KB)I took this picture. ... HMS Beagle, from an 1841 watercolour by Owen Stanley The Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, which brought him considerable fame and respect. ... HMS Beagle (centre) from an 1841 watercolour by Owen Stanley HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10 gun brig of the Royal Navy, named after the Beagle breed of dog. ... Robert FitzRoy Vice Admiral Robert FitzRoy (July 5, 1805 - April 30, 1865) achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle and as a pioneering meteorologist who invented weather forecasts, also proving an able surveyor and hydrographer as well as Governor of New Zealand. ... When Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species it shook the scientific world. ... Hydrographic survey is the process of gathering information about navigable waters for the purposes of safe navigation of vessels. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... An iceberg (berg is the German word for mountain) is a large piece of ice that has broken off from a glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. ... 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

The highest peak to the north of the Channel was named Mount Darwin by FitzRoy to celebrate Darwin's 25th birthday on 12 February 1834. February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1834 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Reference

• Adrian Desmond and James Moore, Darwin (London: Michael Joseph, the Penguin Group, 1991). ISBN 0-7181-3430-3