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After investigating the
site, we noticed a pile of rocks that looked a bit different than the rest. There was no
particular identifying marker; they just looked "different". We began to move
these rocks weighing more than 200 kilograms.
There appeared other smaller rocks beneath, which we continued
removing until we reached a layer of hardened mud.
Among the rocks were many spiders similar to those that are common
in the rest of the country, they apparently do quite well on the summit of Isla
Hornos.
We continued digging and when the Engineer who didn't quite trust my
deductions was on the verge of mutiny, there appeared pieces of a yellowish colored
ceramic similar to the material of the jar discovered on Isla Skyring, and exhibited in
the museum at Port Williams in the Beagle channel.
We continued digging carefully by hand in order not
to destroy anything and we found more pieces of ceramic. Then appeared a bronze cover with
an engraved inscription, "BEAGLE 1830", and a quantity of oxidized objects and
pieces of fabric covered with mud. We continued digging until we were positive nothing
further was buried there.
We had been on the peak of the island
nearly three hours when the
initial calm began to change, and we felt the first gusts of wind.
When we returned to Puerto Williams we got together at home to
clean and identify all the objects we had found with the aid of a magazine specializing in
Archaeology, and with the cooperation of our spouses and my two daughters, who surprised
us with their interest and investigative spirit.
We found 41 coins and medals of silver and bronze, with dates from
1784 to 1828 from Great Britain, Spain, Germany, and Brazil. A perforated silver coin had
the letters W.M. pounded in and these initials corresponded to the name of the Accounting
Officer W. Mogg. The medals were in commemoration of the expedition of H.M.S. BEAGLE and
H.M.S ADVENTURE.
The last item was a small wooden box, possibly for snuff, with the inscription
"James Bennett". He was Captain Fitz-Roy's steward and also the boatswain of the
boat and an excellent sailor. He was later the person in charge of the education of Jimmy
Button, Fuegia Basket, York Minster and Boat Memory. These were the four Indians from
Canal Murray whom Fitz-Roy took as hostages in order to obtain the return of a whaling
boat stolen from Thieves Cove, and later found destroyed in Canal Ballenero. These Indians
visited King George IV and his wife at the royal palace with Captain Fitz-Roy and James
Bennet. Later with the steward they toured England before returning to their homes in the
South of Chile.
A few months after the discovery of this memorial I managed to obtain the log of the first
stage of the English commission, between 1826 and 1830 (thanks to an American yachtsman
who photocopied it at Widener Library, Harvard). Later I found out that there is also a
copy at the Chilean Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service in Valparaiso.
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