Visit and Testimony of Captain Fitz-Roy
 

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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 objects found were the following:

A Royal Marine belt buckle in bronze, (below)
A dozen large bronze buttons with one to five anchors,
Four small bronze buttons,
A wooden stamp almost destroyed by the humidity,
Pieces of the flag (Union Jack),
Tortoise shell buttons,
A penknife with a tortoise shell handle,
An iron object that looked like a stiletto (it could have been used to mark the bronze belt buckle as its point matched the markings).

 

Chapa de cinturón de los Royal Marines, de bronce

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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