Gulf of Penas

The Gulf of Penas (Golfo de Penas in Spanish, meaning "gulf of distress") is a body of water located south of the Taitao Peninsula, Chile.

Geography

It is open to the westerly storms of the Pacific Ocean, but it affords entrance to several natural harbours. Among these are the gulfs of Tres Montes and San Esteban and San Quintín, and Tarn Bay at the entrance to Messier Channel.[1] To the south of the gulf lies Guayaneco Archipelago and to the east lies San Javier Island and then the mainland.

History

Spanish explorers and Jesuits that sailed south from Chiloé Archipelago in the 17th and 18th centuries regularly avoided rounding the Taitao Peninsula by entering the gulf after a brief land crossing at the isthmus of Ofqui.[2]

In 1741 the British warship HMS Wager, attempting to tack from a lee shore in a storm was wrecked along the coast of what would become known as Wager Island in the SE of the Gulf.[3][2] Some of the survivors were rescued by Chono cheftain Martín Olleta and his men who took them on board their dalcas to the Spanish settlements of Chiloé Archipelago.[4]

On December 1843 the Chilean schooner Ancud rescued the survivors of the wrecked French ship Fleuris o the shores of the gulf.[5]

Flora and fauna

Local wildlife includes South American gray fox, South Andean deer, South American sea lions and marine otters.

The gulf is potentially a habitat for a number of baleen whales,[6] and is speculated to be a wintering/calving ground for the critically endangered population of Southern Right Whale.[7]

See also

References
  1. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Moyna, Edward Gerald James (1911). "Chile". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 143.
  2. Vásquez Caballero, Ricardo Felipe. "Aau, el secreto de los chono" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved January 24, 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Sepúlveda Ortíz, Jorge. "Exploraciones efectuadas en la región de Trapananda antes del siglo XIX" (PDF). Boletín de la Academia de Historia Naval y Marítima de Chile (in Spanish): 95–110. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  4. Urbina Carrasco, Ximena (2016). "Interacciones entre españoles de Chiloé y Chonos en los siglos XVII y XVIII: Pedro y Francisco Delco, Ignacio y Cristóbal Talcapillán y Martín Olleta" [Interactions between Spaniards of Chiloé and Chonos in the XVII and XVII centuries: Pedro and Francisco Delco, Ignacio and Cristóbal Talcapillán and Martín Olleta] (PDF). Chungara (in Spanish). 48 (1): 103–114. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  5. Talbott, Robert D. (1974). A history of the Chilean boundaries (A Replica ed.). The Iowa State University Press. p. 83. ISBN 0-8138-0305-5.
  6. Blue Marine Foundation, Patagonia
  7. Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), 2021, Encuentran refugio de crianza de ballena franca austral en la Patagonia chilena
  • Instituto Geográfico Militar (1970). Atlas de la República de Chile. Santiago: Instituto Geográfico Militar. Second edition.

47°22′S 74°50′W


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