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Port Egmont Revisited By Nigel Shorrocks In January of this year my family and I were lucky to spend a week taking a holiday on Saunders Island. As well as enjoying the peace and quiet of the island and its excellent wildlife I had another motive for the trip. That was to visit and photograph one of the most important sites of early European settlement in the Falkland Islands, the very first British settlement of Port Egmont, situated about a mile and a half north east of the present farm settlement. As the History teacher at the Falkland Islands Community School in Stanley I wanted a photographic record of the site for use with year nine pupils when studying the history of the Falkland Islands. My task was made easier because I had with me a copy of 'An Archaeological Survey of Port Egmont, Falkland Islands' by Dr. Robert Philpott of Liverpool Museum who conducted an intense survey of the remains in 1992. Yet archaeological remains, whilst fascinating in themselves, do not tell a complete story; for example they do not answer the crucial question, why was such a settlement constructed in the first place? The answer to this is to be found in the history of the voyage of Commodore Anson and a squadron of British ships into the Pacific from 1740-44 during the war of Jenkins Ear. This expedition, although successful in that Anson captured huge quantities of gold and silver from the Spanish off the coasts of South America and the Philippines, was a disaster in terms of the number of men lost through disease particularly scurvy. Only 145 men of the 1029 who sailed into the Pacific with Anson returned. Anson knew that any future attempts to project British sea power into the Pacific on a permanent basis were likely to suffer similar losses unless a solution could be found. The solution, of course, was to find a secure base at the bottom of South America where ships' crews suffering from scurvy could re-supply with fresh vegetables, water and meat before attempting the next leg of the voyage around the Horn and on to Juan Fernandez Island in the Pacific. Anson knew of the uninhabited Falkland Islands and to this end recommended that the Islands be surveyed with a view to setting up such a way station. European rivalries intervened in the form of the Seven Years War of 1756-63 and Anson, who rose to command the Royal Navy, never lived to see such an expedition dispatched, dying in 1762. However, at the end of the Seven Years War the Royal Navy had more time and ships to send on charting expeditions and voyages of discovery. As a result a small British Squadron consisting of HMS Dolphin (frigate), HMS Tamar (sloop), and the storeship Florida was prepared supposedly for a journey to the Far East, but in fact to survey the Falkland Islands with a view to establishing a settlement. The Commander of the squadron was Commodore John Byron who had sailed on Anson's voyage. The squadron sighted the Islands on January 12th 1765, and on the 15th entered a large sheltered anchorage between two islands and the mainland of West Falkland. Byron named it Port Egmont after the First Lord of the Admiralty. Byron recorded, '.... I think it one of the finest harbours in the world. In every part of Port Egmont there is fresh water in the greatest plenty, and geese, duck, snipe and other birds so numerous that our people grew tired of them...' On the 23rd, Byron went ashore on Saunders Island, named after Admiral Sir Charles Saunders, and raised the Union Flag claiming the Islands for King George. The surgeon of the Tamar planted a vegetable garden and then the squadron left to continue their world voyage. At the Straights of Magellan Byron sent his storeship Florida back to Britain with his report recommending settlement. When the Admiralty received the report they issued secret orders to send a second expedition to the Islands under the command of Captain John McBride. With the frigate Jason, the bomb vessel Carcass and the storeship Experiment he was to construct a settlement and garrison it with marines and sailors. A prefabricated wooden blockhouse some 10 metres tall was to be erected as part of the defences. McBride was also to chart the Islands and look for signs of occupation by other nations and report back. McBride arrived on January 8th 1766 and commenced construction of the settlement. Unlike Byron, he was less than impressed with the Islands yet still found time to add a little humour in his reports to the Admiralty: 'I likewise put a tablespoonful of Elixir of Vitriol in their water every day.... I thought it time to discontinue the Elixir of Vitriol since my arrival here; when they (the crew) could get a fox (Warrah) down there was no necessity of a better stomach. Every person who comes this way should be well provided with guns and dogs, as his dinner in great measure depends on it.' McBride did discover the French at Port Louis in December 1767 but took no hostile action. He was in time replaced by Captain Hunt as commander of the settlement. In 1769 the Spanish who had taken over the French settlement at Port Louis discovered the British at Port Egmont and became alarmed at the extent to which it had developed. The Governor of Buenos Aires sent an expedition of 5 ships and 1,500 soldiers and sailors to expel the British in June 1770. The British Governor, Captain Farmer, was heavily outnumbered having only one sloop, the other having been wrecked off Patagonia. Furthermore the settlement had not been prepared sufficiently for a vigorous defence and after a token resistance Farmer surrendered under protest and the British were expelled. In September 1771 the British returned to Port Egmont to resume their occupation after the Spanish backed down under threat of war. The garrison however was to be much reduced, consisting of only 75 sailors and marines and a small shallop named Penguin. Life at the settlement continued until 1774 when, no doubt due to the worsening situation in Britain's North American Colonies, the garrison was withdrawn. Lieutenant Clayton, the garrison commander, left a plaque upon the blockhouse door claiming the Islands for Britain. The Spanish, fearful that the British would return, despoiled the settlement in 1780, unroofing the buildings and probably dismantling the wooden blockhouse and using the timber for their own settlement. In a group of islands with no trees it is difficult to believe they would do otherwise. Despite this, Port Egmont continued to be used by American and British sealers. The Spanish explorer Malaspina found them there in 1790, and one building in particular at the site appears to be of 19th century construction. The lead plaque on the blockhouse door was taken to Buenos Aires by the Spanish where it was recaptured by the British when they took the city in 1806. It was sent back to Britain with other booty and subsequently, and rather irritatingly, it disappeared. Despite Spanish despoilation and the ravages of weather and time the remains at Port Egmont are still very impressive, consisting of buildings built of stone and peat. An impressive number of areas that were probably gardens give testimony to the amount of work that was expended to improve the lot of the garrison and any visiting vessels. Similarly, the mole in the harbour and the boat dock and warehouse give witness to the ingenuity of the men of the Royal Navy. Some of the stones used in constructing the waterfront must weigh over two tons. Another little known fact is that despite being a military settlement there were women and children present and it is interesting to speculate whether any child was born there during this first relatively brief period of British occupation. For me the most poignant memory of my visit to Port Egmont came on my penultimate day there when after an hour of quite exhausting search I located the graveyard further up the Northern slops of the valley around which the settlement was situated. The graves are only marked with rough uncut headstones with no inscriptions, but the view down the valley to the settlement and the waters of Port Egmont is superb. My only sadness standing there was the anonymity of the individuals interred there. However, some stories do have a happy ending; since returning to Stanley I have found their names in the October 1921 edition of the Falkland Islands Magazine and Church Paper and they are as follows:- Mr Thomas Harwood, July 20th 1766, HMS Jason Perhaps a plaque engraved with the names of these men will one day be erected to commemorate them. This
article first appeared in the Falkland Islands Newsletter, Edition 63,
July 1995. The Falkland Islands Association is an independent
organisation which brings together those who support the continuing
freedom of the people of the Falkland Islands. Its Constitution
states that its objectives are to assist the people of the Falkland
Islands to decide their own future for themselves without being subjected
to pressure direct or indirect from any quarter. |
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