HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.
The Falkland Islands, lying between the parallels of 51° and 53° S.,
and extending from near 57° almost to 62° W., are in number about
two hundred, but only two are of considerable size. Between these
latter, called East, and West Falkland, is the channel to which our
countryman, Strong, gave the name of Falkland Sound, he himself
calling the adjacent country Hawkins’ Land.
Plausible assertions have been made by parties anxious to disprove
the claim of Great Britain to these islands, and so few persons,
excepting those immediately concerned, have inclination to refer
to original documents, that I may be pardoned for recalling to the
recollection of those to whom the subject is still interesting, a few
well-known facts, which, if fairly considered, place the question
above dispute.
It has been asserted, that Americus Vespucius saw these islands in
1502,[1] but if the account of Americus himself is authentic,[2]
he could not have explored farther south than the right bank of La
Plata. In 1501-2 Americus Vespucius, then employed by the King of
Portugal, sailed 600 leagues south and 150 leagues west from Cape
San Agostinho (lat. 8° 20′ S.) along the coast of a country then
named Terra Sancte Crucis.[3] His account of longitude may be very
erroneous, but how could his latitude have erred thirteen degrees in
this his southernmost voyage?
The south shore of the Plata is low, and appears to be woody, though
it is not; the depth of water off it is moderate, and the currents
are strong--all which peculiarities have been remarked on the
northern coasts of the Falklands; therefore the ‘description’ alluded
to by De Bougainville would apply equally well to the right bank of
the Plata. The late Mr. Dalrymple published an extract from a chart
printed at Rome, in 1508, in which it is said, that ships of Portugal
discovered a continuation of land as far south as fifty degrees,[4]
which did not there terminate. In that chart the name America is not
to be found. Brazil is there called Terra[5] Sancte Crucis.
If the Portuguese or any other people actually traced or even
discovered portions of coast south of the Plata before 1512, it
appears strange that so remarkable an estuary, one hundred and twenty
miles across, should have been overlooked; especially as soundings
extend two hundred miles seaward of its entrance:--and that the world
should have no clear record of its having been discovered prior to
the voyage of Juan de Solis, in 1512. Vespucius has already robbed
Columbus and his predecessor, Cabot, of the great honour of affixing
their names to the New World--shall he also be tacitly permitted to
claim even the trifling distinction of discovering the Falklands,
when it is evident that he could not have seen them?[6]
On the 14th of August 1592, John Davis, who sailed with Cavendish on
his second voyage, but separated from him in May 1592, discovered the
islands now called Falkland. In Mr. John Jane’s relation of Davis’s
voyage (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 846), there is the following simple,
but distinct account of this discovery: “Aug. 14, 1792. We were
driven in among certain isles, never before discovered by any known
relation, lying fifty leagues or better from the shore, east and
northerly from the Strait” (of Magalhaens).
At this time Davis was striving to enter the Strait of Magalhaens,
but had been long at sea, and driven far by tempests. His bearing is
correct, though the distance (by estimation only) is too small.
In 1683-4, Dampier and Cowley saw three islands in lat. 51° to 51°
20′ S., which they (correctly) supposed to be those seen and named
by Sebald de Weert. However, the editor of Cowley’s narrative, one
William Hack, published a different latitude for the land they saw,
and called it Pepys Island, in compliment to the then Secretary of
the Admiralty, intending that it should be supposed a new discovery.
The false latitude given by Hack was 47° S.: in his drawing of the
island he did not omit the insertion of an Admiralty Bay and a
Secretary Point.
Hawkins sailed along the northern shores of these islands in 1594,
and he, ignorant of Davis’s discovery, named them Hawkins’s Maiden
Land. His account appearing first, and prominently, before the
public, procured for them the name by which they were known until
Strong, in 1690, sailed through and anchored in the channel which he
named Falkland Sound. The Welfare’s journal, written by Strong, is in
the British Museum, together with Observations made during a South
Sea Voyage, written by Richard Simson, who sailed in the same ship;
but a few sentences in each are so relevant to the present subject,
that I shall quote them verbatim:--“1690. Monday 27th January. We
saw the land; when within three or four leagues, we had thirty-six
fathoms. It is a large land, and lieth east and west nearest. There
are several quays that lie among the shore. We sent our boat to one,
and she brought on board abundance of penguins, and other fowls, and
seals. We steered along shore E. by N., and at eight at night we saw
the land run eastward as far as we could discern. Lat. 51° 3′ S.
“Tuesday 28th. This morning at four o’clock we saw a rock that lieth
from the main island four or five leagues. It maketh like a sail.[7]
At six, we stood into a sound that lies about twenty leagues from
the westernmost land we had seen. The sound lieth south and north
nearest. There is twenty-four fathoms depth at the entrance, which is
four leagues wide. We came to an anchor six or seven leagues within,
in fourteen fathoms water. Here are many good harbours. We found
fresh water in plenty, and killed abundance of geese and ducks. As
for wood, there is none.
“On the 31st we weighed from this harbour, with the wind at W.S.W. We
sent our long-boat a-head of the ship, to sound before us. At eight
o’clock in the evening, we anchored in nine fathoms. The next morning
we weighed, and sent our boat before us. At ten, we were clear out
of the sound. At twelve, we set the west cape bearing N.N.E., which
we named Cape Farewell. This sound, Falkland Sound as I named it, is
about seventeen leagues long; the first entrance lies S. by E., and
afterwards S. by W.”
How it happened that the name Falkland, originally given to the sound
alone, obliterated Hawkins, and has never yielded to Davis, is now a
matter of very trifling importance.
I may be permitted to remark particularly, that Hawkins and Strong
not only saw both East and West Falkland, but that in 1690 Strong
anchored repeatedly between them, and landed: and I do so, because
stress has been laid upon the fact of Beauchesne Goüin having
anchored in 1700 on their eastern coast.
In the year 1600, the islands now called Jasons, Salvages, or
Sebaldines, at the north-west extremity of the Falklands, were seen
and named by Sebald de Weert; and during the next two centuries many
other navigators, sailing to or from the Pacific, saw the Falklands;
but it does not appear that any further landing was effected, or
even that any vessel anchored there, after Beauchesne, except the
Saint Louis, of St. Malo, until M. de Bougainville landed to form his
settlement, in February 1764.
Several ships of St. Malo passed near the Eastern Falklands between
the years 1706 and 1714, from whose accounts M. Frezier compiled his
chart, published in 1717; and in compliment to the owners of one of
them (the Saint Louis), her commander, M. Fouquet, named the cluster
of islets near which he anchored, the Anican Isles.
In consequence of the visits of these ships of St. Malo, the French
named the islands Les Malouines; but this was not till after 1716,
when Frezier compiled the chart in which he called them ‘Isles
Nouvelles,’ although in his own narrative (p. 512, Amsterdam edition,
1717), he says, “Ces îsles sont sans doute les mêmes que celles que
le Chevalier Richard Hawkins découvrit en 1593.”
The Spaniards adopted the French name, slightly altered, by changing
Malouines into Malvinas: even now the term ‘Maloon,’ a corruption of
Malouine,[8] is sometimes used by English or Americans instead of
island, in writing as well as in speaking.
During the early part of the last century, France maintained a
lucrative commerce with Chile and Peru, by way of Cape Horn, and the
advantages which might be derived from a port of refuge and supply
at the eastern extremity of the Falklands did not escape her active
discernment.
De Bougainville says, “Cependant leur position heureuse pour servir
de relâche aux vaisseaux qui vont dans la mer du sud, et d’échelle
pour la découverte des terres Australes, avoit frappé les navigateurs
de toutes les nations. Au commencement de l’année 1763, la cour de
France résolut de former un établissement dans ces îles. Je proposai
au ministere de le commencer à mes frais, et secondé par MM. de
Nerville et d’Arboulin, l’un mon cousin-germain et l’autre mon oncle,
je fis sur le champ construire et armer à Saint Malo, par les soins
de M. Duclos Guyot, aujourd’hui mon second, l’Aigle de vingt canons,
et le Sphinx de douze, que je munis de tout ce qui étoit propre pour
une pareille expédition. J’embarquai plusieurs familles Acadiennes,
espèce d’hommes laborieuse, intelligente, et qui doit être chère à la
France par l’inviolable attachement que lui out prouvé ces honnêtes
et infortunés citoyens.
“A Monte Video nous prîmes beaucoup de chevaux, et de bêtes à
corne,--nous atterrâmes sur les îles Sébaldes le 31 Janvier 1764.
“La même illusion qui avoit fait croire à Hawkins, à Woodes Rogers,
et aux autres, que ces îles étoient couvertes de bois, agit aussi
sur mes compagnons de voyage, et sur moi. Nous vîmes avec surprise,
en débarquant, que ce que nous avions pris pour du bois en cinglant
le long de la côte, n’étoit autre chose que des touffes de jonc
fort élevées et fort rapprochées les unes des autres. Leur pied,
en se desséchant reçoit la couleur d’herbe morte jusqu’à une toise
environ de hauteur; et de là sort une touffe de joncs[9] d’un beau
verd qui couronne ce pied; de sorte que, dans l’éloignement, les
tiges réunies présentent l’aspect d’un bois de médiocre hauteur. Ces
joncs ne croissent qu’au bord de la mer, et sur les petites îles; les
montagnes de la grande terre sont, dans quelques endroits, couvertes
entièrement de bruyères, qu’on prend aisément de loin pour du
taillis.”--(Voyage autour du Monde, 1766-69, séconde édition, 1772,
tom. i. p. 66-69.)
On the 17th of March De Bougainville decided to place his
establishment on the spot where the present settlement stands,
and forthwith disembarked to commence the laborious undertaking of
founding a colony.
In the year 1764, a squadron was sent to the South Seas by George
III., in whose instructions, dated June 17th, 1764, it is said, “And
whereas his Majesty’s islands, called Pepys Island and Falkland
Islands, lying within the said track,” (the track between the Cape
of Good Hope and the Strait of Magalhaens), “notwithstanding their
having been first discovered and visited by British navigators, have
never yet been so sufficiently surveyed, as that an accurate judgment
may be formed of their coasts and product, his Majesty, taking the
premises into consideration, and conceiving no junction so proper for
enterprises of this nature as a time of profound peace, which his
kingdoms at present happily enjoy, has thought fit that it should now
be undertaken.”
On the 23d January 1765, Commodore Byron went on shore at these
islands, with the captains and principal officers of his squadron,
“when the Union Jack being erected on a high staff, and spread, the
commodore took possession of the harbour and all the neighbouring
islands for his Majesty King George III., his heirs, and successors,
by the name of Falkland Islands. When the colours were spread, a
salute was fired from the ship.”
In consequence of Byron’s favourable report, Captain Macbride was
sent out in H.M.S. Jason to begun their colonization. He arrived in
January 1766.
Spain, hearing of the French settlement, immediately laid claim to
the islands, as forming a part of her American possessions; and
France, influenced by various considerations, agreed to deliver up
to Spain her newly-formed colony, upon condition that the projectors
and colonists should be indemnified for their losses: an agreement
honourably fulfilled by Spain.
On the 1st of April 1767, De Bougainville gave up possession to the
Spanish officer appointed to take charge: the standard of Spain was
hoisted, and royal salutes fired by the vessels present. Some of the
French colonists remained, but the greater part preferred returning
to France, and passages were given to them on board Spanish ships.
In 1770, a Spanish armament attacked the British colony at
Port Egmont, and obliged its small garrison to surrender to an
overpowering force, and quit the place. England, indignant at the
insult, armed for war, and demanded satisfaction from Spain for the
injury inflicted. At first Spain argued and temporized; but finding
that Great Britain continued firm, and that the English people were
even more disposed for action than their Government, she relinquished
her views--disavowed the act of her officer--and restored Port
Egmont. England was satisfied--or rather, the court party professed
to be satisfied; but the opposers of government angrily declared
that Spain had not done enough; and that, though compelled to make
restitution, her insult was unatoned for.
In 1774, finding the establishment at the Falklands expensive, and
almost useless,[10] England quietly withdrew it; but the marks and
signals of possession and property were left upon the islands, and
when the governor departed, the British flag remained flying, and
various formalities were observed, intended to indicate the right of
possession, as well as to show that the occupation of them might be
resumed.
The reports made by officers employed at Port Egmont were of such a
discouraging tendency, that no person at that time entertained the
least wish to have any further concern with the islands--and for
years they were unnoticed--though not forgotten by England. Spain,
however, jealous of interference with her colonial possessions,
and regarding the Falklands as a vantage-ground, from which those
in the south might be suddenly or secretly invaded, maintained a
small garrison at the eastern extremity of the Archipelago, where
her ships occasionally touched, and from time to time reconnoitred
the adjacent, ports, in order to ascertain whether any visitors
were there. At what precise time the Spaniards withdrew this small
garrison, and left the Falkland archipelago uninhabited by man, I am
not certain; but it must have been early in this century, because
from 1810 to 1820 there was no person upon those islands who claimed
even a shadow of authority over any of them.
In 1820, a ship of war was sent from Buenos Ayres to Port Louis;
her captain, Jewitt, hoisted the Argentine flag, and saluted it
with twenty-one guns; notifying, at the same time, to the sealing
and whaling vessels present, that he was “commissioned by the
Supreme Government of the United Provinces of South America to take
possession of these islands in the name of the country to which they
naturally appertain.”--(Weddell, p. 103.) This act of the Buenos
Ayrean Government was scarcely known in Europe for many years; and
not until 1829 was it noticed formally by Great Britain.
After reading this short statement of facts, one may pause to
consider what nation is at this moment the legitimate owner of the
Falklands. Do the discovery, prior occupation, and settlement of new
and uninhabited countries give a right to possession? If so, Great
Britain is the legal owner of those islands. Davis first discovered
them; Hawkins first named them; Strong first landed on them; and
(excepting the French), Byron first took formal possession of them;
and (again excepting the French), Macbride first colonized them.
Respecting the French claim, depending only upon first settlement,
not discovering, naming, or landing; whatever validity any one may
be disposed to allow it, that value must be destroyed, when it is
remembered that Spain asserted her superior claim, and that France
actually admitted it, resigning for ever her pretensions to those
islands. Whatever France might have been induced to do for political
reasons, of which the most apparent now is the continuance of the
trade she then carried on with Chile and Peru, England never admitted
that the Spanish claim was valid: and France having withdrawn,
the question is solely between Spain and Great Britain. Spaniards
neither discovered, landed upon, nor settled in the Falklands before
Englishmen; and their only claim rests upon the unstable foundation
of a papal bull, by virtue of which Spain might just as well claim
Otaheite, the Sandwich Islands, or New Zealand.
As to the pretensions of Buenos Ayres, I shall only remark, that in a
paper transmitted by her government to Mr. Baylies, chargé-d’affaires
of the United States of North America, on the 14th August 1832, the
advocate of her claims asserts, that “it is a political absurdity
to pretend that a colony which emancipates itself, inherits the
other territories which the metropolis may possess. If that singular
doctrine were to be found in the code of nations, the Low Countries,
for example, on their independence being acknowledged, in 1648, would
have succeeded to Spain in her rights to America; and in the same
manner, the United States would have appropriated to themselves the
British possessions in the East-Indies. Inheritance, indeed! the
United States did not inherit the rights of England in Newfoundland,
notwithstanding its contiguity: and are they to inherit those which
she may have to the Malvinas, at the southern extremity of the
continent, and in the opposite hemisphere.”[11]
The writer of the preceding sentences, in his haste to attack the
United States of America for an assertion made by one of their
journalists, to the effect that the United States inherited from
Great Britain a claim to fish around the Falklands, must have
overlooked the simple fact, that his arguments were even more
applicable to Buenos Ayres than they were to the United States of
North America.
When Captain Jewitt arrived at the Falklands, he found more than
thirty sail of vessels engaged there in the seal fishery, besides
others which were recruiting the health of their crews after whaling
or sealing voyages in the antarctic regions. By the crews of these
ships numbers of cattle and pigs were killed, as well as horses,
the wild descendants of those taken there by Bougainville and his
successors.
In 1823, the Buenos Ayrean Government took another step, in the
appointment of a ‘comandante de las Malvinas;’ and in the same year,
Lewis Vernet, by birth a German, in concert with his friends at
Buenos Ayres, “solicited and obtained from the Government the use of
the fishery and of the cattle on the Eastern Malvina, and likewise
tracts of land thereon, in order to provide for the subsistence of
the settlement.[12] This undertaking did not prosper; but the next
year Mr. Vernet prepared a second expedition, in which he himself
sailed. His own words (translated) are:[13] “After many sacrifices,
I was enabled to surmount great obstacles; but still that which we
expected to effect in one year was not realized before the expiration
of five. My partners lost all hope, and sold me their shares. I
bought successively three vessels, and lost them; I chartered five,
one of which was lost. Each blow produced dismay in the colonists,
who several times resolved to leave that ungrateful region, but were
restrained by their affection for me, which I had known how to win,
and by the example of constancy and patience which my family and
myself held out to them.”
In 1828, the Government of Buenos Ayres granted to Mr. Vernet
(with certain exceptions) the right of property in the Falkland
Islands--and in Staten Land! “It also conceded to the colony
exemption from taxation for twenty years, and for the same period
the exclusive right to the fishery in all the Malvinas, and on the
coast of the continent to the southward of the Rio Negro, under the
condition that within three years I (Vernet) should have established
the colony.”[14]
About this time merchant-vessels of all nations visited the Falkland
Islands, both in their outward voyage and when returning from the
Pacific; but advantageous as their visits were, those of numerous
sealers had a very different effect: for, instead of frequenting
the settlement, their crews killed the seal indiscriminately at all
seasons, and slaughtered great numbers of wild cattle. “For this
reason,” says Vernet, “I requested the Government to furnish me
with a vessel of war, to enable me to cause the rights of the colony
to be respected. The Government was aware of the necessity of the
measure; but not being then able to place a vessel at my disposal,
it resolved to invest me with a public and official character, and
for that purpose issued the two decrees of the 10th of June: the
one re-establishing the governorship of the Malvinas and Tierra del
Fuego; and the other nominating me to fulfil that office.”[15]
In 1829, Vernet warned off some North American sealers: and in
1831, upon their repeating the sealing excursion of which he had
complained, he detained them by force. This act, and various
circumstances arising out of it, drew upon him and his unfortunate
colony the hasty indignation of Captain Silas Duncan, of the United
States corvette Lexington, who, on his own responsibility, without
waiting to communicate with his Government, sailed from the Plata to
the Falkland Islands, surprised, assaulted, and made prisoners of
many unoffending people, and unwarrantably destroyed both property
and buildings. Mr. Brisbane and several others were put into
confinement, and carried away, on board the Lexington, to Buenos
Ayres, where they were delivered up to the Buenos Ayrean Government,
in February 1832. The United States supported their officer, and
immediately despatched a chargé-d’affaires to Buenos Ayres, with
instructions to demand compensation for the injury done to North
American trade, and full reparation to all North American citizens
for personal wrongs.
While the United States and Buenos Ayres were discussing the
questions at issue, Great Britain, following up the solemn warnings
she had given Buenos Ayres (especially in the protest addressed to
that Government by Mr. Parish, in November 1829), issued orders
to her Commander-in-chief on the South American station, to send
a vessel of war to re-hoist the British flag upon the Falkland
Islands: to assert her right of sovereignty, and to cause every thing
belonging to the Buenos Ayrean Government to be embarked and sent
away.
On the 2d of January 1833, H.M.S. Clio anchored in Berkeley Sound,
to carry these orders into effect: H.M.S. Tyne, about the same time,
anchoring in Port Egmont. In each place the British colours were
hoisted and saluted: the small Buenos Ayrean garrison at Port Louis
quietly withdrew, and sailed for the Plata in an armed schooner,
belonging to Buenos Ayres: and from that time those unhappy islands
have been more ostensibly British, though but little has yet been
done to draw forth the resources, and demonstrate the advantages
which they unquestionably possess. When the Tyne and Clio sailed,
after a very short stay at the islands, no authority was left there,
but the colours were entrusted to an Irishman, who had been Mr.
Vernet’s storekeeper.[16]
In 1834, a lieutenant in the navy, with a boat’s crew, was sent to
reside at Port Louis, and since that time various small ships of war
have succeeded each other in visiting and exploring the numerous
islands and harbours of that archipelago.
Those who may wish for more historical information on this
subject--for further details of former negociations between Spain
and England, or of the late discussions between North America and
Buenos Ayres--should refer to Dr. Johnson’s “Thoughts respecting
the Falkland Islands” (Johnson’s Works, vol. viii. p. 96, Murphy’s
Edition, 1816): to Junius’s 42d Letter; and to papers published at
Buenos Ayres in 1832; in addition to general history.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Il me paroît qu’on en peut attribuer la première découverte
au célèbre Améric Vespuce, qui, dans son troisième voyage pour la
découverte de l’Amérique, en parcourut la côte du nord au mois
d’Avril 1502. Il ignoroit à la vérité si elle appartenoit à une
île, ou si elle faisoit partie du continent; mais il est facile de
conclure de la route qu’il avoit suivie, de la latitude à laquelle
il étoit arrivé, de la description même qu’il donne de cette côte,
que c’étoit celle des Malouines. J’assurerais, avec non moins de
fondement, que Beauchesne Goüin, revenant de la mer du Sud en 1700,
a mouillé dans la partie orientale des Malouines, croyant être aux
Sebaldes.--Voyage de Bougainville, 2d édit. 1772, tom. i. p. 63.
[2] Letters of Americus Vespucius, in Ramusio’s Collection, vol. i.
fol. 128.
[3] The name America was not given before the year 1507. (Herrera,
Dec. 1, 7, 5.)
[4] The Falklands are beyond fifty-one degrees of south latitude.
[5] In 1507 (the admiral Christopher Columbus being dead), Americus
Vespucius was taken into the service of the King of Spain, with the
title of ‘Pilote mayor,’ and was employed in making charts of the new
discoveries, which gave him an opportunity to affix his own name to
the land of South America. (Herrera, Dec. 1, 7, 5.)
[6] Could the constructor of the chart, published at Rome in 1508,
have been misinformed, owing to a mistake of 5 for 3 (50 for 30)?
Such errors occur frequently in modern compilations.
[7] This rock was seen by Hawkins, and named by him ‘White Conduit.’
Now it is called Eddystone.
[8] “Fortunately, it is on this maloon, or island, that bullocks and
horses are found running wild.”--(Weddell, p. 97.)
[9] Now called Tussac by the sealers and colonists.
[10] The fact was, it was injudiciously situated, and therefore
seldom visited, except by a few fishermen.
[11] Papers relative to the origin and present state of the questions
pending with the United States of America on the subject of the
Malvinas (Falkland Islands). Translated and printed at Buenos Ayres
in 1832.
[12] See note in preceding page.
[13] Idem.
[14] Idem.
[15] See note, page 235.
[16] Not long before the Clio arrived, there had been a mutiny in
the garrison, and the Buenos Ayrean commanding officer had been
barbarously murdered. In the early part of 1834, Mr. Brisbane fell a
victim to treachery. These fatal occurrences will be mentioned again
in the course of my narrative.