The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-02-01
FLEET IS READY TO
PASS MAGELLAN
STRAITS
Evans Ships Coaling for Most
Dangerous Part Of Voyage
MADE GOOD RUN FROM RIO
Many Officers and Men for First Time
See Giant Cliffs at End Of
American Continent.

PUNTA ARENAS. Feb. 1.-The bat
tlesaip fleet under Admiral Evans ar
rived here all well and is coaling be-
fore starting through the most dan
gerous portion of Magellan strait to
the Pacific ocean.
The flagship of the American COM
mander was sighted ut 6 o'clock. This
ship communicated with the Chilean
lighthouse at Point Dungeness.
The fleet has made particularly
good run from Rio de Janeiro to Punta
Arenas. The distance is 1850 nautical
miles, and it was covered in approxi'
mately nine days This is at the rate
of 11.15 knots an hour. The run from
Port of Spain TO Rio de Janeiro was
made by the fleet at approximately POI
knots day.
The distance from Cape Virgins,
where the fleet was first sighted, to
Punta Arenas is 40 nautical miles.
Rear Admiral Evans feet has now
entered upon the most difficult part
of its trip to the Pacific-the navigation
of the strait of Magellan. With favor
able weather II should complete the
passage with safety in about twenty
four hours after leaving this one safe
harbor of the strait.
The first hundred miles Of the strait
was comparatively uninteresting. The
land on either side is low and covered
with grass, with scarcely tree to be
seen for the entire distance to Cape
Negro. Throughout this stretch the
depth of the water rarely exceeds 200
feet. There are many banks. and
shoals, and the tidal streams are rapid,
the tide rising from thirty-six to forty
four feet. An anchorage may be OBJ
tanned in almost any part Of the east
ern end of the strait. except in the
Narrows. At Cape Negro trees were
seen. and the land gradually becomes
higher. The forests grow denser and
the mountains more lofty as the middle
of the strait and this port was APP
preached
While approaching the strait Of Ma
gellan from the eastward Cape Vir-
gins was the first land seen. 1t is a
white cliff 135 feet high. on which
| there is lighthouse and Several dwell
| Ings. Ia clear weather the cape is WIS.,
| ible from distance of twenty to
twenty-five miles. Five miles to the
, southwest is Point Dungeness, a low
spit, where the northern shore begins
! its westward trend. Across the mouth
of the strait from Dungeness lie the
giant white cliffs of Cape Espiritu
Santo, 100 feet high. Eight miles Il
the westward of Cape Virgins the fleet
passed Mount Dinero, conical hill 21s
feet high. From this point the land OF
the northern shore, along which the
| fleet proceeded close to the rocky coast
continues to rise between 200 and
400 feet high, rather level on TOT
! and generally covered with grass, &c
Cape Possession, fourteen miles farther
west. On Mount Dinero has beer
erected n pyramidal beacon, painted
with red and white bands and sur
mounted by ball. to Indicate thu
boundary between the Chilean anC
Argentine republics. At the entrance
to the first narrows on the northern
shore is Delgada point. The light
house located there Is In telephone
communication with Punta Arenas, OF
Sandy point.
In clear weather from the secont
narrows the high mountains on Daw
son island and Mount San Felipe cal
be seefl to the southwark, forming al
apparent barrier, blocking the passage
Over Mount San Felipe can be seen thu
summit of Mount Tarn standing out Ii