page_title: Port Egmont
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Port Egmont / History
caption_attribution_description: Chart by John MacBride from his 1766 hydrographic survey of the Falkland Islands, published in 1773 by John Hawkesworth and John Byron.
context_page_description: Port Egmont was the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands, on Saunders Island off West Falkland, and is named after the Earl of Egmont.
context_section_description: Port Egmont was established in on 25 January 1765, by an expedition led by Commodore John Byron consisting of the boats HMS Dolphin, HMS Tamar and HMS Florida. The expedition left a watering place and a vegetable garden.
  Another expedition arrived around a year later in January 1766, led by Captain John MacBride, with the ships HMS Jason, HMS Carcass and HMS Experiment after which Carcass Island and the Jason Islands are named. This was to secure possession, and McBride ordered one of the ships to stay at Port Egmont, and develop the settlement, resulting in several permanent buildings and a garrison. MacBride, in command of HMS Jason, carried out the first hydrographic survey of the Falklands in 1766 and discovered a number of minor islands including Weddell, Beaver and New Islands off the southwest extremity of the archipelago. The chart based on that survey was one of the most accurate for its time. MacBride also made the first systematic meteorological observations in the Falklands. In January and February the thermometer at Port Egmont rose to 59 °F (15 °C), but no higher; in August, it once fell to 20 °F (−7 °C), but was seldom lower than 32 °F (0 °C). 
  The next few years resulted in conflicting claims with the French and Spanish, with the British using Port Egmont as a basis for their claim. In early 1770 Spanish commander Don Juan Ignacio de Madariaga briefly visited Port Egmont. He returned from Argentina on 10 June with five armed ships and 1400 soldiers forcing the British to leave Port Egmont.
  In 1771, after threats of war with Spain, the colony was re-established by Captain John Stott with the ships HMS Juno, HMS Hound and HMS Florida, the latter being at the founding of the original settlement. The port became an important stop for ships going around Cape Horn
  In 1774, Britain abandoned many of its overseas garrisons for economic reasons and Port Egmont was no exception, and in 1776, the British forces left. In the next few years, the colony was taken over by sealers, until in 1780 it was finally destroyed under orders from Spanish authorities.
caption: MacBride's chart, the ship track depicted is that of HMS Jason in 1766[3]
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