Chilean schooner Ancud ( 1843 ) The schooner Ancud was the ship sent by Chile in 1843 to claim sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan . It was built for the purpose in the city of San Carlos de Ancud and commanded by John Williams Wilson a British born Chilean captain . Mission . The " Ancud " sailed out from Ancud on May 22 , 1843 . The crew were carrying supplies for the estimated seven months journey , as well as supplies to settle a colony in the Strait of Magellan . On board were 23 crew ( 20 men , 2 women , 1 child ) , of which about half would stay in the Magallanes region with the mission of establish a permanent settlement . From Ancud to Puerto Americano . They brought two lifeboats , but lost one of them during a storm south of Queitao in Guaitecas archipelago . They called at a place known as Puerto Americano or Tangbac , where two American ships were anchored : the schooner " Betzei " and the brig " Enterprise " , both seal hunters . Williams tried unsuccessfully to buy from the " Enterprise " captain a boat and some nautical charts by Robert Fitz Roy , but only got a negative answer for the boat and just permission to copy the charts . They stayed in Puerto Americano until July 3 dedicated to building a boat . Meanwhile the naturalist Bernardo Philippi was responsible for handcopying the charts . Back to Ancud . On July 26 , they tried to pass Taitao Peninsula , but bad weather , together with a failure of the rudder and a starboard crack drove them back to seek shelter again in Puerto Americano , arriving there on August 2 . The next day Williams sent Miller , Philippi and five more men by boat back to Chiloé with orders to reach Dalcahue , about 300 km away , and from there travel by road about 80 km to Ancud to get supplies , the rudder repaired and inform the governor about their journey . They returned 23 days later with a boat carrying supplies . After discovering a smuggling plot by the " Enterprise " , Williams ordered its captain to withdraw his ship from Puerto Americano . As he did not obey , the next day the brig was seized and Williams threatened to fire on them if they ignored the order . The Enterprise was retired from Puerto Americano to a beach nearby and the next day , when the schooner Ancud had left to continue his journey , was reported to Americans that if they were meeting them again in Chilean territory without a formal permission of local authorities they will proceed to confiscate the boat . Strait of Magellan . Continued south , they were baptizing the landforms that were not named on their maps . When they reach Punta Santa Ana , already in the Strait , on September 21 , 1843 , all the crew of the schooner went ashore and took formal possession of the surrounding territory on behalf of Chile and started the process to build Fuerte Bulnes . Before leaving to scout eastward on September 26 they left in Santa Ana a sign engraved with the words " Republic of Chile " and " Viva Chile ! " . After scouting the area , and having met a tribe of Tehuelches , they left the strait on 4 December to their way back . Replica . A full size replica of the ship was open to visitors in the Nao Victoria Museum in Punta Arenas , Chile .