Elkano500ago

On the 21st of the said month, I took the sun and found exactly 52°, and five leagues from the land, we saw an opening like a bay, with a long stretch of sand on the right hand side of the mouth, the headland we discovered before the spit is named the Cape of Virgins [where the discovery of the Magellan Straits begins], and the sandy spit is at 52° latitude, and 52°½ longitude, and from the spit to the other side, there are some 5 leagues, and within this bay we found a strait a matter of one league wide, and from this opening to the spit you look East-West, and on the left hand side of the bay there is a great elbow, in which there are many shoals. We entered from the North, but as you will be approaching the strait, head S.W., along the middle of the channel, steering clear of the shoals that are less than three leagues from the mouth of the straits, after which you will find two islets of sand, and then you will find the channel clear. Proceed at your pleasure without hesitation [there was no concern about it being deep enough], and having passed through this strait we encountered another small bay, followed by another strait, similar to the first, running E. to W. from one end to the other, with the narrow part running N.E. to S.W., and after we had come through the two straits or narrows, we encountered a very large bay, with some islands in it, and we anchored at one of these and took the sun, and found ourselves to be at 52°⅓. From there we set sail in a S.S.E. direction, and found a spit on the left side, some 30 leagues from the first mouth, after that we went S.W. a matter of 20 leagues [Punta Arenas, Chile], and there we took the sun, and found 53°⅔, and from there we turned N.W. some 15 leagues, and anchored there at 53° latitude. In this strait there are a great many elbows, and the mountain ridges are very high and covered with snow, with many trees. After that we went N.W. 1/4 W., and along this channel there are many islets, upon leaving this strait the coast turns northward, and on the left side we saw a headland with an island, which we named Cape Hermoso and Cape Deseado [where the strait joins the Pacific], on the same latitude as the Cape of Virgins, which is at the mouth of the straits. From Cape Hermoso, we sailed N.W., N., and N.N.E., and continued along this course for two days and three nights, and in the morning, we sighted land with high peaks, running North to South (thus runs the coast of the South Sea), and from this land to Cape Hermoso there is a distance of some 20 leagues, we sighted this land on December 1st.