Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

At two o’clock in the morning of the 19th, having made sail, we steered S.E. by E. along the coast, and soon passed the S.E. point of the bay of St. Barbara, which I called Cape Desolation, because near it commenced the most desolate and barren country I ever saw. It seems entirely composed of rocky mountains without the least appearance of vegetation. These mountains terminate in horrible precipices whose craggy summits spire up to a vast height, so that hardly anything in nature can appear with a more barren and savage aspect, than the whole of this country. The inland mountains were covered with snow, but those on the sea coast were not. We judged the former to belong to the main of Tierra del Fuego, and the latter to be islands so ranged as apparently to form a coast. After three hours calm, we got a breeze at S.E. by E., and after having made a short trip to south, stood in for the land, the most advanced point of which, that we had in sight, bore east, distant ten leagues. This is a lofty promontory, lying E.S.E., 19 leagues from Gilbert Isle, and situated in latitude 55°26′ south, longitude 70°25′ west. Viewed from the situation we now were in, it terminated in two high towers, and, within them, a hill shaped like a sugar loaf. This wild rock therefore obtained the name of York Minster.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

Comment

York Minster seems to have been at the southernmost point of Isla Waterman/Waterman Island. Darwin visited in 1830:

Weighed, warped to windward, and made sail out of Adventure Passage. I was very anxious to reach Christmas Sound, because it seemed to me a good situation for the Beagle, while the boats could go east and west of her, and the new boat might be built. Running along the land, before a fresh breeze, we soon saw York Minster, and in the evening entered Christmas Sound, and anchored in the very spot where the Adventure lay when Cook was here. His sketch of the sound, and description of York Minster, are very good, and quite enough to guide a ship to the anchoring place. I fancied that the high part of the Minster must have crumbled away since he saw it, as it no longer resembled “two towers,” but had a ragged, notched summit, when seen from the westward.

(King 1839)

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Original

At two o’clock in the morning of the 19th, having made sail, we steered S.E. by E. along the coast, and soon passed the S.E. point of the bay of St. Barbara, which I called Cape Desolation, because near it commenced the most desolate and barren country I ever saw… It seems entirely composed of rocky mountains without the least appearance of vegetation. These mountains terminate in horrible precipices whose craggy summits spire up to a vast height, so that hardly anything in nature can appear with a more barren and savage aspect, than the whole of this country. The inland mountains were covered with snow, but those on the sea coast were not. We judged the former to belong to the main of Tierra del Fuego, and the latter to be islands so ranged as apparently to form a coast.

After three hours calm, we got a breeze at S.E. by E., and after having made a short trip to south, stood in for the land, the most advanced point of which, that we had in sight, bore east, distant ten leagues. This is a lofty promontory, lying E.S.E., 19 leagues from Gilbert Isle, and situated in latitude 55°26′ south, longitude 70°25′ west. Viewed from the situation we now were in, it terminated in two high towers, and, within them, a hill shaped like a sugar loaf. This wild rock therefore obtained the name of York Minster.

245 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Antártica Chilena Province (1) ·
• Cabo de Hornos, Chile (1) ·
• Chile (2) ·
• Cook, James (1728-79) (3), North-Riding-born explorer, cartographer, and Royal Navy captain, three Pacific voyages 1768-79 ·
• Darwin, Charles (2) ·
• HMS Beagle (1) ·
• Magallanes Region (1) ·
• Second voyage of HMS Beagle (1) ·
• Second voyage of James Cook (1) ·
• South America (1) ·
• Tierra del Fuego (1) ·
• 📌York Minster (27) ·

All tags.

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