Gulf of Penas

The Gulf of Penas (Golfo de Penas in Spanish, meaning "gulf of distress") is a body of water located south of the Taitao Peninsula, Chile.

Geography

It is open to the westerly storms of the Pacific Ocean, but it affords entrance to several natural harbours. Among these are the gulfs of Tres Montes and San Esteban and San Quintín, and Tarn Bay at the entrance to Messier Channel.^[1] To the south of the gulf lies Guayaneco Archipelago and to the east lies San Javier Island and then the mainland.

History

Spanish explorers and Jesuits, sailing south from Chiloé Archipelago in the 17th and 18th centuries, regularly avoided rounding the Taitao Peninsula by entering the Gulf, after a brief land crossing at the isthmus of Ofqui.^[2]

In 1741, the British warship HMS Wager ran aground along the coast of (future) Wager Island, in the southeastern region of the Gulf, while attempting to tack from a lee shore during a storm.^[3][2] Some of the survivors were rescued by Chono chieftain Martín Olleta and his men, who took them aboard their dalcas to the Spanish settlements of Chiloé Archipelago.^[4]

In December 1843, the Chilean schooner Ancud rescued the survivors of wrecked French ship Fleuris on the shores of the Gulf.^[5]

Flora and fauna

Local marine and terrestrial wildlife includes:

• Banded wood frog

• Chilean dolphin

• Chiloé Island frog

• Coypu

• Dusky dolphin

• Emerald forest frog

• Grey wood frog

• Guiña

• Leopard seal

• Long-finned pilot whale

• Marbled wood frog

• Marine otter

• Nibaldo's wood frog

• Orca

• Patagonian toad

• Puma

• Puerto Eden frog

• Sei whale

• South American gray fox

• South Andean deer (or huemul)

• South American fur seal

• South American sea lion

• Southern elephant seal

• Southern pudú

• Southern right whale

• Southern right whale dolphin

• Southern river otter

• Sperm whale

The Gulf is a suitable habitat for a number of species of baleen whales,^[6] and is speculated to be a wintering/calving ground for a population of the critically endangered southern right whale.^[7]

See also

• Fjords and channels of Chile
• Laguna San Rafael National Park

References

1.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Moyna, Edward Gerald James (1911). "Chile". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 143.
2. Vásquez Caballero, Ricardo Felipe. "Aau, el secreto de los chono" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved January 24, 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
3. Sepúlveda Ortíz, Jorge. "Exploraciones efectuadas en la región de Trapananda antes del siglo XIX" (PDF). Boletín de la Academia de Historia Naval y Marítima de Chile (in Spanish): 95–110. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
4. Urbina Carrasco, Ximena (2016). "Interacciones entre españoles de Chiloé y Chonos en los siglos XVII y XVIII: Pedro y Francisco Delco, Ignacio y Cristóbal Talcapillán y Martín Olleta" [Interactions between Spaniards of Chiloé and Chonos in the XVII and XVII centuries: Pedro and Francisco Delco, Ignacio and Cristóbal Talcapillán and Martín Olleta] (PDF). Chungara (in Spanish). 48 (1): 103–114. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
5. Talbott, Robert D. (1974). A history of the Chilean boundaries (A Replica ed.). The Iowa State University Press. p. 83. ISBN 0-8138-0305-5.
6. Blue Marine Foundation, Patagonia
7. Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), 2021, Encuentran refugio de crianza de ballena franca austral en la Patagonia chilena

• Instituto Geográfico Militar (1970). Atlas de la República de Chile. Santiago: Instituto Geográfico Militar. Second edition.

47°22′S 74°50′W