Puerto Deseado

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Puerto Deseado
RB20191108 Puerto Deseado-129.jpg
Basic data
location 47 ° 45 ′  S , 65 ° 54 ′  W Coordinates: 47 ° 45 ′  S , 65 ° 54 ′  W
Height above d. M .: 6  m
Population (2001): 10,237
  (Argentina)
 
 
administration
Province : Santa CruzSanta Cruz Santa Cruz
Department : Deseado
Mayor: Luis Ampuero, Frente para la Victoria
Others
Postal code : Z9050
Telephone code: 0297
Website of Puerto Deseado

Puerto Deseado (founded as Port Desire ) is the capital of the Deseado department in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz in Patagonia . It has about 10,000 inhabitants, is located at the mouth of the Río Deseado in the Atlantic Ocean and has a fishing port.

The city was founded by Thomas Cavendish in 1586 and named after his ship Port Desire . The Spanish translation later spread and eventually became the official name. Puerto Deseado has a disused train station, a library (Biblioteca Pública y Municipal "Florentino Ameghino") and two museums. One shows a collection of Indian objects, the other, the "Museo Regional Mario Brozoski", shows finds from the wreckage of the Swift caravel , which sank in 1770 . Deseadensic youngsters discovered the location of the wreck in 1982. Since then, the "Swift" has been researched under the supervision of ICOMOS and individual parts have been lifted.

Puerto Deseado is the garrison base of the 9th tank regiment "General José Gervasio Artigas" of the Argentine Army.

history

The almost 32 km long harbor was used by Ferdinand Magellan and other early seafarers. Magellan called the place "Bahía de los trabajos" in 1520, the pirate Francis Drake anchored there on May 17, 1578 and named the place "Bahía de las Focas". On December 17, 1586 Thomas Cavendish reached the estuary of the Río Deseado with his flagship Desiré , accompanied by the ships Hugh Gallant and Content . He called the port "Port Desire", the headland at the entrance to the port is still called "Punta Cavendish" today. The British only encountered a few Indians who injured some crew members with arrows. After 10 days, Cavendish left port and returned to Britain by 1588. In 1591 he started another five-ship expedition in which he sailed as Admiral on the Leicester Galleon , while the Desiré was commanded by Captain John Davis. They were unable to cross the Strait of Magellan because of the winter and turned back. On May 20, 1592, the Desiré and the Black Pinnace lost contact with the other ships and entered Port Desire to wait for Cavendish. This did not come, however, and so the two ships sailed to the nearby Penguin Island in August and then continued south. There they got caught in a storm and were finally proven to be the first Europeans to reach the Falkland Islands .

On December 16, 1615, the Dutch captain Willhelm Schuiten called at Puerto Deseado. One of his ships, the "Hoorn", burned down. He later named the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn, after this ship .

In 1670 John Narborough came to Port Desire and claimed the area for England . Captain John Byron set sail from Port Desire in the 1760s to take possession of the Falkland Islands for the British. During a Spanish attack in 1770, the Swift was one of the British ships that had to flee the port. When she returned, however, she ran aground and sank. Since then the wreck has been in Port Desire harbor.

The port continued to operate and when the HMS Beagle arrived on December 23, 1833, perhaps the city's most famous visitor came ashore, namely the young scientist Charles Darwin . The Beagle's crew stayed for a long time in Puerto Deseado, as the city was called since the Argentine independence. The official establishment took place on July 15, 1884 by a group of colonizers under the command of Capitán Antonio Oneto .

economy

Fishing boats in the harbor

The port is an important port of call for the Argentine fishing fleet. Fishing and industrial fish processing play an important role here.

traffic

Puerto Deseado is connected to National Road 3 ( Buenos Aires - Ushuaia ) by an approximately 120 kilometer long cul-de-sac . There used to be a railway connection with Las Heras on the upper reaches of the Río Deseado . Construction of the line began in 1909 and was shut down in 1978.

Web links