Our first night on seawatches. It was to take overnight and most of today to reach New Island, our planned visit to West Falklands. But the good winds from an easterly direction brought us fast to our destination. That meant a good morning of sail handling, changing various courses, bracing, dousing sail, and maneuvering amongst the set of rocks and islets that lead towards the so-called South Harbour at New Island. There is where we could find shelter from the strong southerly winds that gradually started abating. A cove well known by whalers, as it is here where the only land-based whaling station in Falklands functioned between 1908 and 1916, its remains well visible at the beach.
New Island, named by the 18th-century North American sealers from New Bedford, Newport, and New London that operated here, has seen several of the different stages in Falklands history, including farming. But nowadays, these lands, after many years of sheep and cattle raising, are dedicated only to conservation, regulated and managed by the Falkland Island Conservation Trust, depending on the Wildlife Conservation Society.
The history of this change in the activities began in 1979 when the island was divided into two independently run projects. In 1995, Ian J. Strange, owner of the southern half of it, established the New Island Conservation Trust, which acquired the northern half in 2006 from Tony Chater.
The strong easterlies were dying during the morning while we stood at anchor, and by lunchtime, the conditions were good for repositioning the ship a bit further north to Tiger (or also called Settlement) Bay. The rain from last night and this morning had passed, and with the change of wind, now beginning to turn to a westerly, came too the blue skies.
A perfect chance to drop the zodiacs and do an afternoon landing, setting foot ashore next to the Protector III wreck. A freighter between islands built in 1943 that ran aground here in 1969.
The keepers of the island met us ashore before inviting us to the Barnard Memorial Museum, which displays artifacts of the whaling and sealing era, the history of the island, its wildlife, information about the Trust, souvenirs, books, and maps.
The story surrounding this building brings us all the way back to the year 1813 and the famous castaway Captain Charles Barnard from North America. The previous year, the British ship Isabella, captained by George Higton, was shipwrecked off Speedwell Island (which we visited yesterday, now rounding up the story with our visit to New Island). Her crew was rescued by the American sealer Nanina, which was built and operated out of the whaling port city of Hudson, NY, and commanded by Captain Charles Barnard. By this year, both countries had started a war, but nevertheless, the rescue was agreed. Now the Nanina, with two full crews aboard, was in need of more supplies. Barnard and four of his sailors left the ship on a hunting expedition to New Island. While they were off the ship, the British seized the Nanina and left. Barnard and his men were left behind. It was June 1813, and it was not until November 1814 when they were saved by the British whalers Asp and Indispensable.
They spent almost 18 months marooned right where we landed for our afternoon activity. Here they built a stone hut, nowadays incorporated into the small memorial museum.
In front of the building, the white sand beach is home to Kelp geese, Oystercatchers, Crested ducks, and Blackish cinclodes, amongst other species. Along the green meadows we walked, were a myriad of Upland geese raising their offspring together with a handful of the rarer Ruddy-headed geese and Speckled teals.
The short and easy path leads to the jagged western shores of the island. Here we stand atop a 170m high cliff, home to a picturesque rookery of Rockhoppers, Black-browed albatrosses, and Imperial shags. Amongst all of them, a solitary Macaroni penguin tries to make its life, apparently pairing up with one of the Rockhoppers. Out of their classical distribution range, which is mostly in South Georgia, sometimes here and there, and if you are lucky, a handful can be spotted in the Falklands or even all the way down south in the South Shetland Islands.
A fantastic spot to visit, also offering us an idea of what is to be found on the West Falkland Islands, with different wildlife and landscapes than the east side of the archipelago.
We were fortunate to have fair winds to sail here, and as it looks now, in the evening we will have good conditions to set sail eastwards and start our way to South Georgia. And so it happened, after dinner the anchor is heaved home, and the Europa starts her way. First under engine for a couple of hours to get out of the channels and islets that pepper this area, then on a hectic night of sail setting and adjusting the rig to start our first oceanic part of the trip along the Scotia Sea.