Page:Royalnavyhistory01clow.djvu/706

 Patagonian coast, came in sight of the land at the northern side of Magellan's Strait, which that commander had named the Cape of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, having come in sight of it on the 21st of October, 1520, St. Ursula's day. On entering the strait, being the third navigator to do so since Magellan, on the 20th of August, 1578, Drake changed the name of his ship from the Pelican to the Golden Hind, in honour of his patron Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a hind statant Or.

Drake took his fleet through the strait in sixteen days, Magellan having taken thirty-one days in the same navigation. The English sailors obtained plenty of fresh provisions. In one day three thousand penguins were killed on an island which Drake named after the queen. There was also some friendly intercourse with the natives. Emerging into the South Sea on the 6th of September, the fleet encountered terrific storm. The little Marygold was never heard of again. The Golden Hind was driven far to the south, and when the gale moderated, Drake landed on an island at the extreme south of Tierra del Fuego. Although the Dutch were the first to sail round Cape Horn in 1615, Francis Drake undoubtedly discovered that famous island. He named it, and the adjacent islets, the Elizabethides.

The Elizabeth ran back into the strait and, after some hesitation, Captain Wynter resolved to return home, despairing of being able to join his consorts gain. This decision was made we are told "full sore again the mariners' minds." Wynter remained three weeks in the strait to recruit the strength of his men, and during his sojourn he collected some aromatic bark from an evergreen tree since named by Foster Drimys Winteri. He used it on the voyage home as a remedy for scurvy, and the remedy, still known s a useful tonic, has ever since been called "Winter's bark." The Elizabeth arrived safely at Ilfracombe.

The small pinnace Christopher, with a crew of only eight men, was also driven out of sight of the other ships by the force of the storm. The crew got back into the strait, killed and salted many penguins, and eventually brought the little Christopher into the River Plate. Here she was dashed to pieces on some rocks. Six of the crew were killed by the natives. The two survivors, named Peter Curden and William Pitcher, lived on crabs and wild berries for two months, at the end of which time Pitcher died, and his comrade buried him in the sand. After nine months, Peter Curden almost miraculously