Pactolus Bank (or Burnham Bank) is (or was) a seamount in the Southern Ocean, west of Cape Horn. It was discovered by Captain W.D. Burnham of the American ship Pactolus on November 6, 1885. The bank has been proposed as a possible location for Elizabeth Island, a phantom island reported by Sir Francis Drake in October 1578. However, subsequent surveys have been unable to locate the bank, which may itself be a phantom.
Burnham reported to the US Hydrographic Office that "while running before a gale off Cape Horn in command of the American ship Pactolus at 4 o'clock in the morning of 6 November 1885, the wind lulled and the sea fell, and noticing very highly discoloured water, he hove the ship to and sounded three times, obtaining each time from 67 to 70 fms. of black sand and small rocks". He then "ran South for 30 miles before the water, which all the time was very thick and yellow, resumed its natural colour". He reports "the line of demarcation was very distinct". [1] Burnham gives the position of the soundings as 56°36′S74°20′W / 56.600°S 74.333°W . He states that an English ship from San Francisco to Liverpool reported discoloured water in the same location at the same time. [2]
Marine historian Felix Riesenberg notes that earlier mariners had observed large icebergs stationary in the area, suggesting they had grounded on the bank; these have typically been 200 ft or more in height, with a corresponding depth of 800 to 1,400 ft below the surface; [3] others could have been several miles in length and up to 1000 ft high, while an iceberg sighted by a Captain CC Dixon in 1860 was L-shaped, 50 miles long on one leg, and 30 miles on the other. [4] These icebergs have been observed stationary for up to a month in the vicinity of the bank, and are thought to be responsible for the loss of several ships that have run into them, or been trapped. [5]
Felix Riesenberg, who served under Burnham, postulated that Pactolus Bank was the sunken location of Elizabeth Island, discovered by Sir Francis Drake's ship the Golden Hinde in 1578. Leaving the Magellan Strait, Drake's ship was driven far to the west and south, before clawing its way back towards land. On 22 October the ship anchored off an island which Drake, according to Riesenberg, named "Elizabeth Island", where wood and water was collected and seals and penguins captured for food, along with "herbs of great virtue". According to Drake's Portuguese pilot, Nuno da Silva, their position at the anchorage was 57°S. However, no island has been confirmed at that latitude, although a sinking volcanic island may have been sighted in that vicinity by the Danish ship Lutterfeld in December 1876 or 1877.[ citation needed ]
Historian Mateo Martinic, however, considers Sars Bank, 350 km south of Diego Ramírez Islands, as a better fit for Elizabeth Island. [6]
The USS Bear (AG-29) investigated the area in March 1940, but her log does not mention any soundings or results. The USS Wyandot (AKA-92) investigated the area in 1956 and found no indication of a shoal. The importance of these attempts is extremely limited,[ clarification needed ] mainly due to the severe weather these ships had to operate in. Therefore, Pactolus Bank may itself be a phantom island.
In 2008, Dutchman Hylke Tromp, after some years of research, published a comprehensive report, containing all known facts and myths regarding the Pactolus Bank.
Sir Francis Drake was an English explorer and privateer, best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580. This was the first English circumnavigation, and third circumnavigation overall. He is also known for participating in the early English slaving voyages of his cousin, Sir John Hawkins, and John Lovell. Having started as a simple seaman, in 1588 he was part of the fight against the Spanish Armada as a vice-admiral.
A phantom island is a purported island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigational errors, mistaken observations, unverified misinformation, or deliberate fabrication. Some have remained on maps for centuries before being "un-discovered."
Sir Martin Frobisher was an English seaman and privateer who made three voyages to the New World looking for the North-west Passage. He probably sighted Resolution Island near Labrador in north-eastern Canada, before entering Frobisher Bay and landing on present-day Baffin Island. On his second voyage, Frobisher found what he thought was gold ore and carried 200 tons of it home on three ships, where initial assaying determined it to be worth a profit of £5.20 per ton. Encouraged, Frobisher returned to Canada with an even larger fleet and dug several mines around Frobisher Bay. He carried 1,350 tons of the ore back to England, where, after years of smelting, it was realized that the ore was a worthless rock containing the mineral hornblende. As an English privateer, he plundered riches from French ships. He was later knighted for his service in repelling the Spanish Armada in 1588.
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Golden Hind was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as Pelican, but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a golden hind. Hatton was one of the principal sponsors of Drake's world voyage. A full-sized, seaworthy reconstruction is in London, on the south bank of the Thames.
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1532–1592) was a Spanish explorer, author, historian, mathematician, and astronomer. His birthplace is not certain and may have been Pontevedra, in Galicia, where his paternal family originated, or Alcalá de Henares in Castile, where he later is known to have studied. His father Bartolomé Sarmiento was born in Pontevedra and his mother María Gamboa was born in Bilbao, Basque Country.
The Diego Ramírez Islands are a small group of subantarctic islands located in the southernmost extreme of Chile.
HMS Guardian was a 44-gun Roebuck-class fifth-rate two-decker of the Royal Navy, later converted to carry stores. She was completed too late to take part in the American War of Independence, and instead spent several years laid up in ordinary, before finally entering service as a store and convict transport to Australia, under Lieutenant Edward Riou. Riou sailed Guardian, loaded with provisions, animals, convicts and their overseers, to the Cape of Good Hope where he took on more supplies. Nearly two weeks after his departure on the second leg of the journey, an iceberg was sighted and Riou sent boats to collect ice to replenish his water supplies. Before he could complete the re-provisioning, a sudden change in the weather obscured the iceberg, and Guardian collided with it while trying to pull away. She was badly damaged and in immediate danger of sinking. The crew made frantic repair attempts but to no apparent avail. Riou eventually allowed most of the crew to take to Guardian's boats, but refused to leave his ship. Eventually through continuous work he and the remaining crew were able to navigate the ship, by now reduced to little more than a raft, back to the Cape, a nine-week voyage described as "almost unparalleled". Riou ran Guardian aground to prevent her sinking, but shortly afterwards a hurricane struck the coast, wrecking her. The remains were sold in 1791.
The clipper route was the traditional route derived from the Brouwer Route and sailed by clipper ships between Europe and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. The route ran from west to east through the Southern Ocean, to make use of the strong westerly winds of the Roaring Forties. Many ships and sailors were lost in the heavy conditions along the route, particularly at Cape Horn, which the clippers had to round on their return to Europe.
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The García de Nodal expedition was chartered in 1619 by King Philip III of Spain to reconnoiter the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, rounding Cape Horn, south of Tierra del Fuego, just discovered by the Dutch merchants Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten. It was a successful expedition, as all goals were reached. In addition, neither lives nor ships were lost and the whole was done in a small amount of time.
Farthest South refers to the most southerly latitude reached by explorers before the first successful expedition to the South Pole in 1911. Significant steps on the road to the pole were the discovery of lands south of Cape Horn in 1619, Captain James Cook's crossing of the Antarctic Circle in 1773, and the earliest confirmed sightings of the Antarctic mainland in 1820. From the late 19th century onward, the quest for Farthest South latitudes became in effect a race to reach the pole, which culminated in Roald Amundsen's success in December 1911.
Marlborough was an iron-built two-decked merchant sailing ship which disappeared in 1890. She was built by the firm of Robert Duncan and Co., Port Glasgow and launched in 1876 for her owner John Leslie, who later sold her to the Albion Line. Marlborough disappeared during a voyage in January 1890, and has not been seen or heard from in over a century. Searches and investigations have yielded nothing conclusive, and the ship's ultimate fate, and that of her crew, remains unknown.
Felix Riesenberg was an American maritime officer and writer of maritime professional, historical, and fictional literature in the early 20th century.
Elizabeth Island is the name given to an island off the tip of South America visited by Sir Francis Drake in September 1578, during his circumnavigation of the globe. The island was not seen again and is regarded as a phantom. Various suggestions have been offered as to where Drake landed.
Sars Bank is located in the Drake Passage in between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica. The bank's coordinates are 59°35′22.18″S69°0′42.87″W, about 350 km south of Diego Ramírez Islands and 500 km from the South Shetland Islands. The top of the bank lies a few hundred meters under sea level.
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Francis Drake's circumnavigation, also known as Drake's Raiding Expedition, was an important historical maritime event that took place between 15 December 1577 and 26 September 1580. The expedition was authorised by Queen Elizabeth I and consisted of five ships led by Francis Drake. Termed a 'voyage of discovery', it was in effect an ambitious covert raiding voyage and the start of England's challenge to the global domination of Spain and Portugal.
Admiral Karpfanger was a German four-masted barque that was a cargo ship and sail training ship. She was built near Bremerhaven in 1908 as l'Avenir, which was the name that she bore until 1937. She spent most of her career with the Association Maritime Belge, SA.