Puerto San Julián

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Puerto San Julián, also known historically as Port St Julian, is a natural harbour in Patagonia in the Santa Cruz Province of Argentina located at 49°18′S 67°43′W, near the entrance to the Strait of Magellan. In the days of sailing ships it formed a stopping point, 180 km (110 miles) south of Puerto Deseado (Port Desire). Nowadays Puerto San Julián is also the name of a small town (population 6,143 as per the 2001 census [INDEC]) located on the harbour.

It was given its name by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who arrived there on 31 March 1520 and overwintered in the harbour. They met the native people who were described by Antonio Pigafetta as giants, and called them Patagonians, meaning "Big Feet", since they wore guanaco hide shoes or boots stuffed with straw. At the start of April Magellan was faced by a mutiny led by his Spanish captains at midnight on Easter day, but succeeded in overcoming it, executing mutineers including one captain and leaving another behind. He left the port on 21 August 1520 and on 21 October found the eastern entrance to the passageway he was looking for, the strait that now bears his name.

Fifty-eight years later Francis Drake reached the harbour, arriving on 15 June 1578 and also choosing to overwinter. They found the remains of the gallows where Magellan had executed mutineers. Drake had also been having difficulty with discontent during the voyage, and charged his friend Thomas Doughty with treachery and incitement to mutiny. A trial found Doughty guilty and, given the offer to be left in Patagonia, returned to England for retrial or execution, chose beheading. Despite this example, increasing tensions between mariners and gentlemen explorers brought the prospect of mutiny about a month later, but Drake used a sermon to make a speech laying down rules of conduct, with himself in sole command. In August they went on to the Strait of Magellan.

The port continued in use, and one famous visitor came with the Voyage of the Beagle under captain Robert FitzRoy which brought the young naturalist Charles Darwin in January 1834. While HMS Beagle carried out its hydrographic survey, Darwin explored the interesting local geology in cliffs near the harbour and found fossils of pieces of spine and a hind leg of "some large animal, I fancy a Mastodon". On their return to England, the anatomist Richard Owen revealed that the bones were actually from a gigantic Llama. This was one of the discoveries leading to the inception of Darwin's theory.

During the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas War, as San Julian is one of the nearest point to the islands, the city airfield was used by the Argentine Air Force. Two fighter squadrons, flying Daggers and A-4 Skyhawks, made 149 sorties against the British in the 45 days of operations.

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