It was given its name by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who arrived there on 31 March and overwintered in the harbour. They met the native people who were described by Antonio Pigafetta as giants, and called them Patagonians. Although Pigafetta's account does not describe how this name came about, subsequent popular interpretations gave credence to a derivation meaning 'land of the big feet'. However, this etymology is questionable. 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 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 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, but only on the mutiny charge. At Drake's insistence, Doughty was beheaded, but this stern example did not have the desired effect. Increasing tensions between mariners and gentlemen explorers brought the prospect of mutiny about a month later.
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. It was abandoned by , and its ruins were rediscovered during the s. The port continued in use, and the young naturalist Charles Darwin arrived with the Beagle survey expedition under captain Robert FitzRoy in January While HMS Beagle carried out its hydrographic survey, Darwin explored the 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 creature resembling the Llama and the camel , which Owen named Macrauchenia. This was one of the discoveries leading to the inception of Darwin's theory. Two fighter squadrons, flying Daggers and A-4 Skyhawks , made sorties against the British in the 45 days of operations. Summers are mild and dry, whereas winter remain firmly above freezing during daytime, with frosts being common albeit often light during nights.
