Beagle Channel

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Beagle Canal, from the Pacific to the Atlantic

The Beagle Channel is a strait separating islands of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, in extreme southern South America. It separates Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego from the islands Nueva, Picton, Navarino, Hoste, Londonderry, Stewart Islands and other smaller to the south. Its eastern portion is part of the border between Chile and Argentina, but the western part is completely within Chile. The west end is the Darwin Sound and the east end is Nueva Island.

The Beagle Channel is about 150 miles long and is about three miles wide at its narrowest point. To the west the Darwin Sound connects it to the Pacific Ocean.

Although it is navigable by large ships, there are safer waters to the south (Drake Passage) and to the north (Strait of Magellan).

Several small islands (Picton, Lennox and Nueva) up to the Cape Horn were the subject of a long-running territorial dispute between Chile and Argentina; by the terms of a 1984 treaty they are now part of Chile. Ships of other nations can navigate between the Strait of Magellan and Ushuaia through the Chilean Magdalena Channel and the Cockburn Channel with Chilean Pilot and 48 hours advance notice.

The biggest settlement on the channel is Ushuaia in Argentina followed by Puerto Williams in Chile, which is also the southernmost city of the world.

The channel is named after the ship HMS Beagle which was involved in two hydrographic surveys of the coasts of the southern part of South America in the early 19th century. During the first, under the overall command of the Australian Commander Phillip Parker King, the Beagle's captain Pringle Stokes committed suicide and was replaced by captain Robert FitzRoy. The second is better known as the voyage of the Beagle and is famous because captain FitzRoy took Charles Darwin along as a gentleman's companion, giving him opportunities as an amateur naturalist.