Appendix 7

The stranded iron barque at Punta Loyola
Patagonia has more industrial relics than merely railways. From the new coal handling terminal at Punta Loyola near Río Gallegos it is just a few hundred yards to the silhouetted wreck of a three-masted iron barque – high and dry on the beach.

The photos were taken in and around the wreck , a popular weekend picnic place for the residents of Río Gallegos, and still sporting the scars from the Argentinean Navy's use of the hull for target practice back in 1982!

The hull is of a cargo carrier - the Marjory Glen (3) or the Kently (1) depending on which source one reads - which caught fire near Rio Gallegos in 1910 and was lifted ashore by a very high tide.

Looking east to the open sea. Given the prevailing westerlies it must have been an unlucky wind from the opposite direction which lifted this vessel onto the beach, and yet a lucky one which dumped the crew on dry land so close to civilization.

The spike bowsprit proclaims this to be a relatively late example of a barque - earlier vessels would have had jib-boom and dolphin-striker.

The lower hull looks skeleton-like in the sunshine. The curious can squeeze in through several holes in the hull-plating.

The mildly fit will find a way up the ironwork to the tween-decks level or even onto the maindeck or poop

The lower masts have fallen and the cross-members have distorted as they have weakened.

For those interested in other ships in the area, there is Carlos Vairo's book on the wrecks around Tierra del Fuego and Staten Island (1). Amongst the most obvious ones are the two at San Gregorio (2), whilst several hulks at the naval base in Punta Arenas include a four-masted barque and a large three-master both still used as store ships.

References:
1 Shipwrecks in Cape Horn, Isla de los Estados, Magallanes, Mitre Peninsula, Malvinas and South Georgias. 2000. Carlos Pedro Vairo. Zagier and Urruty publications. Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. English and Spanish editions.
2 The clipper ship Ambassador and the steam vessel Amadeo.
3

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