Abra Channel (Spanish ''Canal Abra'', formerly ''Sea Shell Channel'') is one of the three channels which connects

Magellan Strait The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

with the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

(Others are Bárbara Channel and Magdalena Channel). It is located between the Santa Inés Island and the ''Jacques Island'' and ends at the Otway Bay. An incomplete examination by the ''Sylvia'' showed it to be a fine navigable passage, but no anchorages were found. It may possibly be of service to a vessel embayed in Otway Bay, enabling her to run into the strait. Abra Island, which stands in the center of the eastern entrance, is 300 feet high and covered with vegetation. The entrance is 2 miles wide, but it soon narrows to 1 mile. A rock with a depth of 1.5 fathoms on it, and well marked with kelp, lies in the fairway of Abra Channel, with center of Maycock Island bearing 305°, distant 0,75 mile, and summit of Francis Island 32°.

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa 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 Henare ...

wrote: :''We called it the opening (Abra) because we can't see its termination''.

References

United States Hydrographic Office The United States Hydrographic Office prepared and published maps, charts, and nautical books required in navigation. The office was established by an act of 21 June 1866 as part of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of the Navy. It was transf ...

South America Pilot
(1916) p. 410 Straits of Chile Bodies of water of Magallanes Region {{MagellanAntarctic-geo-stub