The Nao Victoria Museum is located in
Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas (; historically Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. The city was officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to "Punta Aren ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, and has been open to the public since 1 October 2011. The museum is private, the owner has received the Medal of the
President of Chile
The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is re ...
for his work in promoting national identity during the celebrations for the bicentenary of the independence of the South American country. Spanish Vice Consul in Punta Arenas gave the entrepreneur the prize "Hispanic Identity" for the building of the Nao Victoria Replica.
Aim of the Museo Nao Victoria
The museum's goal is to be interactive and offer its visitors the experience of interacting with replicas of the ships that contributed to the discovery of the area, colonization of the territory, or have a special and historic heritage significance for the
Magallanes Region
The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region ( es, Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and second lea ...
of Chile. The replicas were built using traditional shipbuilding techniques.
Collections
The main collection of the museum is the full-size replicas of historic ships on display along the
Straits of Magellan
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 pas ...
. Replicas of weapons and ancient navigation tools are also exhibited as well as copies of documents and books relating to the historic ships and an outdoor shipbuilding workshop.
Replicas
Today the museum has three ship replicas:
''Nao Victoria''
''
Nao Victoria
''Victoria'' (or Nao ''Victoria'') was a carrack and the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world. ''Victoria'' was part of the Spanish expedition to the Moluccas commanded by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan until his death in the Ph ...
'', was a
carrack
A carrack (; ; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal. Evolved from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade fr ...
, long, wide, that was part of the fleet commanded by
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East ...
that discovered the waterway around southern tip of the South American continent. Later, commanded by
Juan Sebastian Elcano, she was the only ship of the five to complete the first-time
circumnavigation
Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
The first recorded circ ...
of the globe. Commanded by
Duarte Barbosa
Duarte Barbosa (c. 14801 May 1521) was a Portuguese writer and officer from Portuguese India (between 1500 and 1516). He was a Christian pastor and scrivener in a '' feitoria'' in Kochi, and an interpreter of the local language, Malayalam. Barbo ...
, ''Nao Victoria'' participated in the
Discovery of Chile, being the first to explore the region in 1520, and discovering or naming
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
,
Cape Virgenes
Capes in the Americas
Cape Virgenes ( es, Cabo Vírgenes, lit=Cape Virgins) is the southeastern tip of continental Argentina in South America. The southern one, a little to the south-west, is Punta Dungeness. Ferdinand Magellan reached it on 21 Oc ...
, the
Straits of Magellan
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 pas ...
,
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...
, 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 continen ...
and other milestones.
She is one of the most famous ships in history of navigation.
''James Caird''
''James Caird'', was a lifeboat of the
''Endurance'', adapted by
Harry McNish
Henry McNish (11 September 187424 September 1930), often referred to as Harry McNish or by the nickname Chippy, was the carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. He was responsible for much of the ...
, and sailed from
Elephant Island
Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, west-so ...
to
South Georgia during Sir
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...
's 1916
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing ...
. Many historians consider the feat of the crew of ''James Caird'' to be the most impressive of all global navigation.
Schooner ''Ancud''
''Ancud'' was the ship that, under an 1843 mandate of the President of Chile,
Manuel Bulnes, claimed the Strait of Magellan on behalf of Chile's newly independent government, building
Fort Bulnes
Fuerte Bulnes is a Chilean fort located by the Strait of Magellan, 62 km south of Punta Arenas. It was founded in 1843 on a rocky hill at Punta Santa Ana, and named after President Manuel Bulnes Prieto.
The fort was built to further the ...
. Commander of the schooner was Captain
John Williams Wilson
John Williams Wilson (1798–1857), also known as Juan Guillermos, was an English- Chilean sailor and politician. Born in Bristol, he entered the newly founded Chilean navy in 1824 and rose to the rank of commander. He was appointed governor of ...
. On 31 December 2011, the museum announced the construction of a replica of the schooner in its shipbuilding workshop; the replica ''Ancud'' was opened to public on 5 September 2012.
HMS ''Beagle''
, a British Navy
brig-sloop
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...
, was converted into an exploration vessel. The most famous of her three trips was the second one under the command of Captain
FitzRoy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to:
People As a given name
*Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name:
**FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855)
** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...
. On board was the young
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
. HMS ''Beagle'' remained in the
Magellan región for almost three years, and the observations made by Darwin were influential in the development of his theory of evolution. The construction of the full-size HMS ''Beagle'' replica started in November 2012. Four years later, in November 2016, the museum announced that the vessel was completed.
Other collections
Shipbuilding workshop
During summer 2013 the shipbuilding workshop of the Museum built a one third size scale replica of an 18th-century galleon.
See also
*
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East ...
*
Magellan's circumnavigation
The Magellan expedition, also known as the Magellan–Elcano expedition, was the first voyage around the world in recorded history. It was a 16th century Spanish expedition initially led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to the Moluccas ...
*
Ginés de Mafra
Ginés de Mafra (1493–1546) was a Portuguese or Spanish explorer who sailed to the Philippines in the 16th century. Mafra was a member of the expeditions of Fernão de Magalhães of 1519–1521 and Ruy López de Villalobos of 1542–1545.
Histo ...
References
External links
*
Article of the James Caird Society on Museo Nao Victoria's ReplicaOfficial HMS ''Beagle'' replica construction blogOfficial HMS ''Beagle'' replica website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nao Victoria
Museo Nao Victoria
The Nao Victoria Museum is located in Punta Arenas, Chile, and has been open to the public since 1 October 2011. The museum is private, the owner has received the Medal of the President of Chile for his work in promoting national identity during ...
Museums in Magallanes Region
Maritime museums in Chile
History museums in Chile
Museums established in 2011
2011 establishments in Chile