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FALKLAND ISLANDS.
No. 121.
War Office to Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad.
War Office, March 23, 1882.
Sir,
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for War to transmit, for the information of the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, the accompanying Report, with plates and photographs, by Major Cautley, R.E., on the defensive capabilities of the Falkland Islands as a coaling and refitting station for the Royal Navy and for the mercantile marine; and to request that the same, which are in original, may be returned to this Office when no longer required by the Commission.
I have, &c.
T. L. GALLWEY, Inspector-General of Fortifications.
(Signed)
Appendix No. 4.
FALKLAND ISLANDS.
220
Inclosure in No. 121.
Report on the Defensive Capabilities of the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic, as a Coaling and Refitting Station for the Royal Navy and for the Mercantile Marine.
THE Falkland Islands cover an area of 7,000 square miles, and nearly equal Scotland in extent.
The shores are indented with numerous bays and extensive and land-locked harbours; these have anchorages more or less safe, according to the direction of the wind. There are many small islands and islets, or clusters of islets, also rocks, lying close off the principal islands, viz., the East and the West Falkland, which are separated by a sound, also full of islands and rocks.
Kelp, an enormous seaweed, extends along the shores wherever it can get good rocky holding-ground. It is frequently over 100 feet along, and is drifted in all directions by wind and tide.
Rowing through the kelp is hard and slow work, and screw steamers are kept out of it whenever it is possible.
The Settlement of Port Stanley, at the eastern end of the East Falkland, is the seat of government, and the only settlement of importance in the whole Colony.
Its population in 1881 was 500, and the population of the Colony was 1,500. Stanley Harbour is excellently closed round, with a narrow entrance, about 300 yards wide, from the outer harbour of Port William.
The harbour lies between two parallel ridges of quartzose sandstone, which run from the high lands of the Wickham range due east, and disappear in the sea at Cape Pembroke (where is the lighthouse) and at Hooker's Point.
There is sufficient accommodation in this harbour for all the shipping that may be expected in peace time, and in Port William many more ships can anchor with safety.
The rise and fall at spring tides is 7 feet.
The situation of the Settlement of Port Stanley, on the northern slope of the Murray Heights, and extending to the south shore of the harbour, to which the heights run parallel, is very suitable, and admits of extension.
The water supply is from the peat bogs on the Murray Heights and the eastern slope of Sapper's Hill.
The inhabitants at present use little more than the rain-water, collected in water-butts. A rain-gauge kept at Port Stanley shows an average rain-fall of 23 inches annually. The tongue of land which forms the northern shore of Stanley Harbour and ends in the Navy Point has been reserved to a distance of 2,000 yards for naval purposes; from this fact it has been inferred that the naval station may be placed there.
It is not, for many reasons, a good locality for a naval station.
From Navy Point a ridge of rocks (dipping nearly vertically) runs, with very little intermission, to Fairy Cove, about 3,600 yards, and reaching an elevation of 145 feet above Fairy Cove.
The space between this vertical ridge and the shore averages 200 yards in width, but it is very rough and unlevel ground, sloping too steeply towards the harbour, and not in condition to be made much use of
General description.
East Falkland. West Falkland.
Kelp.
Port Stanley.
Population in 1881. Stanley Harbour.
Lighthouse at Cape Pembroke.
Rise and fall of tide, 7 feet. The Settlement of Port Stanley.
Water supply.
Rain-fall, 23 inches. The Navy Peninsula.
Not suitable for naval station.
Description.
* Not printed.
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