9831 Miles South of Svalbard: Puerto Williams, Chile

Puerto Williams, Chile

Puerto Williams claims the title of Southern most town in the world.  As Arctic adventurers travel to Longyearbyen, Antarctic tourists visit Puerto Williams before setting off to Cape Horn and the Antarctic.  Puerto Williams is also a popular way-point for sailors.  The annual Glorias Navales Regata attracts 300 participants from all over the world.

The town of PW is located on the South bank of the Beagle Channel.  The Beagle Channel, named for the HMS Beagle, was established as the border between Argentina and Chile after the Boundary Treaty of 1881.

As with many an international border, tensions remained between the two nations even in this remote location.  Why?  The waters off Cape Horn ("The Sea of Fear") have claimed the lives of many a sailor.  Charles Darwin wrote in The Voyage of the Beagle that "One sight of such a coast is enough to make a landsman dream for a week about shipwrecks, peril, and death; and with this sight we bade farewell for ever to Tierra del Fuego."  Until the Panama Canal, all ship traffic from the Atlantic to the Pacific sides of South America had to pass through the fjords and channels of Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. The country in control of these routes received the passage fees.

The "Beagle Conflict" began in 1904 when Argentina claimed control of some islands traditionally under Chilean control.  Litigation arose as to the interpretation of 1881 treaty, in particular the Islands Clause aka Article III.  The Islands Clause established the Beagle Channel as the border, but added the clause that "to Chile shall belong all the islands to the south of Beagle Channel up to Cape Horn, and those there may be to the west of Tierra del Fuego."  Argentina received the islands "of the eastern coast of Patagonia."  Well, this seems straight forward, until you look at a map which shows that Tierra del Fuego is east of Patagonia and Patagonia is west of Tierra del Fuego. Thus litigation arose as to the meaning of "Patagonia" and "Tierra del Fuego." 

1884

The Beagle Conflict simmered and stewed through three quarters of the 20th century until January 25, 1978 when Argentina sent a naval squadron to the Beagle Channel in an effort to claim full control of the channel.  Chile responded in kind and the two nations prepared for war.  Pope John Paul II intervened, sending letter to both presidents.  The Vatican conducted a series of meditations which staved off military conflict, but tensions remained high.  On May 2, 1985, the Nations signed a treaty at the Vatican acknowledging Chile's ownership of the islands and Argentina's right to maritime passage (perhaps control) of some Chilean waters.