Annual report on the Falkland Islands and Dependencies / Colonial Office.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Office.
Date:
[1948]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Falkland Islands and Dependencies / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/46 (page 19)
    Seasonal variations in the climate of the Falkland Islands are less noticeable than in the United Kingdom. The winters are slightly colder and the summers much colder than at Kew, which is about as far north of the equator as Stanley is south ] the weather is even more changeable than that of the United Kingdom. The relatively low temperatures are mainly due to oceanic circulation, but the ~ daily weather is related to the direction of the wind, which, not infre- quently, is so inconsistent as to give rise to wide ranges of temperature within short intervals. The annual rainfall is not excessive, averaging 30 inches. Precipitation occurs on two out of every three days in the year and the atmosphere is usually damp, particularly in and around Stanley. A large proportion of the days are cloudy and tempestuous, calm bright weather being exceptional and seldom outlasting 24 hours.. Over 120 species of wild birds have been recorded and 176 species of wild plants. Among the birds are the logger due, rock shag, many different types of gulls, gentoo, rock-hopper and jackass penguins, terns, snipe, teal, upland and kelp geese, and turkey buzzards. There are no native land animals, but there are seals on the coast. Chapter 2 : History The honour of first sighting the Falklands is thought to belong to John Davis, who observed the group from his ship, Desire, in 1592. He sailed from Plymouth in an expedition commanded by Admiral Cavendish, with the Philippines and the coast of China via Cape Horn as his destination. The vessels in this expedition were the Galeon under Admiral Cavendish ; the Roebucke under Vice-Admiral Cocke ; the Desire under Captain John Davis ) the Black Pinesse under Captain fobie ; and the Daintie under Captain Cotton. John Jane, the historian of the voyage, described the discovery of the islands as follows : The Ninth (Aug. 1592) wee had a sore storme, so that wee were con¬ strained to hull, for our sails were not to indure any force. The 14 wee were driven in among certaine Isles never before discovered by any knowen relation, lying fiftie leagues from the shoare East and Northerly from the Streights ; in which place, unlesse it had pleased God of his wonderfull mercie to have ceases the winde, wee must of necessitie have perished. But the winde shifting to the East, wee directed our course for the Streights, and the 18 of August wee fell with the Cape (Yirgin) in a very thick fogge ; and the same night wee ankered ten leagues within the Cape. These Isles were the Falkland Islands. Two years later, Sir Henry Plawkins in Dainty reports having seen them, and a Dutchman, Sebald Van Weerdt, in 1598, appears to have visited some of the outlying islands, thought to be the Jasons on the north-west coast. I hey are so shown on a map hanging in the Secretariat, bearing a date “ about 1790,” and were long named the Sebaldine Islands. The islands were named by Captain Strong after the then Lord Falkland, Treasurer of the Navy, in 1690. He sailed in