The south-eastern part of Tierra del Fuego with Staten island, Cape Horn and Diego Ramirex Islands

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The south-eastern part of Tierra del Fuego with Staten island, Cape Horn and Diego Ramirex Islands

Engraver J & C Walker

Date1874 - 1908

Object numberANMS0223[022]

NameChart

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall: 680 x 1010 mm, 10 g

ClassificationsMaps, charts and plans

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Robert Laurence and Robert D McKilliam

Terms

DescriptionThis navigation chart entitled 'The South-Eastern Part of Tierra del Fuego with Staten Island, Cape Horn and Diego Ramirex Islands' was used by Captain Robert McKilliam during his career as an officer and shipmaster in the Aberdeen White Star Line from 1874 to 1908. Course bearings are marked in pencil on the chart for the years 1895 and 1897. The chart was published in London according to act of Parliament at the Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty on 16 March 1841, and again in 1892 with small corrections and large corrections in 1886.HistoryAberdeen-born Robert McKilliam (1861-1934) joined Aberdeen White Star Line as an apprentice aged 14. He served under famous clipper captains like Kemball, on famous clippers like THERMOPYLAE and SALAMIS, and in well known Aberdeen Line steamers, mostly in the Britain-to-Australia service. After 32 years he retired from the sea. He married soon afterwards in 1910, and in 1913 brought his family to live in Sydney. Appointed Assistant Manager to Darling Island Wharf, he worked as a superintendent stevedore during a period when the waterside union gradually emerged from strikes and fragmentation during and after World War I, to a position of strength before the collapse of the Great Depression.SignificanceThis chart of Tierra de Fuego is significant for its associations with survey of one of the most geographically strategic peninsulars in maritime history.