Puerto Deseado | |
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 Sights in Puerto Deseado | |
  Puerto Deseado Location of Puerto Deseado in Argentina Show map of Santa Cruz Province Puerto Deseado Puerto Deseado (Argentina) Show map of Argentina | |
| Coordinates:47°45′S65°55′W / 47.750°S 65.917°W /-47.750; -65.917 | |
| Country |  Argentina |
| Province |  Santa Cruz |
| Department | Deseado |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Luis Ampuero (Justicialist Party) |
| Population (2010 census) | |
• Total | 14,183 |
| Time zone | UTC−3 (ART) |
| CPA base | Z9050 |
| Dialing code | +54 297 |
| Climate | BSk |
Puerto Deseado, originally calledPort Desire, is a city of about 15,000 inhabitants and a fishingport inPatagonia inSanta Cruz Province ofArgentina, on the estuary of theDeseado River.
It was namedPort Desire by theprivateerThomas Cavendish in 1586 after the name ofhis ship, and later became known by theSpanish translation of the name. Today, the straggly town has a couple of pleasant squares, a former railway station and two museums, one with a collection of indigenous artifacts and one at the seafront with relics from thesloop of warHMSSwift which sank in 1770, recovered after its wreck was discovered in the port in 1982. The coast boasts spectacular scenery and colonies of marine wildlife close to the town.
The harbour, nearly 32 kilometres (20 mi) long, was discovered in 1520 during the firstcircumnavigation of the world by theMagellan-Elcano Spanish expedition. Other Spanish expeditions followed, including theLoaísa expedition (1525) or thePedro Sarmiento de Gamboa expedition (1579). Sixty six years after the Magellan Elcano expedition, on 17 December 1586, the English privateerThomas Cavendish sailed into the estuary during hisvoyage of circumnavigation seeking to raid the Pacific coasts of theViceroyalty of Peru. His fleet consisted of hisflagship,Desire, accompanied byHugh Gallant andContent. He named the harbour "Port Desire" after his ship, and the point of land at the harbour mouth is still known asPunta Cavendish. They were faced by theMapuche Tehuelche, who shot arrows that wounded some of the crew. After ten days Cavendish took his ships on their way, and returned to England in 1588. A second attempt by the English to attack or occupy parts of the Spanish Empire resulted in Cavendish leading an expedition in 1591 with five ships, sailing onLeicester Galleon. After raidingSantos inBrazil the fleet suffered problems in the winter at theStrait of Magellan, and some of the boats went to Port Desire. The few surviving men and boats made their way back to England, sailing to the nearby "Penguin Island" then south, but were caught by a storm and, forced to run before the wind, came on unknown islands, making the first probable sighting of theFalkland Islands.[citation needed]
TheEnglish, a rival nation toSpain, tried to occupy Puerto Deseado and the southern part of theViceroyalty of Peru during the 1670John Narborough failedexpedition.
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In 1789 the port was visited by both ships,Atrevida andDescubierta, of theMalaspina Scientific Expedition. On the voyage that was to foundNueva Colonia y Fuerte de Floridablanca, on 20 April 1780 Antonio Viedma made a stop and founded a temporary settlement on the river's south bank. During the seven months it was inhabited, houses, a bread oven, a forge, a hospital forscurvy and a wooden fort were built, and about one hundred people lived there, including the sea men.[1][2] In 1790, during theviceroyalty of the Río de la Plata times, the Armada forced captainJohn Byron out of the Falklands. During his escape, thesloop-of-warSwift headed for Port Desire, but was shipwrecked on a concealed rock. In 1790 a village and fort was established at Puerto Deseado by theReal Compañía Marítima (Royal Maritime Company). It was the main headquarters of an array of fishing posts such as the one in isla Pingüinos. It was built with a bread oven, farming land, a hospital, a chapel, fishing and salting facilities, and the Todos los Santos and San Carlos forts, which served as thepresidio. The desertion of the villagers, cost of constant supplies and lack of whales in the neighbourhood (only sea lions were found) caused the end of theReal Compañía Marítima, and the last soldiers of the presidio left in 1807 during theBritish invasions of the River Plate.
At the time of the Argentine Confederation, in 1833,HMSBeagle stopped at the port, withCharles Darwin a member of the crew. The village was founded for the third time in 1882 when Antonio Oneto obtained funds fromHipólito Yrigoyen,Ministry of the Interior, to establish Deseado and Santa Cruz. The new villagers were given farming land, credits and tools.[3]
In 1902 the railway station from thePuerto Deseado Railway was built. During the 1982Falklands War the "Kettledrum operation" aiming to bomb Deseado was planned, but not carried out.[4]
The town was serviced by the freight railwayline running form Las Heras via Pico Truncado to Puerto Deseado up until 1976. According toRailway gazette, this line will be modernized shortly for reopening end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016.The town is connected to the national road system via a 120 km long nearly straight secondary road.
Under theKöppen climate classification, Puerto Deseado has acold semi-desert climate (BSk) with mild, occasionally warm summers and cold winters. Despite the year-round low rainfall, the weather generally remains cloudy, with average temperatures and cloudiness being reminiscent of theBritish Isles. Due to the effect of more continental inland conditions, occasional excessive heat in summer and harsh frosts in winter occur.
| Climate data for Puerto Deseado (1991–2020, extremes 1941–present)[a] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 38.3 (100.9) | 40.1 (104.2) | 34.8 (94.6) | 28.7 (83.7) | 24.0 (75.2) | 24.9 (76.8) | 18.3 (64.9) | 21.7 (71.1) | 28.3 (82.9) | 30.4 (86.7) | 34.5 (94.1) | 36.6 (97.9) | 40.1 (104.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 23.4 (74.1) | 22.3 (72.1) | 20.2 (68.4) | 16.2 (61.2) | 11.7 (53.1) | 8.0 (46.4) | 7.6 (45.7) | 10.2 (50.4) | 13.1 (55.6) | 16.6 (61.9) | 19.7 (67.5) | 21.6 (70.9) | 15.9 (60.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 16.4 (61.5) | 15.6 (60.1) | 13.8 (56.8) | 10.5 (50.9) | 7.2 (45.0) | 4.3 (39.7) | 3.5 (38.3) | 5.2 (41.4) | 7.3 (45.1) | 10.3 (50.5) | 13.1 (55.6) | 15.1 (59.2) | 10.2 (50.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 10.5 (50.9) | 10.2 (50.4) | 8.6 (47.5) | 5.8 (42.4) | 3.2 (37.8) | 0.8 (33.4) | 0.1 (32.2) | 1.2 (34.2) | 2.6 (36.7) | 5.0 (41.0) | 7.3 (45.1) | 9.4 (48.9) | 5.4 (41.7) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 0.0 (32.0) | 0.0 (32.0) | −1.1 (30.0) | −3.8 (25.2) | −9.6 (14.7) | −10.0 (14.0) | −10.5 (13.1) | −9.7 (14.5) | −5.8 (21.6) | −7.6 (18.3) | −1.4 (29.5) | 0.0 (32.0) | −10.5 (13.1) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 21.3 (0.84) | 15.5 (0.61) | 15.9 (0.63) | 25.4 (1.00) | 30.2 (1.19) | 24.6 (0.97) | 27.0 (1.06) | 15.8 (0.62) | 13.1 (0.52) | 15.2 (0.60) | 9.5 (0.37) | 14.1 (0.56) | 227.6 (8.96) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.1 mm) | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 85 |
| Average snowy days | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 5.2 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 54.7 | 59.5 | 62.9 | 65.0 | 70.5 | 75.1 | 74.6 | 69.6 | 66.4 | 60.4 | 55.5 | 55.6 | 64.2 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 235.6 | 211.9 | 164.3 | 135.0 | 102.3 | 78.0 | 96.1 | 120.9 | 123.0 | 182.9 | 213.0 | 204.6 | 1,867.6 |
| Mean dailysunshine hours | 7.6 | 7.5 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 7.1 | 6.6 | 5.1 |
| Percentagepossible sunshine | 34.5 | 43.5 | 34.5 | 36.0 | 27.0 | 28.0 | 29.0 | 36.5 | 31.0 | 38.0 | 37.0 | 29.5 | 33.7 |
| Source 1:Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (precipitation days 1961–1990)[5][6][7][8] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2:Deutscher Wetterdienst (precipitation 1961–1990, extremes, 1941–1990),[9] Secretaria de Mineria (percent sun, 1951–1980),[10] | |||||||||||||
Most of the tourism industry is based on touring the estuary to see the diverse fauna, such as theCommerson's dolphin,Magellanic androckhopper penguins.
Puerto Deseado's economy is based on the fishing industry. There are several fish-processing plants by its coasts on "Avenida Costanera" and a high percentage of the population works on jobs related to industrial fishing such as stevedores, crane operators, fish cleaners and the like.
The movieGone Fishing byCarlos Sorín is set almost entirely in Puerto Deseado.
Puerto Deseado is the main setting of the novelsThe Sunken Secret andThe Arrow Collector by Cristian Perfumo.The Sunken Secret is based on the true story of the wreck and recovery ofHMS Swift, a British sloop of war that sank off the town's coast.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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