The Nao Victoria Museum is a private maritime museum located in

Punta Arenas Punta Arenas (, historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Chile's southernmost Regions of Chile, region, Magallanes Region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Although officially renamed as ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. It has been open to the public since 1 October 2011. The museum offers interactive displays featuring replicas of the ships that contributed to the discovery of the area, helped colonize the territory, or had a special and historic heritage significance for the

Magallanes Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region () or Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctica Region in English, is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and sec ...

. The replicas were built using traditional shipbuilding techniques.

Collections

The main collection of the museum is the full-size replicas of historic ships on display along the

Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natural ...

. Replicas of weapons and ancient navigation tools are also exhibited, as well as copies of documents and books relating to the historic ships and an outdoor shipbuilding workshop.

Replicas

Today the museum has three ship replicas:

Nao ''Victoria''

The ''

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

'' was a nao (

carrack A carrack (; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal and Spain. Evolving from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for Europea ...

) long and wide, part of the fleet commanded by

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...

that carried first Europeans to discover the waterway around southern tip of South America. Later, commanded by

Juan Sebastian Elcano ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philipp ...

, she was the only ship of the five to complete the first-time

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first circumnaviga ...

of the globe. Commanded by

Duarte Barbosa Duarte Barbosa (c. 14801 May 1521) was a Portuguese writer and officer from Portuguese India (between 1500 and 1516). He was a scrivener in a '' feitoria'' in Kochi, and an interpreter of the local language, Malayalam. Barbosa wrote the ''Book o ...

, the ''Victoria'' participated in the discovery by Europeans of Chile, being the first to explore the region, in 1520, and discovering or naming

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

Cape Virgenes Cape Virgenes () is the southeastern promontory of continental Argentina in South America. A little to the south-west,the southernmost point of land is Punta Dúngeness. Ferdinand Magellan reached it on 21 October 1520 during the Spanish expe ...

, the

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

, the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

and other landmarks.

''James Caird''

''James Caird'' was a lifeboat of the ''Endurance'', adapted by carpenter

Harry McNish Henry McNish (11 September 187424 September 1930), often referred to as Harry McNish or by the nickname Chippy, was the carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. He was responsible for much of the ...

to sail from

Elephant Island Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, west-so ...

South Georgia Island South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

during Sir

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarcti ...

's 1916

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Ernest Shackleton, Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the ...

. A party of six, including Shackleton and

Frank Worsley Frank Arthur Worsley (22 February 1872 – 1 February 1943) was a New Zealand sailor and explorer who served on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1916, as captain of ''Endurance''. He also served in the Royal ...

, made their way for 17 days and 1,300 km (800 miles) across the notorious

Drake Passage The Drake Passage is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile, Argentina, and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pa ...

, battling gales and icing, with Worsley navigating based sextant readings of the seldom visible sun taken from the pitching boat. They succeeded in hitting South Georgia and obtained rescue for the stranded expedition.

Schooner ''Ancud''

''Ancud'' was the ship that, under an 1843 mandate of the President of Chile,

Manuel Bulnes Manuel Bulnes Prieto (; December 25, 1799 – October 18, 1866) was a Chilean military and political figure who was President of Chile from 1841 to 1851. Born in Concepción, he served as the president of Chile between 1841 and 1851. At the ...

, claimed the Strait of Magellan on behalf of Chile's newly independent government, building Fort Bulnes. The commander of the schooner was Captain

John Williams Wilson John Williams Wilson (1798–1857), also known as Juan Guillermos, was an English- Chilean sailor and politician. Born in Bristol, he entered the newly founded Chilean navy in 1824 and rose to the rank of commander. He was appointed governor of ...

. On 31 December 2011, the museum announced the construction of a replica of the schooner in its shipbuilding workshop; the replica ''Ancud'' was opened to public on 5 September 2012.

HMS ''Beagle''

, a British Navy

brig-sloop During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all ...

, was converted into an exploration vessel. The most famous of her three trips was the second one under the command of Captain FitzRoy. On board was the young

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

. HMS ''Beagle'' remained in the Magellan Region for almost three years, and the observations made by Darwin were influential in the development of his theory of evolution. The construction of the full-size HMS ''Beagle'' replica started in November 2012. Four years later, in November 2016, the museum announced that the vessel was completed.

Other collections

Shipbuilding workshop

During summer 2013 the shipbuilding workshop of the museum built a one-third scale replica of an 18th-century galleon.

References

External links

*
Article of the James Caird Society on Museo Nao Victoria's Replica

Official HMS ''Beagle'' replica construction blog

Official HMS ''Beagle'' replica website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nao Victoria Museo Nao Victoria Museums in Magallanes Region Maritime museums in Chile History museums in Chile Museums established in 2011 2011 establishments in Chile