Puerto Deseado

Puerto Deseado's old train station (2019)

The harbour, nearly 32 km (20 mi) long, was discovered in 1520 by the Spanish expedition commanded by Magellan. Other Spanish expeditions followed, including Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. On 17 December 1586 the privateer Thomas Cavendish sailed into the estuary on his flagship the Desire of 120 tons burthen, accompanied by the Hugh Gallant of 40 tons burthen and the Content of 60 tons burthen during his voyage of circumnavigation. He named the harbour Port Desire after his ship, and the point of land at the harbour mouth is still known as Punta Cavendish. They met only a few Native Americans, 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. In 1591 Cavendish set out on another expedition with five ships, himself sailing as admiral on the Leicester Galleon, while the Desire was commanded by captain John Davis. They suffered problems in the winter at the Strait of Magellan so turned north, and on 20 May 1592 the Desire and the Black Pinnace lost touch with other ships and went into Port Desire to wait for Cavendish. He did not turn up, so in August they sailed 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 the Falkland Islands .

In 1670 John Narborough visited Port Desire and claimed the territory for the British Empire, but no substantial attempt was made to assert the British claim against the Spanish claim to the region. Captain John Byron went on from there to claim British possession of the Falklands in the 1760s, and when the Spanish attacked there in 1770 one of the ships forced to flee was the sloop of war Swift which returned to Port Desire, but was shipwrecked on a concealed rock.

Antonio de Biedma founded the Nueva Colonia de Floridablanca in 1780 in the area near present-day Puerto Deseado, later shut down by Viceroy Vertíz.

In 1790 a fort was established at Puerto Deseado by the Real Compañía Marítima (Royal Maritime Company) of Charles IV of Spain, which served as a base for whaling until its abandonment in 1806.

Perhaps the area's most famous visitor came on the Voyage of the Beagle commanded by captain Robert FitzRoy, which brought the young naturalist Charles Darwin on 23 December 1833 for the first of several visits while HMS Beagle carried out its hydrographic survey.

The town was serviced by the freightrailwayline running form Las Heras via Pico Truncado to Puerto Deseado up until 1976. According to Railwaygazette, this line will be modernized shortly for reopening end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016. The town is connected to the national roadsystem via a 120 km long nearly straight secondary road.

Under the Köppen climate classification, Puerto Deseado has a cold semi-arid climate (BSk) with mild, warm summers and cold winters.

Most of the tourism industry is based on touring the estuary to see the diverse fauna, such as the Commerson's dolphin, Magellanic and Rockhopper 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.

• ARA Puerto Deseado (Q-20) oceanographic ship

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Puerto Deseado.

• Official website
• Municipal information: Municipal Affairs Federal Institute (IFAM), Municipal Affairs Secretariat, Ministry of Interior, Argentina. (in Spanish)
• Map of Puerto Deseado