Latin American and Caribbean Place Names -- Discussion

[Michael]

You get to join Corwin, Thetis, Unalga and others!
Possibly Bear Bay, but with a name like that it's hard to know.
And, there's an Eastwind Harbor in Greenland, Jeannette Island, Cape Manning, Panay Island in the Philippines. However, maybe the ship is named after the island instead of vice versa.
Also Rodgers Harbor, Rush Point, Storis Passage.

[Randi]

Nope, this was in 1866, so they get to join us

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Yes, three vessels of the United States Navy have been named USS Panay, after the Visayan island Panay in the Philippines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Panay

[Michael]

[Randi]

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorag ... 06-033.JPG

Iceberg Sound
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id= ... q1=iceberg
I'm not sure, but I suspect it is Seno Iceberg
https://www.geonames.org/3870024/seno-iceberg.html

Lion Bay (in Aysén rather than Magallanes)
https://www.geonames.org/3883122/bahia-lion.html

[Matteo]

Its definitely Seno Iceberg: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.g ... BND:330145

All added to database, thanks Randi!

[Randi]

Great map!

[Randi]

Waterfall Bay is Bahía Cascada
https://www.geonames.org/3896322/bahia-cascada.html

Island Harbor is Puerto Island
https://www.geonames.org/3887066/puerto-island.html

Miller Island is Isla Millar
https://www.geonames.org/3879873/isla-millar.html

[Randi]

Quintero Rocks are Farallones de Quintero
https://www.geonames.org/3873980/farall ... ntero.html
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id= ... 1=quintero

[Matteo]

All added to database, thanks Randi!

[studentforever]

I've started transcribing Northland and she has just exited the Panama Canal and refers to Bona Island Lighthouse. The lighthouse is not indexed in Geonames but is cited in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_l ... _in_Panama and this government document of 1915
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOV ... cbfbe1.pdf

Later on she also refers to a lighthouse on Cape Mala, this is not on Geonames either but is referenced in the 2 links above.

[Matteo]

Both lights are still in existence and present on the lighthouse directory. I've added both to geonames and ofc to our database.

Thanks Ros!

[Maikel]

U.S.S. Yorktown mentions Howland's Lagoon as an anchorage bearing in Magdalena Bay, Mexico.
I found the following reference: Howland's Lagoon is located North of Puerto Magdalena.
Possibly Howland's Lagoon was what is now known as Estero el Esterito.

[Maikel]

Yorktown anchors off La Union, El Salvador, and mentions Speck Island in the anchorage bearings.
I haven't been able to find it on a map, but I did find a reference to Speck Island in "The west coasts of Mexico and Central America from the United States to Panama including the gulfs of California and Panama.", page 290.

Given the description, I like to think Speck Island is now known as Isla Conejo.

[Maikel]

Yorktown mentions White Friars, near Morro de Petatlan, Mexico.
They are mentioned in "The west coasts of Mexico and Central America from the United States to Panama including the gulfs of California and Panama.", page 236, also known as Potoci Rocks.
Potoci Rocks are listed as Morro El Potosí at geonames.org.

[Matteo]

- Estero el Esterito for Howland's Lagoon is a perfect guess: https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail ... -admiralty

- I'd rather use Isla Chuchito than Isla Conejo... found no good maps, but in the book Speck Islet and Chiquita Islet are described as being a short distance respectively north and east of Punta Sacate Island (which is the current Isla Zacatillo/Punta Zacate). Chiquita should be the current Isla Ilca.

- absolutely agree, and looking at satellite imagery one can guess why they were called "White Friars"!

Added everything to geonames and database.. will update references soon.
Thanks Maikel!

[Maikel]

Thanks Matteo.

I went for Isla Conejo, because it's more to the northeast than Isla Chuchito, which is more north only.
Also, Isla Conejo is only 1 or 2 miles off Isla Zacatillo.

Without a proper map, I guess either one of them could fit the bill.

[Randi]

Brazil: Island of Roccas is Atol das Rocas

[joke_slayer]

A bit of an interesting

On the 13th October 1868, Tuscarora arrives at Arica and gives anchorage bearings which include the USS Wateree

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorag ... 12-163.JPG

This was a few months after the Arica earthquake and tsunami of 1868 and the USS Wateree is some way inland and thus a stationary feature that could be used to check bearings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wateree_(1863)

From what I can tell she stayed there only until 1877 Iquique earthquake and tsunami

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1877_Iquique_earthquake

At Arica the water reached the cathedral. [citation needed] The hulk of the U.S. gunboat Wateree, which had been beached hundreds of metres inland by the final wave of the tsunami triggered by the 1868 Arica earthquake, was moved several kilometres to the north along the coast and nearer the shoreline.[7]

This description seems to match the current location of the remaining wreckage (-18.441878610135685, -70.30312269634865)

Unfortunately I don't think the log gives enough information to tell the original location of the wreck.

[Michael]

Very interesting! Sadly, the bearings from the ship aren't much help.

[Randi]

US Virgin Islands
Harris Bluff appears to be Hams Bluff