Entre el mito y la realidad. La situación de la misteriosa Isla Elizabeth de Francis Drake

• Published in: Magallania 2019, Vol.47 (1), p.5-14
• Main Author: Martinic B, Mateo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Drake, Francis (1540?-1596)
• ISSN: 0718-2244; 0718-0209; 0718-2244
• DOI: 10.4067/S0718-22442019000100005

ABSTRACT In 1578, after a calm navigation through the Strait of Magellan, the English sailor Francis Drake had to face the furies of the South Pacific Ocean for almost two months. In one of his forced derivations the endless storm that punished his ship took him deep into the stormy southern sea, circumstance in which he and his companions found an island that they called Elizabeth fixing its approximate position. Posterity has accepted this observation and has sought an explanation for its disappearance attributing it to the dynamics of the earth's crust, which in turn causes variations in the ocean floor. Pero de esa memorable derivación quedaría para la posteridad una curiosa secuela que sin embargo del paso de los siglos no ha sido satisfactoriamente resuelta, como fuera el avistamiento de una misteriosa isla en el mar que llevaría su nombre y que no sería observada nuevamente por navegante alguno hasta el presente.