In the name of God our Lord, and of his mother St. Mary, our Lady, Pedro Sarmiento set out in the boat of the Almiranta, taking with him Anton Pablos, Pilot of the Capitana, and Hernando Lamero, Chief Pilot of the Almiranta, besides ten armed soldiers with arquebuses, shields, and swords, and provisions for four days. He left the port of “Nuestra Sefiora del Rosario” on Wednesday, the 25th of November 1579, at ten o'clock, to discover the channels, so as not to put the ships in danger, to find a safe harbour for them, and to discover the strait.

Leaving the reefs of the port of Rosario, we kept on the right-hand side in passing up the gulf, which may be described as follows. From the port of Rosario there is a point, which we called “Candelaria”, three-quarters of a league bearing a little north of east, and at half the distance there is a bay which enters into the land in a south-easterly direction. At the entrance there are twenty-three islets, which make two large channels, and although there are others, they are of no importance. From the point of “Candelaria” the coast turns a little south of east for about 500 paces, and at the cape a large port is formed, with the entrance facing north. Here there are twenty fathoms, with a clean bottom, and the port turns to the S.W. quarter.