II.  Though the Strait of Magalhaens had been formerly visited, and sailed through by ships of different nations, before our time, a careful examination of its bays, and harbours, and head-lands; of the numerous islands it contains, and of the coasts, on both sides, that inclose it; and an exact account of the tides, and currents, and soundings, throughout its whole extent, was a task, which, if Sir John Narborough, and others, had not totally omitted, they cannot be said to have recorded so fully, as to preclude the utility of future investigation.  This task has been ably and effectually performed by Byron, Wallis, and Carteret; whose transactions in this strait, and the chart of it, founded on their observations and discoveries, are a most valuable accession to geography.

III.  If the correct information, thus obtained, about every part of this celebrated strait, should deter future adventurers from involving themselves in the difficulties and embarrassments of a labyrinth, now known to be so intricate, and the unavoidable source of danger and delay, we have the satisfaction to have discovered, that a safer and more expeditious entrance into the Pacific Ocean, may be reasonably depended upon.  The passage round Cape Horn has been repeatedly tried, both from the east and from the west, and stript of its terrors.  We shall, for the future, be less discouraged by the labours and distresses experienced by the squadrons of Lord Anson and Pizarro, when we recollect that they were obliged to attempt the navigation of those seas at an unfavourable season of the year; and that there was nothing very formidable met with there when they were traversed by Captain Cook.

To this distinguished navigator was reserved the honour of being the first, who, from a series of the most satisfactory observations, beginning at the west entrance of the Strait of Magalhaens, and carried on with unwearied diligence, round Tierra del Fuego, through the Strait of Le Maire, has constructed a chart of the southern extremity of America, from which it will appear, how much former navigators must have been at a loss to guide themselves; and what advantages will be now enjoyed by those who shall hereafter sail round Cape Horn.

IV.  As the voyages of discovery, undertaken by his majesty’s command, have facilitated the access of ships into the Pacific Ocean, they have also greatly enlarged our knowledge of its contents.

Though the immense expanse usually distinguished by this appellation, had been navigated by Europeans for near two centuries and a half, by far the greater part of it, particularly to the south of the equator, had remained, during all this time, unexplored.