A possible 19th-century castaway camp explored in Patagonia
· BehindLines newsroom
Archaeologists describe in the journal Antiquity the remains of a possible 19th-century castaway camp on Isla de los Estados (Staten Island), off Argentine Tierra del Fuego. According to Phys.org, which covered the subject on November 5, the team led by Nicolas Ciarlo of the University of Cadiz worked in January 2026 at Lacroix Inlet, in Franklin Bay.
What the team found
According to Phys.org, the camp lies at the foot of a steep hill, next to a stream. The researchers collected glass beads, a bottle, metal sheets and ceramic buttons there, along with a deck prism, a glass block that lit the space below deck, and a rudder hinge.
According to IFLScience, three wooden structures seem to come from hulls, though it is not known whether they belong to the same boat. Phys.org adds that two of them had already been spotted by earlier researchers, and that a third, smaller one was found on the north shore of the inlet. The authors consider that the whole site points to at least one naval accident that led to a temporary settlement on the island.
A historical lead, not a certainty
The study mentions the 1873 expedition of the Argentine sailor Luis Piedra Buena, who came to hunt penguins for their oil aboard the schooner brig Espora. According to his own account, reported by IFLScience, the ship sank in Lacroix Inlet; the crew then built a boat and reached Punta Arenas, in Chile.
The researchers remain cautious. According to Phys.org, the accounts disagree on how far the Espora was dismantled, and the hulls observed do not look like that of a ship stripped of its parts; the shipyard where the rescue boat is said to have been built has not been found. IFLScience quotes the authors: the identity of the vessels and the castaways' trajectories are still under investigation.
What this changes
For Nicolas Ciarlo, quoted by Phys.org, the site offers a unique opportunity to study crisis and survival situations in isolated places, while written sources on life in such camps are rare. The team plans to analyze the timbers to learn whether they come from one ship or several, then to test the link with Piedra Buena and his men.
Phys.org also reports that the expedition lasted ten days, only two of them at Lacroix Inlet: bad weather forced the sailing boats to leave without the researchers, who were brought back to Ushuaia by an Argentine Navy ship.