Juan Fernandez High Sea

These offshore waters surround the Juan Fernández group west of Chile. The islands offered rare stopping places along the long Pacific passages between the southern tip of South America and the ports of Chile and Peru. Juan Fernández encountered the archipelago in 1574 while sailing south from Callao toward Valparaíso on an offshore course that avoided the northward Humboldt Current. The discovery brought a remote source of water and provisions into European knowledge of the eastern Pacific.

The islands subsequently served visiting navigators, privateers and pirates after the arduous southern passage into the ocean. Water, fresh vegetables and an opportunity to recover from fatigue or scurvy could determine whether a voyage continued. Alexander Selkirk went ashore on Más a Tierra in 1704 and lived there alone until he was rescued more than four years later. The ocean zone shared the archipelago's broader history of passage and occasional refuge. Ships approaching land moved between the uncertainty of a long ocean crossing and a small number of places where crews could obtain essential supplies.