Lord Lonsdale — Attraction in Punta Arenas

The Lord Lonsdale started its final journey a world away in Hamburg, Germany, in 1909. The 10-year old ship was set to sail all the way to Mazatlán on the western coast of Mexico. With the Panama Canal still under construction, that meant a trip through the Strait of Magellan, which separates mainland Chile from Tierra del Fuego. While stopped over in Stanley Harbour in the Falkland Islands, the ship caught fire. With the blaze out of control they did the only thing they could – they sank the ship. hipwreck of the Lord Lonsdale NEAR THE TIP OF CHILE, in the town of Punta Arenas, rest the remains of a frigate: an old workhorse of a ship called the “Lord Lonsdale.” Exactly how and why she ended up here is a bit of a mystery.

The Lord Lonsdale started its final journey a world away in Hamburg, Germany, in 1909. The 10-year old ship was set to sail all the way to Mazatlán on the western coast of Mexico. With the Panama Canal still under construction, that meant a trip through the Strait of Magellan, which separates mainland Chile from Tierra del Fuego. While stopped over in Stanley Harbour in the Falkland Islands, the ship caught fire. With the blaze out of control they did the only thing they could – they sank the ship.

Stanley Harbour is 560 miles away from Punta Arenas, so how and why she ended up here is where the trail runs a little cold. After the fire, the steel hulk (the body of a ship that floats but isn’t seaworthy), was sold to a company of traders called Braun & Blanchard. They may have had plans to move it to their warehouses in Puerto Natales to use it for storage – a feat requiring hundreds of miles of towing through the straits – but it only got moved to Punta Arenas before they literally...

A heck of a wreck, the Lord Lonsdale started its final journey in Germany in 1909 set to sail all the way to Mazatlán, Mexico. With the Panama Canal still under construction, that meant a trip through the Strait of Magellan. While stopped over in Stanley Harbor in the Falkland Islands, the ship caught fire. With the blaze out of control they did the only thing they could – they sank the ship 560 miles away from Punta Arenas. So how and why did she end up here? The steel hulk was sold to a company of traders who had plans to convert it into a storage facility after move it to Puerto Natales, a feat requiring hundreds of miles of towing through the straits – but it only made it to Punta Arenas before they literally...

Sad and beautiful at the same time a dead steel hulled sailing ship built in 1899 who died in southern seas because of a fire and now lays abandoned as a monument of past sailing. In my opinion should be salvaged and put ashore as a museum ship. Easy to see as she lays a few meters from shore along route 9 south of punta arenas, there is a little place...