JOHNSON'S HARBOUR
Johnson’s Harbour settlement lies on the north east coast of East Falkland. On the shore of Berkeley Sound it is at the head of Chabot Creek on a bay also known as Johnson’s Harbour. Stanley is about an hours drive.
Johnson's Harbour is owned by J Cheek. The farm (Berkeley Sound) is let out to a farmer and in 2018 had a population of 5 and was stocked with 8986 sheep 146 cattle.
Johnson’s is said to be named after a seaman from Copenhagen who was known as ‘Pirate Johnson’. Legend says he was the sole survivor of a party who buried treasure in Berkeley Sound. At any rate the 1842 census records him as being 23 and on board the schooner Montgomery.
Volunteer Shanty is an outside house that was used previously used by treckers. Volunteer Rocks was frequented by seal hunters as it was a fur seal rookery. The Volunteer area was named in 1815, when the sealing ship Volunteer left a boats crew there to seal while it went off to search in other places.
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On the coast which was on the route into Stanley for sailing vessels, Johnson’s east coast saw several sailing vessels wrecked. In 1820 the French research vessel L’Uranie hit a rock off Volunteer Point. She stayed afloat long enough to beach in Berkeley Sound with everyone surviving including the Captain’s wife, Rose de Freycinet who wrote about the experience in her diary. |
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Volunteer Point, a headland on the east coast of Johnson’s Harbour farm, lies at the end of a narrow peninsula by Volunteer Lagoon. It is on Johnson’s land and is a privately owned Nature Reserve and Important Bird Area. Volunteers has an amazing white sand beach, king, gentoo and magellanic penguins and a variety of other bird life. |
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Sources include: Falkland Rural Heritage- Joan Spruce with Natalie Smith, nationalarchives.gov.fk/land/buildings -Jane Cameron National Archives.
Can you add/ correct any information or supply photographs of Johnson's Harbour for this page, past or present, life, people, buildings? Contact: falklands.southatlantic@gmail.com
Photographic credits: Ailsa Heathman, Ali and Marlane Marsh
Photographs and Images Copyright: The images on this site have been bought under licence or have been used with the permission of their owners. They may not be copied or downloaded in any form without their owner's consent. |
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Johnson's Harbour-Neil Cousland/Shutterstock.com
