Desertas (islands) 1Geography and position
Desertas (islands)
Original title: Desertas (Ilhas)
The Desertas are a group of three small uninhabited islands (Ilhéu Chão, Deserta Grande and Bugio) south-east of Madeira, near the Ponta de São Lourenço. The entry gives their position, distances, ecclesiastical attachment, history of ownership and sources.
1Geography and position
This group consists of three small islands known as Ilhéu Chão (‘flat islet’), Deserta Grande, or simply Deserta, and Bugio. They lie in a north-north-west to south-south-east line with the Ponta de São Lourenço (‘St Lawrence Point’), south-east of Madeira, and are closer to that point. To the north of the three islets lies a small islet known as Furilhão, or more properly Farilhão (‘sea stack’), as Ilhéu (‘islet’) or Rocha do Navio (‘ship cliff’), and also as Prego do Mar (see that entry); it is separated from Ilhéu Chão by a narrow channel. Running roughly north to south, Ilhéu Chão is followed by Deserta Grande and that in turn by Bugio, separated from one another by narrow straits navigable only by vessels of very small tonnage. The extreme points of this small group of islands, or tiny archipelago, as it has been called, are: to the north, the said Furilhão islet; to the south, the Ponta das Agulhas (‘needles point’), at the southern tip of Bugio; to the east, the same point; and to the west, the Ponta do Pedregal (‘stony ground point’), on the western coast of Deserta Grande. The geographical position of the three islands, taken together, is as follows: they lie between 32° 35′ and 32° 22′ 20″ N and between 16° 27′ 25″ and 16° 32′ W (Greenwich). The group is about eleven miles, or roughly twenty kilometres, from the Ponta de São Lourenço. The Desertas (‘deserted islands’) are regarded as belonging to the parish (freguesia) of the Sé – Funchal Cathedral (Sé) – but it seems that they were once incorporated in the parish of Caniço (‘reed’), and those who died on the islands were generally buried there.
Ilhéu Chão (Porto de Santa Maria) lies about 19 miles from the harbour of Funchal (Porto do Funchal), 15.5 from Caniço, 14 from Santa Cruz, 14.5 from Machico and 11 from the Ponta de São Lourenço. Deserta Grande (Carga da Lapa) is approximately 22 miles from Funchal. The Ponta da Agulha (‘needle point’), on Ilhéu Chão, which is the southernmost point of the Desertas group and of the Madeiran archipelago, is almost 27 miles from the harbour of Funchal.
2History, ownership and sources
The sighting of this group is bound up with the discovery of Madeira, since it is impossible to approach the south coast of the island without clearly seeing the Desertas. It seems that some attempts at colonisation were made, but above all the lack of water, together with other local circumstances, never allowed a settlement in the strict sense of the word. In the seasons best suited to hunting, fishing and the gathering of orchil (a dye lichen), a few men would stay on Deserta Grande for those purposes, but there were never any permanent residents there. The Desertas Islands belonged to the captain-donataries of Funchal. They passed from the third donatary (donatário), Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, to his son Luís Gonçalves de Ataíde, and then to the latter’s son João Gonçalves de Ataíde, 6th Count of Atouguia, in whose house the islands were incorporated. Ownership then passed to the Counts of Taipa. The representative of that house, Gastão da Câmara Coutinho, 12th Lord of the Desertas, sold the property in 1864 to Alexandre Fernandes Camacho, and it later passed to his son of the same name. In 1894 the islands were sold at public auction to Henrique Hinton and Carlos Cossart.
Under the title As Desertas, Mr Alberto Artur Sarmento published a pamphlet containing valuable information on Deserta Grande, Bugio and Ilhéu Chão, and in the book entitled La carrière d'un navigateur the Prince of Monaco devoted the chapter La Chasse to an engaging description of a hunt on the Desertas. Some further information on the same group of islands can also be found in the French review Le Cosmos of 1902, in the Diário do Comercio of March 1903, in the bulletin of the Portuguese Society of Natural Sciences (Sociedade Portuguesa de Sciencias Naturais) of 1911, and in the Revista Semanal of 1861, p. 108.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 02Place
Places mentioned · 15- Desertas · Subject
Santa Cruz
The Desertas are a group of three small uninhabited islands, Ilhéu Chão, Deserta Grande and Bugio, lying south-east of Madeira near the Ponta de São Lourenço. The Elucidário gives their position, distances, ecclesiastical attachment, history of ownership and sources.
- Bugio
Santa Cruz · Desertas. Southernmost island of the Desertas group.
Bugio is the southernmost of the three Desertas islands: high (411 m), waterless and uninhabited, with good pasture and the rare plant Chrysanthemum haematomma. The Elucidário notes the Porto da Alagoa, the Ponta da Agulha, sub-fossil snail deposits on its summit and its private ownership in the nineteenth century.
- Caniço
Santa Cruz. Parish that apparently once included the Desertas and where those dying there were buried.
Caniço is a parish in the municipality of Santa Cruz, lying on the boundary between the captaincies of Funchal and Machico. Its early settlers included Gaspar Rego, Vasco Fernandes Rego and Álvaro de Ornelas, whose family founded morgados there; its alcaide and judge were appointed by the Funchal senate. The parish includes the Garajau statue, the Jesuits' Socorro residence and the Quinta do Barão da Conceição.
- Carga da Lapa
Desertas. Landing on Deserta Grande, about 22 miles from Funchal.
Carga da Lapa is a landing place on Deserta Grande. It lies about 22 miles from Funchal.
- Deserta Grande
Santa Cruz · Desertas. Largest island of the group, seasonally visited by hunters, fishers and orchil gatherers.
The largest island of the Desertas, 490 m high, seasonally visited by hunters, fishers and orchil gatherers. The steamer Lagos ran aground there in 1902, and it was visited by the Prince of Monaco in 1888 and by the Dana scientists. Its landing at Carga da Lapa is 21.5 miles from Funchal.
- Farilhão
Desertas. Small islet north of Ilhéu Chão, also called Rocha do Navio or Prego do Mar; northern extreme of the group.
Small islet north of Ilhéu Chão, also called Rocha do Navio or Prego do Mar; northern extreme of the group.
- Funchal
Port used as reference for distances to the Desertas.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Ilhéu Chão
Santa Cruz · Desertas. Northernmost of the three main Desertas islands.
The Ilhéu Chão is the smallest, flattest and northernmost of the three uninhabited Desertas islands, 93 m high and 19 miles from Funchal to its landing at the porto de Santa Maria. It is the only known home of the endemic grass Lolium lowei, and it once belonged to the captains of Funchal.
- Machico
Town 14.5 miles from Ilhéu Chão.
The parish of Machico was the landing place of the discoverers Zargo and Tristão Vaz and the seat of the captaincy of Machico; the parish was founded c. 1450. The Elucidário covers its clergy and stipends, chapels, historical events, mineral springs, localities, population and notable natives.
- Ponta das Agulhas
Santa Cruz · Desertas. Southern and eastern extreme of the group, at the tip of Bugio.
Ponta das Agulhas is the headland at the southern tip of Bugio and forms the southern and eastern extreme of the Desertas group.
- Ponta de São Lourenço
Machico. Eastern point of Madeira, about eleven miles from the Desertas.
The Ponta de São Lourenço is the long, narrow eastern headland of Madeira in the parish of Caniçal, said to be named after the caravel São Lourenço, with a lighthouse on its islet. The Elucidário describes its geology, seasonal vegetation, islets, fossil calcareous bodies at Piedade, land snails and use as pasture. The steamer Forerunner sank there in 1884, and a submarine bank lies between it and the Desertas.
- Ponta do Pedregal
Santa Cruz · Desertas. Western extreme of the group on Deserta Grande.
Ponta do Pedregal is a headland on the west coast of Deserta Grande. It is the western extreme of the Desertas group.
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People
People mentioned · 09- Albert I1848–1922
Prince of Monaco who described a hunt on the Desertas in 'La carrière d'un navigateur'.
- Alberto Artur Sarmentob. 1878
Author of the pamphlet 'As Desertas' with valuable information on the islands.
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Bought the Desertas in 1864; they later passed to his son of the same name.
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Co-purchaser of the Desertas at public auction in 1894.
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Representative of the counts of Taipa and 12th lord of the Desertas, who sold the islands in 1864.
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Co-purchaser of the Desertas at public auction in 1894.
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Sixth count of Atouguia, in whose house the Desertas were incorporated.
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Son of Simão Gonçalves da Câmara who inherited the Desertas.
- Simão Gonçalves da Câmara1579–1580
Third captain-donatary of Funchal, who owned the Desertas and passed them to his son.