Editing History of the Falkland Islands (section)

===''Isabella''===
On 8 February 1813 ''Isabella'', a British ship of 193 tons en route from [[Sydney]] to [[London]], ran aground off the coast of [[Speedwell Island]], then known as Eagle Island. Among the ship's 54 passengers and crew, all of whom survived the wreck, was the [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irish]] general and exile [[Joseph Holt (rebel)|Joseph Holt]], who subsequently detailed the ordeal in his memoirs.<ref name=holt>{{cite book |last=Holt |first=Joseph |year=1838 |editor-last=Croker |editor-first=Thomas Crofton |title=Memoirs of Joseph Holt, general of the Irish rebels, in 1798 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VRBnAAAAMAAJ&pg=323 |volume=II |location=London |publisher=Henry Colburn |pages=323–375}}</ref> Also aboard had been the heavily pregnant Joanna Durie, who on 21 February 1813 gave birth to Elizabeth Providence Durie.

The next day, 22 February 1813, six men set out in one of the Isabella's longboats to seek help from any nearby Spanish outposts. Braving the South Atlantic in a boat little more than {{convert|17|ft|m}} long, they made landfall on the mainland at the [[Río de la Plata|River Plate]] just over a month later. The British gun brig {{HMS|Nancy|1808|6}} under the command of Lieutenant William D'Aranda was sent to rescue the survivors.

On 5 April [[Charles Barnard (castaway)|Captain Charles Barnard]] of the American sealer ''Nanina'' was sailing off the shore of Speedwell Island, with a discovery boat deployed looking for seals. Having seen smoke and heard gunshots the previous day, he was alert to the possibility of survivors of a ship wreck. This suspicion was heightened when the crew of the boat came aboard and informed Barnard that they had come across a new moccasin as well as the partially butchered remains of a seal. At dinner that evening, the crew observed a man approaching the ship who was shortly joined by eight to ten others. Both Barnard and the survivors from ''Isabella'' had harboured concerns the other party was Spanish and were relieved to discover their respective nationalities.

Barnard dined with the ''Isabella'' survivors that evening and finding that the British party were unaware of the [[War of 1812]] informed the survivors that technically they were at war with each other. Nevertheless, Barnard promised to rescue the British party and set about preparations for the voyage to the River Plate. Realising that they had insufficient stores for the voyage he set about hunting wild pigs and otherwise acquiring additional food. While Barnard was gathering supplies, however, the British took the opportunity to seize ''Nanina'' and departed leaving Barnard, along with one member of his own crew and three from ''Isabella'', marooned. Shortly thereafter, ''Nancy'' arrived from the River Plate and encountered ''Nanina'', whereupon Lieutenant D'Aranda rescued the erstwhile survivors of ''Isabella'' and took ''Nanina'' itself as a [[prize of war]].

Barnard and his party survived for eighteen months marooned on the islands until the British [[whaler]]s {{ship||Indispensable|1791 ship|2}} and ''[[French brig Serpent (1807)|Asp]]'' rescued them in November 1814. The British admiral in [[Rio de Janeiro]] had requested their masters to divert to the area to search for the American crew. In 1829, Barnard published an account of his survival entitled ''A Narrative of the Sufferings and Adventures of Capt Charles H. Barnard''.<ref name=barnard>{{cite book |last=Barnard |first=Charles H. |year=1836 |orig-year=1829 |title=A narrative of the sufferings and adventures of Capt. Charles H. Barnard |url=https://archive.org/details/anarrativesuffe00barngoog |location=New York |publisher=J.P. Callender}}</ref>