In reviewing a report based on the round-the-world oceanographic expedition
of the HMS Challenger during the 1870s I came across several stations that
were "off the West coast of Patagonia."  I check a modern atlas and
confirmed that Patagonia was part of Argentina and hence had no West coast.
 I checked the Webster's Geographical Dictionary and it stated that it was
divided between Chile and Argentina in 1881.  Chamber's World Gazetteer
told me that the boundary between Chile and Argentina wasn't settled until
1907, so in 1875 when the Challenger was off what we call Chile today, as
far as they were concerned they were off the west coast of Patagonia.
Those two books have a lot of information about old place names and they
are usually where I look first.
--
Thomas A. Burch and Beatrice L. Burch
P.O. Box 309, Kailua, Hawaii, USA 96734
Phone: 808-261-7465  FAX: 808-263-6408
e-mail: [log in to unmask]