Punta Arenas is situated on the Straits of Magellan, close to Tierra del Fuego. As to be expected, Magellan's name and image is everywhere - in statues, street names, etc.
One man has taken things to the extreme by hand building a life size replica of one of Magellan's ships, the Noa Victoria, on his property by the water's edge. It's a remarkable achievement, but he didn't stop there. He also built a replica (life size, of course) of the Beagle because Charles Darwin visited there on his voyage, and the small boat used by Shackleton to rescue his stranded men from Elephant Island during his South Pole exploits.
All of these were done from a shed on the property with the help of one or two men.
Even though they are sitting at the water's edge, none of the vessels have been launched because there are no inspectors who are able to certify that they are seaworthy because the standards today are very different from the 1500's. So they remain shore bound, but are open to the public for a small fee.
Punta Arenas is a small town in a beautiful part of the world, but I only had a day or two there. I'd love to get back there and investigate it further.
