Untitled [Valparaiso, Chile]

In the winter of 1852 Watkins went to New York via Panama to secure merchandise for Huntington, Hammond and Company. He returned with an entire shipload of goods aboard the SS Michael Angelo, which traveled around Cape Horn, stopping in Chile, Peru, Panama, and Mexico--a journey that took almost six months. Watkins could have made this daguerreotype in May or June of 1852.