Cape Horn

 

Seldom does one complain that the weather is not bad enough. But that was the sentiment among a handful of us on deck this morning . Our highly anticipated rounding of Cape Horn occurred under cloudy skies with light rain, but little wind and on utterly calm seas. I don’t think the Captain complained. 

We left Ushuaia yesterday evening, arrived at Cape Horn at 8 this morning, cruised around Hornus Island, and are now cruising back through the Beagle Channel towards Ushuaia. We will continue through the Channel and the Straits of Magellan to Punta Arenas, our next stop, and then back through the Straits to the Pacific, and up the coast of Chile. 

The 611 km long Straits of Magellen (red line) were controlled by the Dutch East India Company in the 18th-19th centuries. They made it expensive for competitors to use. Additionally, the narrow sections of the Straits were difficult for large sailing ships to navigate. 

William Schouten sailed around the Horn (blue arrow) in 1616, establishing its strategic significance. Despite the potentially disastrous weather, it became the route of choice for large ships until the Panama Canal opened in 1914. This route (blue line) is also known as Drake’s Passage, on the historical assumption that Drake sailed through. 

The Beagle Channel (yellow line) was first sailed by Robert Fitzroy, commander of the HMS Beagle, in 1831. The young Charles Darwin was on board as the ship’s natural scientist. 

Seas are still calm, and the sun is peeking through the clouds. Tomorrow: Punta Arenas.