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120-773: At the time of the company's founding, its steamships sailed around South America via the Straits of Magellan to reach the East Coast ports. By 1907, the company began using the Mexican Isthmus of Tehuantepec Route. Shipments on the Tehuantepec Route would transship at Atlantic Port of Coatzacoalcos (formerly Puerto) or the Pacific Port of Salina Cruz and would traverse the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on

240-803: A New York—Honolulu route and a coastal route from Salina Cruz to Pacific ports of the United States. With new ships to be delivered the company planned to have four 8,000 ton ships on the New York—Coatzacoalcos route, six 12,000 ton ships operating on the Salina Cruz—Honolulu route and two 6,000 ton ships serving the West Coast route. Company ships were used on both the Pacific and Atlantic routes. When American political troubles with Mexico closed that route, American-Hawaiian returned to

360-529: A Spanish expedition commanded by brothers Bartolomé and Gonzalo Nodal verified this discovery making in the way also the first circumnavigation of Tierra del Fuego. After this there would be 150 years before the next ship from Spain would traverse the strait. By 1620, one hundred years after European discovery, at least 55 ships had traversed the strait including 23 Spanish, 17 English and 15 Dutch. John Narborough 's 1670 explorations in Patagonia caused

480-431: A Voyage (1699). In the 18th century further explorations were done by English explorers John Byron and James Cook . The French sent Louis Antoine de Bougainville and Jules Dumont d'Urville . By 1770 the focus of a potential conflict between Spain and Britain had shifted from the strait to Falkland Islands . From 1826 to 1830, the strait was explored and thoroughly charted by Phillip Parker King , who commanded

600-568: A change, from the western archipelagoes to the strait, meant that any English settlement could be approached by Spain by land from the north, which was not the case for the islands in western Patagonia. In February 1696, the first French expedition under the command of M. de Gennes reached the Strait of Magellan. The expedition is described by the French explorer, engineer, and hydrographer François Froger  [ fr ] in his A Relation of

720-489: A colossal rock, hard as diamond." John Masefield wrote: "Cape Horn, that tramples beauty into wreck / And crumples steel and smites the strong man dumb." A memorial presented in Robert FitzRoy 's bicentenary (2005) commemorates his landing on Cape Horn on 19 April 1830. Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song entitled "Ghosts of Cape Horn". In 1980 Keith F. Critchlow directed and produced

840-513: A few miles south of Puerto Williams, is the closest town to the cape. Many modern tankers are too wide to fit through the Panama Canal, as are a few passenger ships and several aircraft carriers. But there are no regular commercial routes around the Horn, and modern ships carrying cargo are rarely seen. However, a number of cruise ships routinely round the Horn when traveling from one ocean to

960-493: A gale of wind directly in our teeth. We stood out to sea, and on the second day again made the land, when we saw on our weather-bow this notorious promontory in its proper form—veiled in a mist, and its dim outline surrounded by a storm of wind and water. Great black clouds were rolling across the heavens, and squalls of rain, with hail, swept by us with such extreme violence, that the Captain determined to run into Wigwam Cove. This

1080-471: A major hazard for recreational sailors, however. A classic case is that of Miles and Beryl Smeeton , who attempted to round the Horn in their yacht Tzu Hang . Hit by a rogue wave when approaching the Horn, the boat pitchpoled (i.e. somersaulted end-over-end). They survived, and were able to make repairs in Talcahuano , Chile, and later attempted the passage again, only to be rolled over and dismasted for

1200-480: A point above the 50th parallel south again back in the Pacific—a considerably more difficult and time-consuming endeavor having a minimum length of 930 miles (1,500 km) for each leg . The 50th parallel south on both coasts of South America represent a set of benchmark latitudes of a Horn run, and is a region of the ocean that according to Herman Melville , "takes the conceit out of fresh-water sailors, and steeps in

1320-463: A primary refueling port that provided coal for steamships in transit. The Strait's curving channel, with widths varying between 1.9 and 22 miles (3 to 35 km), experiences unpredictable winds and tidal currents, leading sailing ships to prefer the Drake Passage, where they had more room to maneuver. ) in 1900, Joshua Slocum was the first documented person to have single-handedly sailed

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1440-629: A rounding of this historic point). Several prominent ocean yacht races , notably the Volvo Ocean Race , Velux 5 Oceans Race , and the solo Vendée Globe and Golden Globe Race , sail around the world via the Horn. Speed records for round-the-world sailing are recognized for following this route. Cape Horn is located on Hornos Island in the Hermite Islands group, at the southern end of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago . It marks

1560-572: A sanctuary for humpback whales , is located in this area. This part of the strait lies on the elongated Magallanes-Fagnano Fault , which marks a plate boundary between the South American Plate and the Scotia Plate . This fault continues southward under Almirantazgo Fjord and then below Fagnano Lake . Possibly, new tourism industries could be established in the eastern part of the strait for watching southern right whales , as

1680-654: A second time by another rogue wave, which again they miraculously survived. In 1526 the Spanish vessel the San Lesmes commanded by Francisco de Hoces , member of the Loaísa expedition , was blown south by a gale in front of the Atlantic end of Magellan Strait and reached Cape Horn, passing through 56° S where "they thought to see Land's End." Since the discovery, the sea separating South America from Antarctica bears

1800-620: A ship, or provide medical care, were in the Falkland Islands . The businesses there were so notorious for price-gouging that damaged ships were sometimes abandoned at Port Stanley . While most companies switched to steamers and later used the Panama Canal , German steel-hulled sailing ships like the Flying P-Liners were designed since the 1890s to withstand the weather conditions around the Horn, as they specialized in

1920-465: A still saltier brine the saltiest". Several factors combine to make the passage around Cape Horn one of the most hazardous shipping routes in the world: the fierce sailing conditions prevalent in the Southern Ocean generally; the geography of the passage south of the Horn; and the extreme southern latitude of the Horn, at 56° south (for comparison, Cape Agulhas at the southern tip of Africa

2040-501: A storm, and were blown well to the south of Tierra del Fuego . The expanse of open water they encountered led Drake to guess that far from being another continent, as previously believed, Tierra del Fuego was an island with open sea to its south. This discovery went unused for some time, as ships continued to use the known passage through the Strait of Magellan. By the early 17th century the Dutch East India Company

2160-533: A total of 16–17 men perished in it. While by 1676 rumours about English bases in Western Patagonia had been dispelled, that year new rumours appeared claiming that England was preparing an expedition to settle the Straits of Magellan. The focus of Spanish attention to repel tentative English settlements shifted from the Pacific coast of Patagonia to the Straits of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego . Such

2280-399: A vessel with little or no warning; given the narrowness of these routes, vessels have a significant risk of being driven onto the rocks. The open waters of the Drake Passage, south of Cape Horn, provide by far the widest route, at about 800 kilometres (500 miles) wide; this passage offers ample sea room for maneuvering as winds change, and is the route used by most ships and sailboats, despite

2400-756: A westward passage of the Horn, as they do in the Global Challenge race. Ice is a hazard to sailors venturing far below 40° south. Although the ice limit dips south around the horn, icebergs are a significant hazard for vessels in the area. In the South Pacific in February (summer in Southern Hemisphere), icebergs are generally confined to below 50° south; but in August the iceberg hazard can extend north of 40° south. Even in February,

2520-483: Is a smaller 4-metre (13-foot) fiberglass light tower, with a focal plane of 40 metres (130 feet) and a range of about 21 kilometres (13 miles). This is the authentic Cape Horn lighthouse ( ARLS CHI-006, 55°58′38″S 67°15′46″W  /  55.97722°S 67.26278°W  / -55.97722; -67.26278  ( CHI-006 ) ), and as such the world's southernmost traditional lighthouse. A few minor aids to navigation are located farther south, including one in

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2640-413: Is a snug little harbour, not far from Cape Horn; and here, at Christmas-eve, we anchored in smooth water. William Jones, writing of his experience in 1905 as a fifteen-year-old apprentice on one of the last commercial sailing ships, noted the contrast between his ship, which would take two months and the lives of three sailors to round the Horn, and birds adapted to the region: An albatross appears out of

2760-435: Is at 35° south ; Stewart Island / Rakiura at the south end of New Zealand is 47° south ; Edinburgh 56° north ). The prevailing winds in latitudes below 40° south can blow from west to east around the world almost uninterrupted by land, giving rise to the " roaring forties " and the even more wild "furious fifties" and "screaming sixties". These winds are hazardous enough that ships traveling east would tend to stay in

2880-568: Is commonly referred to as the Cape Horn lighthouse . However, the Chilean Navy station, including the lighthouse ( ARLS CHI-030, 55°57′49″S 67°13′14″W  /  55.96361°S 67.22056°W  / -55.96361; -67.22056  ( CHI-030 ) ) and the memorial, are not located on Cape Horn (which is difficult to access either by land or sea), but on another land point about one mile east-northeast. On Cape Horn proper

3000-685: Is connected with other sheltered waterways via the Smyth Channel . This area is similar to the Inside Passage of Alaska . South of Cape Froward, the principal shipping route follows the Magdalena Channel . The climate is generally foggy and cold, and the course is convoluted with several narrow passages. It is several hundred miles shorter than the Drake Passage , but sailing ships , particularly clipper ships , prefer

3120-502: Is enormous tidal energy potential in the strait. The strait is prone to Williwaws , "a sudden violent, cold, katabatic gust of wind descending from a mountainous coast of high latitudes to the sea". The place names of the area around the strait come from a variety of languages. Many are from Spanish and English, and several are from the Ona language , adapted to Spanish phonology and spelling. Examples include Timaukel (a hamlet at

3240-739: Is generally extensive, with averages from 5.2 eighths in May and July to 6.4 eighths in December and January. Precipitation is high throughout the year: the weather station on the nearby Diego Ramírez Islands , 109 kilometres (68 miles) south-west in the Sea of Hoces , shows the greatest rainfall in March, averaging 137.4 millimetres (5.41 in); while October, which has the least rainfall, still averages 93.7 millimetres (3.69 in). Wind conditions are generally severe, particularly in winter. In summer,

3360-493: Is named, became the first Europeans to discover it. Magellan's original name for the strait was Estrecho de Todos los Santos ("Strait of All Saints"). The King of Spain, Emperor Charles V , who sponsored the Magellan-Elcano expedition, changed the name to the Strait of Magellan in honor of Magellan. The route is difficult to navigate due to frequent narrows and unpredictable winds and currents. Maritime piloting

3480-551: Is now compulsory. The strait is shorter and more sheltered than the Drake Passage , the often stormy open sea route around Cape Horn , which is beset by frequent gale -force winds and icebergs . Along with the Beagle Channel , the strait was one of the few sea routes between the Atlantic and Pacific before the construction of the Panama Canal . Land adjacent to the Strait of Magellan has been inhabited by indigenous Americans for at least 13,000 years. Upon their arrival to

3600-403: Is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile , and is located on the small Hornos Island . Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet ), Cape Horn marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage and marks where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. Cape Horn was identified by mariners and first rounded in 1616 by

3720-620: The Whitbread Round the World Race first competed in 1973–74. The Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht, with no restrictions on the size of the crew (no assistance, non-stop). Finally, the Global Challenge race goes around the world the "wrong way", from east to west, which involves rounding Cape Horn against the prevailing winds and currents. The Horn remains

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3840-520: The Council of the Indies the possibility of establishing contacts between Chile and Seville through the strait. García Jofré de Loaiza was the second captain to navigate the strait and the first to discover that Tierra del Fuego was an island. Valdivia then dispatched Francisco de Ulloa to survey and explore the strait, facilitating navigation from Spain to Chile. In October 1553, Ulloa sailed from

3960-582: The Diego Ramírez Islands and several in Antarctica. Despite the opening of the Suez and Panama Canals, the Horn remains part of the fastest sailing route around the world, and so the growth in recreational long-distance sailing has brought about a revival of sailing via the Horn. Owing to the remoteness of the location and the hazards there, a rounding of Cape Horn is widely considered to be

4080-545: The Le Maire Strait and Schouten and Le Maire made their great discovery: At the time it was discovered, the Horn was believed to be the southernmost point of Tierra del Fuego; the unpredictable violence of weather and sea conditions in the Drake Passage made exploration difficult, and it was only in 1624 that the Horn was discovered to be an island. It is a telling testament to the difficulty of conditions there that Antarctica, only 650 kilometres (400 miles) away across

4200-514: The Spice Islands . His ships became the first to navigate the strait in 1520. The five ships included La Trinidad (110 tons, 55 crew members), under the command of Magellan; La San Antonio (120 tons, 60 crew members) under the command of Juan de Cartagena ; La Concepción (90 tons, 45 crew members) under the command of Gaspar de Quesada ( Juan Sebastián Elcano served as boatswain); La Victoria (85 tons, 42 crew members) under

4320-544: The Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina the conflicts between two countries were settled and Argentina ratified the strait as Chilean. In 1840, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company became the first to use steamships for commercial traffic in the strait. Until the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Strait of Magellan was the main route for steamships traveling from

4440-620: The United States Navy ; a further five were sunk by submarines or mines during the conflict. Roger Dearborn Lapham , a future mayor of San Francisco, California , served as company president in the mid-1920s. In World War II the company operated ships under the War Shipping Administration, some of which were company owned and taken over by WSA as was Nebraskan , and others wartime built and delivered directly to WSA for operation by commercial agents. In

4560-535: The 1530s Charles V divided South America and whatever was to be south of it into a series of grants to different conquistadors . The strait of Magellan and the area south of it went to Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz . In 1530 and 1531 the Fuggers held rights to trade through the strait of Magellan. While European trade with Asia through this route was thought to be possible, the Fuggers never developed this route. Andrés de Urdaneta who had first hand experience of

4680-446: The 1950s the company ceased sailing operations and was taken over by Daniel K. Ludwig , who used it as a holding company into the 1960s. Ventures at that time included the development of Westlake Village, California . Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan ( Spanish : Estrecho de Magallanes ), also called the Straits of Magellan , is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to

4800-623: The 1984 movie portrayed another decision to go round the Horn as a precipitating factor in the mutiny (this time west-to-east after collecting the breadfruits in the South Pacific), in fact that was never contemplated out of concern for the effect of the low temperatures near the Horn on the plants. The transcontinental railroads in North America, as well as the Panama Canal that opened in 1914 in Central America, led to

4920-461: The 310 kilometres (192.6 mi) Tehuantepec National Railway . The contract, binding until completion of the Panama Canal, with American-Hawaiian for its entire cargo moving between oceans and assuring a minimum of 500,000 tons of sugar and other cargo was important in the railway's economic plans from its beginning. For the steamship line the Tehuantepec route enabled the company to serve both

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5040-488: The Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. It was often considered safer than the Drake Passage separating Cape Horn from Antarctica , as the Drake Passage is notorious for turbulent and unpredictable weather, and is frequented by icebergs and sea ice . Ships in the strait, protected by Tierra del Fuego to the south and the coast of continental South America to the north, crossed with relative ease, and Punta Arenas became

5160-655: The British survey vessel HMS Adventure . In consort with HMS Beagle , King surveyed the complex coasts around the strait. A report on the survey was presented at two meetings of the Geographical Society of London in 1831. In connection to these explorations Robert FitzRoy came to suggest the establishment of a British base in strait to aid travel between the British Isles and Australia . The 1837 French expedition of Dumont D'Urville surveyed

5280-540: The December solstice. Cape Horn yields a subpolar oceanic climate ( Cfc ), with abundant precipitation—much of which falls as sleet and snow. Cape Horn is part of the Commune of Cabo de Hornos , whose capital is Puerto Williams ; this in turn is part of Antártica Chilena Province , whose capital is also Puerto Williams. The area is part of the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region of Chile. Puerto Toro ,

5400-404: The Drake Passage, was discovered only as recently as 1820, despite the passage having been used as a major shipping route for 200 years. From the 18th to the early 20th centuries, Cape Horn was a part of the clipper routes which carried much of the world's trade. Sailing ships sailed round the Horn carrying wool, grain, and gold from Australia back to Europe; these included the windjammers in

5520-593: The Dutchmen Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire , who named it Kaap Hoorn ( pronunciation ) after the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands . For decades, Cape Horn was a major milestone on the clipper route , by which sailing ships carried trade around the world. The waters around Cape Horn are particularly hazardous, owing to strong winds, large waves, strong currents and icebergs . The need for boats and ships to round Cape Horn

5640-592: The Horn is well below the latitude of the iceberg limit. These hazards have made the Horn notorious as perhaps the most dangerous ship passage in the world; many ships have been wrecked, and many sailors have died attempting to round the Cape. Download coordinates as: Two lighthouses are located near or in Cape Horn. The one located in the Chilean Navy Station is the more accessible and visited, and

5760-453: The King of Spain's ownership of the territory. Viceroy of Peru Baltasar de la Cueva issued orders to the governments of Chile , Chiloé and Río de la Plata to inquire about the men who disappeared at Evangelistas Islets. However no information about their fate came forth and it is presumed that the boat wrecked in the same storm that forced the remaining party to leave the area. Overall

5880-562: The Lords of the Admiralty to ask Mayne to collect several boatloads of fossils of extinct quadruped species. Admiral Sulivan had previously discovered an astonishingly rich accumulation of fossil bones not far from the strait. These remains apparently belonged to a more ancient period than collections made by Darwin on HMS Beagle and other naturalists, and therefore were of great scientific interest. Many of these fossils were collected with

6000-543: The South American nitrate trade and later the Australian grain trade . None of them were lost travelling around the Horn, but some, like the mighty Preußen , were victims of collisions in the busy English Channel. Traditionally, a sailor who had rounded the Horn was entitled to wear a gold loop earring—in the left ear, the one which had faced the Horn in a typical eastbound passage—and to dine with one foot on

6120-425: The Southern Ocean, free of any interruption from land. South of the Horn, however, these waves encounter an area of shallow water, which has the effect of making the waves shorter and steeper, greatly increasing the hazard to ships. If the strong eastward current through the Drake Passage encounters an opposing westerly wind, this can have the effect of further building up the waves. In addition to these "normal" waves,

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6240-398: The Spanish collected intelligence from all over Patagonia. In 1599 it took five ships under Simon de Cordes and his pilot William Adams four months to traverse the strait; Sebalt de Weert returned before reaching the end. In 1616, Dutch travelers, including Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire , discovered Cape Horn and recognized the southern end of Tierra del Fuego. Years later,

6360-497: The Spanish encountered difficulties, having to abandon their initial economic model based on gold mining and "hispanic-mediterranean" agriculture. In 1578 English navigator Francis Drake crossed the strait, creating fear on the Pacific coast that an attack was imminent. In order to seal the passage, the Viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo , sent a squadron with two ships under Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa . They carefully explored

6480-573: The Spanish southward in Chile halted after the conquest of the Chiloé Archipelago in 1567. The Spanish are thought to have lacked incentives for further conquests south. The indigenous populations were sparse and did not engage in the sedentary agricultural life of the Spanish. The harsh climate in the fjords and channels of Patagonia may also have deterred further expansion. Even in Chiloé

6600-424: The Spanish to launch various maritime expeditions to western Patagonia from 1674 to 1676. In the last and largest one , Pascual de Iriate led a party to Evangelistas Islets at the western entrance to the strait. At Evangelistas sixteen men of the party disappeared on February 17 including the son of Pascual de Iriarte. The ill-fated men had attempted to reach one of the islets to install a metal plaque indicating

6720-401: The Straits of Magellan route. When the Panama Canal opened for traffic in August 1914, American-Hawaiian began routing all of its ships via this route. The temporary closure of the canal because of a series of landslides forced the company to return to the Straits of Magellan route for the third time in its history. During World War I , twelve of the company's ships were commissioned into

6840-543: The aid of hydrographer Richards R. N. and deposited in the British Museum . The Admiralty compiled advice to mariners of the strait in 1871. Chile took possession of the Strait of Magellan on May 23, 1843. President Manuel Bulnes ordered this expedition after consulting the Chilean libertador Bernardo O'Higgins , who feared an occupation by Great Britain or France. The first Chilean settlement, Fuerte Bulnes ,

6960-475: The area as an unrepeatable feat. By contrast, conquistador Pedro de Valdivia , in a letter to Charles V , considered the strait a threat through which rival conquistadors could arrive to challenge his claims. In 1544 Valdivia commissioned Captain Juan Bautista Pastene to explore the coast from Valparaiso to the Strait of Magellan, and installed his personal secretary Juan de Cárdenas in

7080-423: The area of Puerto del Hambre and the navigational conditions in the Strait of Magellan. In a report the expedition recommended that a French colony be established at the strait to support future traffic along the route. Richard Charles Mayne commanded HMS Nassau on a survey expedition to the strait from 1866 to 1869. The naturalist on the voyage was Robert Oliver Cunningham . Charles Darwin requested

7200-505: The area west of the Horn is particularly notorious for rogue waves , which can attain heights of up to 30 metres (98 feet). The prevailing winds and currents create particular problems for vessels trying to round the Horn against them, i.e. from east to west. This was a particularly serious problem for traditional sailing ships, which could make very little headway against the wind at the best of times; modern sailing boats are significantly more efficient to windward and can more reliably make

7320-450: The border as defined in the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina . Immediately west are Primera Angostura and Segunda Angostura , narrows formed by two terminal moraines of different ages. The Primera Angostura is the closest approach of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego to mainland South America. Farther west lies Magdalena Island , part of Los Pingüinos Natural Monument . The strait's southern boundary in

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7440-468: The bow-ports and hawse-hole and over the knightheads, threatening to wash everything overboard. In the lee scuppers it was up to a man's waist. We sprang aloft and double reefed the topsails, and furled all the other sails, and made all snug. But this would not do; the brig was laboring and straining against the head sea, and the gale was growing worse and worse. At the same time sleet and hail were driving with all fury against us. We clewed down, and hauled out

7560-438: The city of Valdivia in the first expedition to enter the strait from the west. Ulloa reached Woods Bay , but faced with the steep coastline and lack of provisions and fearing entrapment in the strait during the winter, he turned around, returning to Chilean ports in February 1554. Valdivia himself never actually reached the strait, as he was killed in 1553 attempting to conquer Araucanía , about 1600 km (994 miles) north of

7680-491: The classic accounts of a working ship in the age of sail is Two Years Before the Mast , by Richard Henry Dana Jr. , in which the author describes an arduous trip from Boston to California via Cape Horn: Just before eight o'clock (then about sundown, in that latitude) the cry of "All hands ahoy!" was sounded down the fore scuttle and the after hatchway, and hurrying upon deck, we found a large black cloud rolling on toward us from

7800-473: The coast during the winter and moved into the southern Andes in the summer to hunt. The tribes of the region saw little European contact until the late 19th century. Later, European-introduced diseases decimated portions of the indigenous population. It is possible that Tierra del Fuego was connected to the mainland in the Early Holocene (c. 9000 years BP ) much in the same way that Riesco Island

7920-421: The coast of Chile. The first person to successfully circumnavigate the world single-handed via Cape Horn was Argentinian Vito Dumas , who made the voyage in 1942 in his 33-foot (10-metre) ketch Lehg II ; a number of other sailors have since followed him, including Webb Chiles aboard " EGREGIOUS " who in December 1975 rounded Cape Horn single-handed. On March 31, 2010, 16-year-old Abby Sunderland became

8040-709: The command of Luis de Mendoza ; and La Santiago (75 tons, 32 crew members), under command of Juan Rodríguez Serrano ( João Rodrigues Serrão ). Before the passage of the strait (and after the mutiny in Puerto San Julián ), Álvaro de Mesquita became captain of the San Antonio , and Duarte Barbosa of the Victoria . Later, Serrão became captain of the Concepcion (the Santiago , sent on a mission to find

8160-457: The east follows first the shoreline of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, then the northern end of the Canal Whiteside and the shoreline of Dawson Island . The western part of the strait leads northwest from the northern end of the Magdalena Channel to the strait's Pacific entrance. This is flanked on the south by Capitán Aracena Island , Clarence Island , Santa Inés Island , Desolación Island (Cabo Pilar), and other smaller islands, and on

8280-422: The east side of Tierra del Fuego), Carukinka (the end of the Almirantazgo Fjord), Anika (a channel located at 54° 7' S and 70° 30' W), and Arska (the north side of the Dawson Island). Magellan named the strait Todos los Santos , as he began his voyage through the strait on November 1, 1520, the day of "All Saints" ( Todos los Santos in Spanish). Charles V renamed it Estrecho de Magallanes . Magellan named

8400-414: The expedition to produce a written account of the lands discovered in order to solidify his claims before the King. Although Pastene's expedition reached only the 41st parallel south , well short of the strait, it discovered San Pedro Bay and the mouth of Valdivia River , where Valdivia would later found the city that bears his name . As Valdivia consolidated his claims, he mentions in a 1548 letter to

8520-402: The first small boat to sail around outside Cape Horn was the Irish 42-foot (13-metre) yacht Saoirse , sailed by Conor O'Brien with three friends, who rounded it during a circumnavigation of the world between 1923 and 1925. In 1934, the Norwegian Al Hansen was the first to round Cape Horn single-handed from east to west—the "wrong way"—in his boat Mary Jane , but was subsequently wrecked on

8640-532: The five-year expedition upon which he based The Origin of Species , described his 1832 encounter with the Horn: ... we closed in with the Barnevelts, and running past Cape Deceit with its stony peaks, about three o'clock doubled the weather-beaten Cape Horn. The evening was calm and bright, and we enjoyed a fine view of the surrounding isles. Cape Horn, however, demanded his tribute, and before night sent us

8760-471: The foods". The first European contact in this area was evidently the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan . (A report by António Galvão in 1563 that mentions early charts showing the strait as " Dragon's Tail " has led to speculation that there might have been earlier contact, but this is generally discounted.) Magellan led an expedition in the service of the Spanish King, Emperor Charles V , to reach

8880-412: The gradual decrease in use of the Horn for trade. As steamships replaced sailing ships, Flying P-Liner Pamir became the last commercial sailing ship to round Cape Horn laden with cargo, carrying grain from Port Victoria , Australia, to Falmouth , England, in 1949. Cape Horn has been an icon of sailing culture for centuries; it has featured in sea shanties and in many books about sailing. One of

9000-852: The ground, on a northeast-facing slope at the island's southeast corner. Cape Horn is the southern limit of the range of the Magellanic penguin . The climate in the region is generally cool, owing to the southern latitude. There are no weather stations in the group of islands including Cape Horn; but a study in 1882–1883, found an annual rainfall of 1,357 millimetres (53.4 inches), with an average annual temperature of 5.2 °C (41.4 °F). Winds were reported to average 30 kilometres per hour (8.33 m/s; 18.64 mph), (5  Bf ), with squalls of over 100 kilometres per hour (27.78 m/s; 62.14 mph), (10 Bf) occurring in all seasons. There are 278 days of rainfall. (70 days snow) and 2,000 millimetres (79 inches) of annual rainfall. Cloud coverage

9120-615: The gusts. Alan Villiers , a modern-day expert in traditional sailing ships, wrote many books about traditional sailing, including By way of Cape Horn . More recent sailors have taken on the Horn singly, such as Vito Dumas , who wrote Alone Through The Roaring Forties based on his round-the-world voyage; or with small crews. Bernard Moitessier made two significant voyages round the Horn; once with his wife Françoise, described in Cape Horn: The Logical Route , and once single-handed. His book The Long Way tells

9240-524: The heyday of the Great Grain Race of the 1930s. Much trade was carried around the Horn between Europe and the Far East; and trade and passenger ships travelled between the coasts of the United States via the Horn. The Horn exacted a heavy toll from shipping, however, owing to the extremely hazardous combination of conditions there. The only facilities in the vicinity able to service or supply

9360-586: The island on the south side of the strait Tierra del Fuego , which the Yaghan people called Onaisín in the Yaghan language . Magellan also gave the name Patagones to the mainland Indians, and their land was subsequently known as Patagonia. Bahía Cordes is named for the Dutch pirate Baltazar de Cordes . Cape Horn Cape Horn ( Spanish : Cabo de Hornos , pronounced [ˈkaβo ðe ˈoɾnos] )

9480-519: The journey as "chiefe Marchant and principall factor," in charge of trading aspects of the endeavour. The two ships that departed Holland at the beginning of June 1615 were the Eendracht of 360 tons with Schouten and Le Maire aboard, and the Hoorn of 110 tons, of which Schouten's brother Johan was master. It was Eendracht then, with the crew of the recently wrecked Hoorn aboard, that passed through

9600-676: The lamines were hunted has been found at some sites, such as Cueva del Medio. Historically identifiable indigenous ethnic groups around the strait are the Kawésqar , the Tehuelche , the Selk'nam and Yaghan people . The Kawésqar lived on the western part of the strait's northern coast. To the east of the Kawésqar were the Tehuelche , whose territory extended to the north in Patagonia . To

9720-547: The land on behalf of the King of Spain. Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta , called it the Patagonian Strait , and others Victoria Strait , commemorating the first ship that entered. Within seven years, it was being called Estrecho de Magallanes in honor of Magellan. The Spanish Empire and the Captaincy General of Chile considered the strait the southern boundary of their territory. In

9840-548: The latter. Its major port is Punta Arenas , a transshipment point for Chilean mutton situated on the Brunswick Peninsula . Exemplifying the difficulty of the passage, it took Magellan 38 days to complete the crossing. The eastern opening is a wide bay on the border of Chile and Argentina between Punta Dúngeness on the mainland and Cabo del Espíritu Santo ("Cape of the Holy Spirit") on Tierra del Fuego,

9960-406: The main island. The Selk'nam, Haush, and Tehuelche are generally thought to be culturally and linguistically related peoples physically distinct from the sea-faring peoples. According to a Selk'nam myth the strait was created along with the Beagle Channel and Fagnano Lake by slingshots falling on Earth during the fight of Taiyín with a witch who was said to have "retained the waters and

10080-412: The murk, to examine us in our plight. The gale is of hurricane force, but the bird sails serenely and unhurriedly through the air, within a few feet of the ship's rail, on the windward side. Then it turns into the eye of the wind, and disappears in the murk —westward —without any discernible effort in its aerial gliding, while we are still drifting to leeward, incapable of emulating its brilliant defiance of

10200-465: The name of its discoverer in Spanish sources. It appears as Mar de Hoces (Sea of Hoces) in most Spanish-language maps. In English charts however it is named the Drake Passage . In September 1578, Sir Francis Drake , in the course of his circumnavigation of the world, passed through the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean. Before he could continue his voyage north his ships encountered

10320-571: The north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The strait is approximately 570 km (310 nmi; 350 mi) long and 2 km (1.1 nmi; 1.2 mi) wide at its narrowest point. In 1520, the Spanish expedition of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan , after whom the strait

10440-501: The north by Brunswick Peninsula , Riesco Island , Muñoz Gamero Peninsula , Manuel Rodriguez Island , and other minor islands of the Queen Adelaide Archipelago . Two narrow channels connect the strait with Seno Otway and Seno Skyring . A broader channel, Smyth Channel , leads north from the strait between Muñoz Gamero Peninsula and Manuel Rodriguez Island. Francisco Coloane Marine and Coastal Protected Area ,

10560-458: The north coast of the strait. Opposite Pecket Bay is Gente Grande Bay ( Spanish : bahía Gente Grande ) in Tierra del Fuego. On the Atlantic side, the strait is characterized by semidiurnal macrotides with mean and spring tide ranges of 7.1 and 9.0 m, respectively. On the Pacific side, tides are mixed and mainly semidiurnal, with mean and spring tide ranges of 1.1 and 1.2 m, respectively. There

10680-500: The north edge of the Drake Passage , the strait between South America and Antarctica. It is located in Cabo de Hornos National Park . The cape lies within Chilean territorial waters, and the Chilean Navy maintains a station on Hoorn Island, consisting of a residence, utility building, chapel, and lighthouse. A short distance from the main station is a memorial, including a large sculpture made by Chilean sculptor José Balcells featuring

10800-629: The northern part of the forties (i.e. not far below 40° south latitude); however, rounding Cape Horn requires ships to press south to 56° south latitude, well into the zone of fiercest winds. These winds are exacerbated at the Horn by the funneling effect of the Andes and the Antarctic Peninsula , which channel the winds into the relatively narrow Drake Passage. The strong winds of the Southern Ocean give rise to correspondingly large waves; these waves can attain great height as they roll around

10920-402: The number of observations in the area has increased in recent years. In the more well-defined northeastern course of the strait various bays stand out in its geography. Pecket Bay ( Spanish : bahía Pecket ) is a shallow and somewhat closed bay in the strait located near where Brunswick Peninsula is as narrowest. San Gregorio Bay ( Spanish : bahía San Gregorio ) is an open bay located in

11040-595: The old clipper route via Cape Horn. The first of these was the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race , which was a single-handed race; this inspired the present-day Around Alone race, which circumnavigates with stops, and the Vendée Globe , which is non-stop. Both of these are single-handed races, and are held every four years. The Volvo Ocean Race is a crewed race with stops which sails the clipper route every four years. Its origins lie in

11160-482: The other. These often stop in Ushuaia or Punta Arenas as well as Port Stanley. Some of the small passenger vessels shuttling between Ushuaia and the Antarctic Peninsula will pass the Horn too, time and weather permitting. A number of potential sailing routes may be followed around the tip of South America. The Strait of Magellan , between the mainland and Tierra del Fuego, is a major—although narrow—passage, which

11280-466: The passage, was caught in a storm and wrecked ). San Antonio , charged to explore Magdalen Sound, failed to return to the fleet, instead sailing back to Spain under Estêvão Gomes , who imprisoned the captain Mesquita. Magellan's ships entered the strait on All Saints' Day , 1 November 1520. Magellan named the strait Estrecho de Todos los Santos ("Strait of All Saints") and planted a flag to claim

11400-428: The possibility of extreme wave conditions. Rounding Cape Horn can be done on a day trip by helicopter or more arduously by charter power boat or sailboat, or by cruise ship. "Doubling the Horn" is traditionally understood to involve sailing from a point above 50 degrees South in the Pacific around the Horn to a point above 50 degrees South in the Atlantic, and then sailing back against the prevailing westerly winds to

11520-510: The reef-tackles again, and close-reefed the fore-topsail, and furled the main, and hove her to on the starboard tack. Here was an end to our fine prospects.... After nine more days of headwinds and unabated storms, Dana reported that his ship, the "Pilgrim" finally cleared the turbulent waters of Cape Horn and turned northwards. Charles Darwin , in The Voyage of the Beagle , a journal of

11640-432: The region, they would have encountered native equines ( Hippidion ), the large ground sloth Mylodon , saber toothed cats ( Smilodon ) the extinct jaguar subspecies Panthera onca mesembrina , the bear Arctotherium , the superficially camel-like Macrauchenia , the fox-like canid Dusicyon avus and lamine camelids, including the extant vicuña and guanaco . Evidence to suggest that Mylodon , Hippidion and

11760-565: The silhouette of an albatross , in remembrance of the sailors who died while attempting to "round the Horn". It was erected in 1992 through the initiative of the Chilean Section of the Cape Horn Captains Brotherhood. Due to severe winds characteristic of the region, the sculpture was blown over in 2014. A 2019 research expedition found the world's southernmost tree growing, a Magellan's beech mostly bent to

11880-520: The south of the Tehuelche across the strait lived the Selk'nam, who inhabited the majority of the eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego . To the west of the Selk'nam were the Yaghan people , who inhabited the southernmost part of Tierra del Fuego. All tribes in the area were nomadic hunter-gatherers . The Tehuelche were the only non-maritime culture in the area; they fished and gathered shellfish along

12000-422: The south-west, and blackening the whole heavens. "Here comes Cape Horn!" said the chief mate; and we had hardly time to haul down and clew up, before it was upon us. In a few moments, a heavier sea was raised than I had ever seen before, and as it was directly ahead, the little brig, which was no better than a bathing machine, plunged into it, and all the forward part of her was under water; the sea pouring in through

12120-450: The southernmost point of land outside of Antarctica, the region experiences barely 7 hours of daylight during the June solstice, with Cape Horn itself having 6 hours and 57 minutes. The region experiences around 17 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours of daylight during the December solstice, and experiences only nautical twilight from civil dusk to civil dawn. White nights occur during the week around

12240-408: The story of this latter voyage, and of a peaceful night-time passage of the Horn: "The little cloud underneath the moon has moved to the right. I look... there it is, so close, less than 10 miles (16 km) away and right under the moon. And nothing remains but the sky and the moon playing with the Horn. I look. I can hardly believe it. So small and so huge. A hillock, pale and tender in the moonlight;

12360-445: The strait by his participation in the Loaísa expedition , argued before viceroy Antonio de Mendoza in the 1550s for the establishment of an Asia–Mexico trade route and presented arguments against the establishment of rival route of direct trade between Spain and Asia through the strait of Magellan. According to Urdaneta, climate would made passage through the strait possible only during summer and that therefore ships would need to stay

12480-500: The strait with 300 settlers. That winter, it became known as Puerto del Hambre , or "Port Famine", as most of the settlers died of cold or starvation. When Sir Thomas Cavendish landed at the site of Rey Don Felipe in 1587, he found only ruins of the settlement. The Spanish failure to colonize the Strait of Magellan made the Chiloé Archipelago key in protecting western Patagonia from foreign intrusions. Valdivia, reestablished in 1645 , and Chiloé acted as sentries, and as hubs where

12600-401: The strait, trying to ferret out English invaders, while surveying locations for future fortifications. Pigafetta had described the strait as a hospitable area with many good ports, " cedar " wood, and abundant shellfish and fish. In 1584, Sarmiento de Gamboa founded two colonies in the strait: Nombre de Jesús and Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe. The latter was established on the north shore of

12720-480: The strait. In October 1557, Governor García Hurtado de Mendoza sent another exploratory squad of 70 men under the command of Juan Ladrillero . They were charged with mapping the coastline and surveying the region's flora, fauna, and ethnography. On August 16, 1558, Ladrillero arrived in the Atlantic Ocean , becoming the first navigator to cross the Strait of Magellan in both directions. Colonization by

12840-565: The strait. He experienced a 40-day hiatus in the strait due to storms and adverse weather, while piloting the gaff-rigged sloop oyster boat Spray in the first solo global circumnavigation . He wrote about the experience in Sailing Alone Around the World . In 1976, American open water swimmer Lynne Cox became the first person to swim across the strait. Almost 40 years later, on January 17, 2014, Hunter Wright became

12960-577: The strait. Meanwhile, Sánchez de la Hoz was executed in Chile by Francisco de Villagra , one of Valdivia's men. The first map of the Pacific Ocean , Maris Pacifici from 1589, depicts the strait as the only route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Contemporaries differed in their estimation of the strait's significance. In Europe it was viewed by some as an opportunity and a strategic location to facilitate long-range trade, though Antonio Pigafetta seemed to have understood his voyage through

13080-785: The table; a sailor who had also rounded the Cape of Good Hope could place both feet on the table. One particular historic attempt to round the Horn, that of HMS Bounty in 1788, has been immortalized in history due to the subsequent Mutiny on the Bounty . This abortive Horn voyage has been portrayed (with varying historical accuracy) in three major motion pictures about Captain William Bligh 's mission to transport breadfruit plants from Tahiti to Jamaica. The Bounty made only 85 miles of headway in 31 days of east-to-west sailing, before giving up by reversing course and going around Africa. Although

13200-438: The wind at Cape Horn is gale force up to 5 percent of the time, with generally good visibility; however, in winter, gale-force winds occur up to 30 percent of the time, often with poor visibility. Many stories are told of hazardous journeys "around the Horn", most describing fierce storms. Charles Darwin wrote: "One sight of such a coast is enough to make a landsman dream for a week about shipwrecks, peril and death." Being

13320-452: The winter in a more northern port. Urdaneta's preference for Mexico may have also been influenced by his links to the Pedro de Alvarado . Following Urdaneta's plans in 1565 the first Manila galleon inaugurated European trade with Asia across the Pacific. Pedro de Valdivia , the conquistador of Chile, managed to have Charles V extend his governorship all the way to the northern shores of

13440-422: The yachting equivalent of climbing Mount Everest, and so many sailors seek it for its own sake. Joshua Slocum was the first single-handed yachtsman to successfully pass this way (in 1895) although in the end, extreme weather forced him to use some of the inshore routes between the channels and islands and it is believed he did not actually pass outside the Horn proper. If one had to go by strict definitions,

13560-455: The youngest person to single-handedly sail around Cape Horn in her attempt to circumnavigate the globe. In 1987 The British Cape Horn Expedition, headed by Nigel H. Seymour , rounded Cape Horn in the world's first ever 'sailing kayaks', called 'Kaymaran'; two seagoing kayaks which could link together with two sails mountable in any of the four sailing positions between the two kayaks. Today, there are several major yacht races held regularly along

13680-471: The youngest person to swim across the strait at age 17. In June 2004, the USS Ronald Reagan was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to navigate the strait. The strait is approximately 570 km (310 nmi; 350 mi) long and 2 km (1.1 nmi; 1.2 mi) wide at its narrowest point ( Carlos III Island , west of Cape Froward ). The northwestern portion of the strait

13800-463: Was an important supply stop for mariners. It has been claimed that Chile's annexation of the area originated from a fear of occupation by Great Britain or France. In the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina , Argentina effectively recognized Chilean sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan. Argentina had previously claimed all of the strait, or at least the eastern third of it. In

13920-515: Was back then. A Selk'nam tradition recorded by the Salesian missionary Giuseppe María Beauvoir relate that the Selk'nam arrived in Tierra del Fuego by land, and that the Selk'nam were later unable to return north as the sea had flooded their crossing. Selk'nam migration to Tierra del Fuego is generally thought to have displaced a related non-seafaring people, the Haush that once occupied most of

14040-528: Was given a monopoly on all Dutch trade via the Straits of Magellan and the Cape of Good Hope , the only known sea routes at the time to the Far East . To search for an alternate route and one to the unknown Terra Australis , Isaac Le Maire , a wealthy Amsterdam merchant and Willem Schouten , a ship's master of Hoorn, contributed in equal shares to the enterprise, with additional financial support from merchants of Hoorn. Jacob Le Maire , Isaac's son, went on

14160-495: Was greatly reduced by the opening of the Panama Canal in August 1914. Sailing around Cape Horn is still widely regarded as one of the major challenges in yachting . Thus, a few recreational sailors continue to sail this route, sometimes as part of a circumnavigation of the globe. Almost all of these choose routes through the channels to the north of the Cape (many take a detour through the islands and anchor to wait for fair weather to visit Horn Island, or sail around it to replicate

14280-468: Was in use for trade well before the Horn was discovered. The Beagle Channel (named for the ship of Charles Darwin's expedition), between Tierra del Fuego and Isla Navarino , offers a potential, though difficult route. Other passages may be taken around the Wollaston and Hermite Islands to the north of Cape Horn. All of these, however, are notorious for treacherous williwaw winds, which can strike

14400-466: Was situated in a forested zone on the north side of the strait, and was later abandoned. In 1848, Punta Arenas was founded farther north, where the Magellanic forests meet the Patagonian plains. In Tierra del Fuego, across the strait from Punta Arenas, the village of Porvenir emerged during the Tierra del Fuego gold rush in the late 19th century. Until the opening of the Panama Canal , the town

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