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95-644: In the far south (Chile Austral), which extends from Valdivia through the Chacao Channel to Cape Horn , the Andes and the South Pacific meet. This district of the country is mountainous, heavily forested and inhospitable. The deeply indented coastline is filled with islands which preserve the general outline of the continent southward to the Fuegian archipelago, the outside groups forming a continuation of

190-489: 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

285-513: 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

380-493: 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

475-471: 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

570-568: A north-westerly direction from the Andes to the north-eastern shore of the Gulf of Chacao. This area is home to Pumalín Park . Continuing southward, the Yelcho is the next important river to traverse this region. Forming part of its basin is the Futaleufú River , which drains a large area of Argentine territory. Yelcho flows north-west from Yelcho Lake to the Gulf of Corcovado. The Palena

665-532: A peculiarly shaped body of water with long, widely branching arms, called Worsley Sound, Obstruction Sound and Última Esperanza Sound , covers an extensive area between the 51st and 53rd parallels , and extends nearly to the Argentine frontier. It has the characteristics of a tidewater river and drains an extensive region. A noteworthy peculiarity of southern Chile, from the Taitao peninsula to Tierra del Fuego,

760-480: 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

855-629: 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

950-654: 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

1045-620: 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

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1140-465: 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

1235-554: 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

1330-517: A submerged part of the great Chilean Central Valley , and farther south by the narrower Moraleda Channel , which terminates southward in a confusing network of passages between the mainland and the islands of the Chonos group. Below the Taitao peninsula is the broad open Gulf of Penas , which carries the coast-line eastward fully 160 km (100 mi) and is noticeably free from islands, with some exceptions. The northern entrance to Messier Channel

1425-462: 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

1520-693: 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,

1615-737: Is Lautaro volcano, but the most famous compose the Cordillera del Paine in the south and the Fitz Roy group in the north. The southernmost part of this zone is formed by two small parallel ranges called Cordillera Sarmiento and Cordillera Riesco , which are separated by the Fjord of the Mountains . From the 52 deg. S. lat. up to Strait of Magellan, the western slope of the Cordillera does not, properly speaking, exist. Abrupt walls overlook

1710-483: 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

1805-413: 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

1900-449: Is also the home of the largest population of descendants of British settlers. Large number of Sudeten German (German Czechoslovak) settlers from Hranice in present Czech Republic settled Puyuhuapi , a village of Cisnes, Aysén Region. 52°22′S 73°13′W  /  52.37°S 73.21°W  / -52.37; -73.21 Cape Horn Cape Horn ( Spanish : Cabo de Hornos , pronounced [ˈkaβo ðe ˈoɾnos] )

1995-580: Is another river of the same character, having its source in a large frontier lake, which is called General Paz or General Vintter in Argentina and Palena in Chile. It flows for some distance through Argentine territory before crossing into Chile. It receives one large tributary from the south, the Pico River , and enters an estuary of the Gulf of Corcovado a little north of the 44th parallel . The Cisnes

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2090-435: 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

2185-568: 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

2280-739: 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,

2375-597: Is located at 54°39′33″S 69°35′54″W  /  54.65917°S 69.59833°W  / -54.65917; -69.59833 . Both peaks are best climbed in late December, January, February and March. Monte Shipton was first climbed in 1962 by Eric Shipton , E. Garcia, F. Vivanco and C. Marangunic. Mount Darwin was given its name during the voyage of the Beagle by HMS Beagle 's captain Robert FitzRoy to celebrate Charles Darwin 's 25th birthday on 12 February 1834. A year earlier FitzRoy had named an expanse of water to

2470-495: Is more complex than was formerly supposed. Although, in the explored portion of the Fuegian chain, the volcanoes which have been mentioned from time to time have not been met with, there seem to have existed to the south, on the islands, many neo-volcanic rocks, some of which appear to be contemporaneous with the basaltic sheet that covers a part of eastern Patagonia. Farther south the Andes terminates in Cape Horn. In this section

2565-549: Is mountainous, cold, wet and inhospitable. The perpetual snow-line here descends to 1,000 to 1,200 m (3,500 to 4,000 ft) above sea-level, and the forest growth does not rise above an altitude of 300 to 450 m (1,000 to 1,500 ft). From the latitude of the Michinmahuida volcano southwards, a well-defined western longitudinal valley , occupied by the Carretera Austral , divides the Andes into two chains,

2660-533: Is occupied by glaciers that reach down to the sea amid dense forest. The Cordillera of the Andes in Tierra del Fuego is formed of crystalline schists, and culminates in the snow-capped peaks of Mount Darwin and Monte Sarmiento in the Cordillera Darwin , which contains glaciers of greater extent than those of Mont Blanc . The extent of the glaciers is considerable in this region, which, geographically,

2755-418: Is oil and natural gas extraction from the areas around the Strait of Magellan. This strait is one of the world's important sea-lanes because it unites the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through a channel that avoids the rough open waters off Cape Horn . The channel is perilous, however, and Chilean pilots guide all vessels through it. The Comau Fjord and Vodudahue River traverse the densely wooded country in

2850-407: Is the large number of glaciers formed on the western and southern slopes of the Andes and other high elevations, which discharge direct into these deeply cut estuaries. Some of the larger lakes of the Andes have glaciers discharging into them. The formation of these icy streams at comparatively low levels, with their discharge direct into tidewater estuaries, is a phenomenon not to be found elsewhere in

2945-465: 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

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3040-604: Is through this gulf. Messier, Pitt , Sarmiento and Smyth's Channels, which form a comparatively safe and remarkably picturesque inside route for ships, about 540 km (338 mi) in length, separate another series of archipelagoes from the mainland. These channels are in places narrow and tortuous. Among the islands which thickly fringe this part of the coast, the largest are Merino Jarpa (lying within Baker Channel ), Prat , Campana (part of Guayaneco Archipelago ), Little Wellington , Wellington and Mornington (of

3135-479: Is wholly a Chilean river, draining an extensive Andean region between the 44th and 45th parallels and discharging into the Puyuhuapi Channel , which separates Magdalena Island from the mainland. The Aisén River also has its source near the 46th parallel , and drains a mountainous region as far north es the 45th parallel , receiving numerous tributaries, and discharging a large volume of water into

3230-620: 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

3325-662: The Aysén Fjord . The next large river is the Baker River , through which the waters of lakes General Carrera and Cochrane , find their way to the Pacific. Both of these large lakes are crossed by the boundary line. The Baker discharges into Baker Channel . The course of the river from lake General Carrera is south and south-west, the short range of mountains in which are found the cerros San Valentín and Arenales forcing it southward for an outlet. Baker inlet also receives

3420-550: The Chilean Coast Range . The heavy and continuous rainfall throughout this region, especially in the latitude of Chiloé , gives rise to a large number of rivers and lakes. Farther south, this excessive precipitation is in the form of snow in the Andes , forming glaciers at a comparatively low level which in places discharge into the inlets and bays of the sea. The extreme southern part of this region extends eastward to

3515-501: The Cordillera Darwin , the southernmost range of the Andes , just to the north of the Beagle Channel . It is 2,438 m (7,999 ft) high. Monte Darwin was for a long time considered as the highest peak in Tierra del Fuego, but that distinction corresponds to a nearby mountain unofficially named Monte Shipton (also somewhat confusingly referred to as Darwin or Agostini-Darwin ), which is about 2,580 m (8,460 ft) high and

3610-582: 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

3705-545: 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

3800-631: The Wellington Archipelago ), Madre de Dios , Duke of York , Chatham , Hanover , Cambridge, Contreras , Rennell and the Queen Adelaide Archipelago , a group of small barren rocks and islands lying immediately north of the Pacific entrance to the Strait of Magellan . The large number of English names on this coast is due to the fact that the earliest detailed survey of this region was made by English naval officers;

3895-471: The documentary film "Ghosts of Cape Horn", with the participation and archaeological consulting of famous underwater archaeologist Peter Throckmorton . 55°58′48″S 67°17′21″W  /  55.98000°S 67.28917°W  / -55.98000; -67.28917 Mount Darwin (Andes) Mount Darwin ( Spanish : Monte Darwin ) is a peak in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego forming part of

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3990-623: 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

4085-404: The Andes in the region extending from 49° to 46° S latitude Monte San Lorenzo , detached from the main chain of the Andes, is 3,706 m (12,160 ft) high. The section from 48° to 52° S latitude is a continuous ice-capped mountain range, and some of the glaciers extend from the eastern lakes to the western channels, where they reach the sea-level. The highest mountain in the section

4180-427: The Atlantic entrance to the Strait of Magellan , and includes the greater part of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego with all the islands lying south and west of it. There are some comparatively level stretches of country immediately north of the Strait, partly forested and partly grassy plains, where sheep farming has been established with some degree of success, but the greater part of this extreme southern territory

4275-540: The Biobío, and from foreign immigrants of Croatian and Spanish origin or to a lesser extent from other European countries that colonized the area more than a century ago. The Croatian community settled in Punta Arenas, Magallanes. The massive arrival of Croats in Chile began in 1864 and migration grew steadily until 1956 to reach a number of more than 58,000 Croats living mainly in the extreme south of Chile. Punta Arenas

4370-540: 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 ,

4465-404: 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

4560-593: 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

4655-535: 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

4750-529: The Pacific, and great longitudinal and transversal channels and fjords run right through the heart of the range, cutting it generally in a direction more or less oblique to its axis, the result of movements of the Earth's crust. This region is not fully explored, and all that is known of it is that it is principally composed of the same rocks as the Fuegian Andes, and that the greater part of its upper valleys

4845-543: 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

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4940-425: 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,

5035-505: 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

5130-468: 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

5225-594: The charts prepared from their surveys are still in use and form the basis of all subsequent maps. Belonging to the Tierra del Fuego archipelago south of the Strait of Magellan are Desolación , Santa Inés , Clarence , Capitán Aracena , Dawson , Londonderry , Hoste , Navarino and Wollaston Islands , with innumerable smaller islands and rocks fringing their shores and filling the channels between them. The far south contains large expanses of pastures that are best suited for raising sheep, mainly on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego . The area's other main economic activity

5320-491: 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

5415-421: 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

5510-420: The eastern being the main chain, to which belong mountains Ventisquero Sur, Barros Arana and Alto Nevado, while the western chain, broken into imposing blocks, contains several high volcanic peaks such as Corcovado , Yanteles and Melimoyu . An important transverse mountain range of the Andes separates the valleys of the rivers Simpson and Ibañez . This section is dominated by the active Hudson volcano and

5605-407: The excessive rainfall of these latitudes and the violent westerly storms render them highly unfavourable for human occupation. Some of the smallest islands are barren rocks, but the majority of them are covered with forests. These archipelagoes are separated from the mainland in the north by the gulfs of Ancud and Corcovado , 48 km (30 mi) to 56 km (35 mi) wide, which appear to be

5700-536: The far south, there is still plenty of rainfall. For instance, Puerto Aisén, at 45° 24′ south latitude, receives 2,973.3 millimeters of rain per year. However, unlike in Valdivia , the rain falls more or less evenly throughout the year in Puerto Aisén. The summer months average 206.1 millimeters, whereas the winter months average 300 millimeters. The temperatures at sea level in Puerto Aisén average 13.6 °C in

5795-525: 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

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5890-532: 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

5985-509: The form of snow. Temperatures are colder than in the rest of the country. The summer months average 11.1 °C, and the winter months average 2.5 °C. The virtually constant wind from the South Pacific Ocean makes the air feel much colder. The extreme south has a population of more than 200,000 inhabitants; the population of this area is mainly descended from Chilean immigrants, especially from Chiloé and other areas south of

6080-412: 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

6175-852: 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

6270-615: 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

6365-587: 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

6460-412: The jagged Cerro Castillo . Southward from General Carrera lake is found a wide oblique opening in the range, through which flows the river Baker. The main chain of the Andes in the west is an enormous rugged mass of ice and snow of an average height of 2,700 m (8,900 ft), sending glaciers to all the western fjords. Monte San Valentin (4,058 m (13,310 ft)) is the culminating point of

6555-412: 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

6650-460: The main routes of navigation. The grouping of such islands shows that they are in part the summits of a submerged mountain chain, a continuation southward of the Chilean Coast Range . Three groups of these, called Chiloé , Guaitecas and Chonos archipelagoes, lie North of the Taitao Peninsula . The largest island of this portion of Austral Chile is Chiloé , which is inhabited. Some of the smaller islands of these groups are also inhabited, though

6745-537: The mountains are composed principally of crystalline rocks, and their heights are inconsiderable when compared with those of the northern Andes. The continental coastline features numerous inlets and fjords, from which the mountains seem to rise straight up to great elevations; this is, for example, the case with the Cerro Macá (2,300 m (7,546 ft)) near Puerto Aisén . The rest of the land consists of literally thousands of islands forming numerous archipelagos interwoven with sometimes-narrow channels, which provide

6840-412: 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

6935-465: 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

7030-555: 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

7125-578: 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

7220-595: 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

7315-482: 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

7410-428: 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

7505-510: 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

7600-459: The same latitudes. The great Andean lakes of Palena (near the 44th parallel ), General Carrera (in lat 46° 30′ S.), Cochrane (47° 15′ S.) and O'Higgins ( 49° S. ), lie partly within Chilean territory. In Argentina are called, respectively, General Paz (also is known as General Vintter), Buenos Aires, Pueyrredón and San Martín. Towards the coast, other important lakes are Presidente Rios Lake , Laguna San Rafael and Yulton Lake . Southward from

7695-565: 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

7790-422: 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

7885-404: The southern portion of Southern Patagonian Ice Field (about 51° S. lat.), lakes include Del Toro and Sarmiento . The former overflows into Última Esperanza Sound. In the extreme south of Chile mainland is Laguna Blanca , a large fresh-water lake in lat. 52° 30′ S. Notable lakes in Tierra del Fuego include Fagnano (shared with Argentina), Blanco and Ofhidro . In the northern part of

7980-450: 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

8075-408: 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;

8170-407: The summer months and 4.7 °C in the winter months. The area is still heavily forested, although some of the native species of trees that grow in the central and southern parts of the country have given way to others better adapted to a generally colder climate. The southern part of the far south includes the city of Punta Arenas , which, with about 125,000 inhabitants, is the southernmost city in

8265-785: 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

8360-567: The waters of still another large Argentine-Chilean lake, O'Higgins Lake . Its north-west arm drains into the Pascua River . After a short north-westerly course the river discharges into Baker Inlet in lat. 48° 13′ S., long. 73° 24′ W. South of Pascua river there are no large rivers on this coast, but the narrow fjords penetrate deeply into the mountains and bring away the drainage of their snow-capped, storm-swept elevations. A peculiar network of fjords and connecting channels terminating inland in

8455-438: 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

8550-434: The world with over 100,000 inhabitants (see Southernmost settlements ). It receives much less precipitation; its annual total is only 438.5 millimeters, or a little more than what Valdivia receives in the month of June alone. This precipitation is distributed more or less evenly throughout the year, with the two main summer months receiving a monthly average of 31 millimeters and the winter months 38.9 millimeters, some of it in

8645-422: 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,

8740-455: 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

8835-582: 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

8930-495: 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

9025-468: 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

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