55¦ 59' South, 67¦ 17' West
Cape Horn! Deep water sailors called this headland ‘The Cape of Storms’ or ‘Cape Stiff’. They had to battle the brutal weather systems that typically rage at these high latitudes. With no land mass to arrest the winds, shrieking gales rake the waters at any and all times of the year. In the days of square rigged ships, "rounding the horn", or "doubling the horn" meant sailing from fifty degrees south in the Atlantic to fifty south in the Pacific. This was considered the most dangerous part of a western voyage. Crews often had to work in freezing gales and the huge seas called "graybeards" for weeks and even months before reaching the relative calm of the Pacific.
The Dutch were the first to round this southernmost extremity of the South American continent. It was named not for its shape but for Hoorn, the birthplace of the two navigators who first sailed these waters in 1616.
The Endeavour encountered moderate winds and seas in the early morning. The silhouette of Isla Hornos grew against a gray sky, and Magellanic Penguins greeted our arrival. For us Cape Horn defined our return from Antarctica and the conclusion of our own most remarkable voyage.
Cape Horn! Deep water sailors called this headland ‘The Cape of Storms’ or ‘Cape Stiff’. They had to battle the brutal weather systems that typically rage at these high latitudes. With no land mass to arrest the winds, shrieking gales rake the waters at any and all times of the year. In the days of square rigged ships, "rounding the horn", or "doubling the horn" meant sailing from fifty degrees south in the Atlantic to fifty south in the Pacific. This was considered the most dangerous part of a western voyage. Crews often had to work in freezing gales and the huge seas called "graybeards" for weeks and even months before reaching the relative calm of the Pacific.
The Dutch were the first to round this southernmost extremity of the South American continent. It was named not for its shape but for Hoorn, the birthplace of the two navigators who first sailed these waters in 1616.
The Endeavour encountered moderate winds and seas in the early morning. The silhouette of Isla Hornos grew against a gray sky, and Magellanic Penguins greeted our arrival. For us Cape Horn defined our return from Antarctica and the conclusion of our own most remarkable voyage.
