At Sea, South Atlantic Ocean
Today we are continuing to sail north and finally we crossed latitude forty degrees South, the northern edge of the “roaring forties.” The boundary is not a discrete one, but is spread across perhaps a hundred miles of ocean. Still, the effect on the ship and the weather was quite pronounced. There is an old sailors saying that goes, “Below fifty south there is no law, below sixty South there is no God.” This reminds us the difficult life at sea in the Southern Ocean for sailors on small wooden ships with inadequate food and clothing, perhaps only a hundred years ago. But on National Geographic Endeavour we are warm and comfortable and able to enjoy the passing seas and contemplate our next landfall, Tristan da Cunha. This part of the planet is the only place where the wind can blow all the way around the Earth unobstructed and it really gets going sometimes. As this wind, the southern hemisphere westerlies and the current it drives, called the “West Wind Drift” (or Antarctic Circumpolar Current) pass through the narrow opening of the Drake Passage it sometimes produces significant seas, especially in the austral winter.
But now, as we passed above forty degrees South the wind began to abate and the sky brightened and we began to get out on deck more. We are looking forward to milder weather ahead as we move north to the subtropical high, centered at thirty degrees South. This is one of the wonderful things about this voyage up the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We cross nearly 85 degrees of latitude, so we experience most of the weather systems firsthand as we sail through them and we gain a much more personal understanding of the immensity of the ocean and the intensity of her many moods.
Today we are continuing to sail north and finally we crossed latitude forty degrees South, the northern edge of the “roaring forties.” The boundary is not a discrete one, but is spread across perhaps a hundred miles of ocean. Still, the effect on the ship and the weather was quite pronounced. There is an old sailors saying that goes, “Below fifty south there is no law, below sixty South there is no God.” This reminds us the difficult life at sea in the Southern Ocean for sailors on small wooden ships with inadequate food and clothing, perhaps only a hundred years ago. But on National Geographic Endeavour we are warm and comfortable and able to enjoy the passing seas and contemplate our next landfall, Tristan da Cunha. This part of the planet is the only place where the wind can blow all the way around the Earth unobstructed and it really gets going sometimes. As this wind, the southern hemisphere westerlies and the current it drives, called the “West Wind Drift” (or Antarctic Circumpolar Current) pass through the narrow opening of the Drake Passage it sometimes produces significant seas, especially in the austral winter.
But now, as we passed above forty degrees South the wind began to abate and the sky brightened and we began to get out on deck more. We are looking forward to milder weather ahead as we move north to the subtropical high, centered at thirty degrees South. This is one of the wonderful things about this voyage up the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We cross nearly 85 degrees of latitude, so we experience most of the weather systems firsthand as we sail through them and we gain a much more personal understanding of the immensity of the ocean and the intensity of her many moods.
