Cape Horn

Geography

Cape Horn is the most southern point of the grounds attached to South America, by 55°59' 00'' of southern latitude and 067°16' 00'' of western longitude, on the island Horn which belongs to the small archipelago of the Îles Hermit, at the southern end of the Ground of fire ( ) ( ) .

Cape Horn marks the northern limit of the Passage of Drake (the name of the strait separating South America from the the Antarctic), and the meridian line which it cross-piece defines, of the course to the Antarctic Ocean, the border between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.

The origin of the name is Dutch (), the course having been baptized thus in the honor of the town of Hoorn, in the Netherlands. This name gave in Spanish, whom one can translate by “the course of the furnaces”, or in English. The sailors often speak about it as being “Horn”.

Cape Horn itself is high cliff a 425 m, located on a 6 2 km km long and broad island. Southern limit of the continental part of South America east as for it called the Cape Froward. If one now considers the whole of the continental plate of South America, in fact the islands Diego Ramirez are located more at the south, to a hundred kilometers approximately of Cape Horn.

On the island close to Hoste, with 56 kilometers in the North-West, a rock headland called is the “Faux Cape Horn”, named thus because the sailors approaching since the west confused it with true Cape Horn. Because of presence of the Wollaston islands and their reefs right in the east of false Cape Horn, this mistake showed many shipwrecks.

The course belongs to territorial water of the Chile, and the Chilean navy maintains a station on the Horn island, including/understanding a residence, a technical building, a vault and a Phare. The only permanent residents are the guard of the headlight and his family.

Near the principal station a memorial with a great sculpture representing is the silhouette of a albatross, in the honor of the sailors who died while trying “to pass Horn”. The island does not shelter the least tree, but all the same is relatively covered with vegetation thanks to frequent precipitations.

Climate

The climate in the area is generally fresh, which is normal with this latitude. There is no weather station in Cape Horn nor in the surrounding islands. Previous studies made into 1882-1883 measured annual precipitations of 1 357 millimetres, with an average temperature over the year of 5,2 °C. The mean velocity of the winds was recorded to 30 km/h, with gusts exceeding 100 km/h in any season.

The weather recordings more recent facts with Ushuaia, located at 146 km in north, show that in summer (January-February) the average temperatures go from a maximum of 14 °C to a minimum of 5 °C. In winter (July), the average temperatures go from 4 °C to -2 °C. The cloud cover is in general high, with averages which go from 5,2 octa S in May and July to 6,4 octas in December and January. The Précipitation S are strong throughout the year: the weather station of the islands close to Diego Ramirez, with 109 kilometers in south-west in the passage of Drake, shows that the strongest rains take place in March (average of 137,4 millimetres). In October, when precipitations are with their minimum, he falls 93,7 Misters all the same.

The Vent S blow generally extremely, particularly in winter. In summer, the wind in Cape Horn exceeds 62 km/h (it is thus a “strong gale” on the scale of Beaufort) during 5% of time with in general a good visibility. The situation in winter is passably different: the winds higher than 62 km/h blow up to 30% of time, with an often bad visibility.

Administration

Cape Horn belongs to the commune of Cabo de Hornos (before Navarino), whose capital is Puerto Williams, itself capital of the province of Antártica Chilena. This zone belongs to the administrative area Magallanes there Antártica Chilena of Chile.

The Argentinian city of Ushuaia is more the big city of the area, with 50 000 inhabitants; Puerto Toro, a few kilometers in the south of Puerto Williams, is the village nearest to the course, and also the permanent settlement more in the south of the world. The southern end of South America being located close to the the Antarctic, the inhabitants of this area of the world are particularly affected by the hole in the Couche of ozone detected above the Antarctic Ocean.

Sea routes

Several routes are possible to make it tower of the point of South America. The Magellan Strait, between the continental part and the Ground of fire, is one of the principal passages, in spite of its narrowness, and was borrowed for commercial transport well before Horn was not discovered. The Channel Beagle, between the Earth of fire and the island Navarino, offers another way of possible, but difficult passage. And finally, there are various passages around the islands Hermite and Wollaston in the north of Cape Horn.

However, all these passages are famous for their treacherous strong gales (the Williwaw S coming from the sides of the mountains), which can strike a ship without preventing, risking to involve it towards the reefs which is never far seen the narrowness of these passages. Water of the passage of Drake, to the south of Cape Horn, presents a 650 km broad way much more open with completely sufficient space to authorize the operations according to the changes of winds, and it was the road borrowed by the majority of the ships and sailing boats, in spite of the possibility of meeting vague extremes there.

The passage of Cape Horn itself does not last very a long time; on the other hand, which the sailors invite “to double Horn”, i.e. to actually cross the passage of Drake, can take more time: of two days and half if the conditions are favorable, at one week in direction of the west if it is necessary to waver against the current. But if the conditions are unfavourable, the combined effects of the wind and the current oblige to take the wraps or the escape and to return later; certain ships remained several weeks wedged before being able to cross Horn. Thus, in 1740 the fleet of the admiral George Anson spent 5 weeks to be passed in the Pacific. In 1788 the lieutenant William Bligh renonça and put the course at the east to join Tahiti after having battled during 29 days without success.

Dangers to navigation

Several factors combine to make Cape Horn one of the most dangerous passages in the world for sea transport: it is located close to the Antarctic Ocean, where prevail in a general way of the difficult conditions for navigation, it presents an unfavourable topography, and its latitude is extreme, by southern 56° (as comparison, the Cape of the Needles to the southern point of Africa east by southern 35°, and the island Stewart in the south of the New Zealand is by southern 47°).

The dominant winds with the latitudes located under southern 40° can blow of west in is around the sphere while being hardly stopped by the grounds, giving rise to the “Quarantièmes howling” and still to the more Fiftieth violent ones “and Sixtieth howling”. These winds are so dangerous that the ships which sail towards the east are accustomed to remaining a little in the north of the southern 40e. But to pass Cape Horn forces the boats to push beyond southern 56°, therefore far in the zone introducing to the winds more the violent ones. These winds are accelerated on the level of the course by a funnel effect created by the the Andes and the Péninsule the Antarctic, which oblige the winds to be engulfed in the relatively narrow passage of Drake.

These strong winds give rise to powerful Vague S, which can reach gigantic proportions at the time of their course around the Arctic Ocean. Courses which are stopped by no ground, except in Horn, where these waves meet a not very deep water zone which causes to shorten them and to increase the height by it, increasing the danger which they represent for the ships. The waves can also be more dug even the days when the wind blows of the east, thus coming to misinterpretation from powerful the Running marine which crosses him to it passage of Drake of west in east. In addition to these vague “normals”, the area in the west of Horn is known as being a place of sudden appearance of monstrous waves (called “vague scélérates”), which can reach 30 meters in height.

The dominant winds and the marine currents are particularly problematic for the ships which want to pass the course to “misinterpretation”, i.e. of is in west. Of all the types of ships, in fact the traditional sailing ships for the crossing was most difficult, because, in the best case, they only managed to progress very slowly against the winds. The modern monohull sailing dinghies operate to better sail against the wind and the passage of Horn towards the west is a little surer for them, such as for example during the maritime race of the Global challenge. On the other hand, the multihull sailing ships (tri and catamarans) enormously have difficulties in go back to the wind.

Lastly, the Glace S are the last danger which threatens the sailors venturing far beyond the southern 40°. The limit of the ices starts only more in the south of Horn, but the danger to the ships comes in fact from the Iceberg S. In February, the latter generally do not go up beyond southern 50° in the Pacific Ocean, but in August they can be by southern 40°. With its latitude of southern 56°, all the ships which want to pass Cape Horn are likely to cross an iceberg, whatever the period of the year.

All these dangers gave to Horn the reputation to be certainly the most perilous passage for the ships. Many boats ran there, and much sailors found death while trying to cross it.

History

Discovered

In September 1578, Sir Francis Drake, during its circumnavigation, passed the Magellan Strait and emerged in the Pacific Ocean. Before being able to carry on its road towards north, its boat met a storm and was pushed back largely in the south of the Ground of Fire where it unloaded on an island which “was more in the south of three quarters of a degree than all the others isles”, which can correspond only to the islands Diego Ramirez. Free stretch of water that the crew discovered convainquit Drake.

With the beginning of the year 1600, the Compagnie Dutchwoman of the Eastern Indies had the monopoly of all Dutch commercial transport via the Magellan Strait and the Cape of Good Hope, the two only roads known at the time to join the Far East. In his search of an alternative way which would enable him to break this monopoly, the Dutch merchant Jacob the Mayor, accompanied by the navigator Willem Schouten, took the broad one in direction Earth of Fire with an aim of exploring the passage suggested by Drake. Supported by the municipal persons in charge of the Dutch city of Hoorn, forwarding left the port with two ships, the Eendracht and the Hoorn , in May 1615.

The Hoorn was destroyed at the time of an accident in Patagonie, but in January 1616, the Eendracht crossed the strait now called the Mayor, and saw an island raised in the south. She was baptized “Kapp Hoorn”, in the honor of the sponsors of forwarding. An important traffic also existed in the other direction, between Europe and the Far East. Lastly, of the ships transporting of the goods or the passengers took the road of Cape Horn to pass from a coast of the the United States to the autre^,. Horn made pay a heavy tribute with many of these ships, which sometimes did not leave unscathed its dangerous crossing.

The tradition wanted that a victorious sailor of the passage of Horn (a “Cape-hornien”) can carry a gold ring on his left ear, because it is on this side that one goes along the course at the time of the crossing of west in is, the direction considered as traditional. The other privilege was of being able to dine with a foot on the table, the possibility of putting the second at it being reserved to the sailors having also passed the Cape of Good Hope ^,. Another habit also wants that a sailor having passed to the veil the three courses (Horn, Leeuwin and Good-Hope) gains the privilege “to piss and to spit against the wind”.

The opening of the First transcontinental railroad in North America, like that of the channel of Panamá in Central America, led to a progressive reduction in the sea traffic around Horn for commercial reasons. At one time when the steamers replaced the sailing ships, the Pamir was, in 1949, the last commercial sailing ship to pass Cape Horn with a cargo, on its road which carried out it of Australia to Finland.

Race with the veil and water sport

In spite of the opening of the Suez Canal and Panamá, Horn still forms part of the sea routes fastest around the world, and the multiplication of the races to the veil of long distances revived the interest for its crossing. From its geographical distance and the dangers which it presents, the passage of Cape Horn is often regarded as being the equivalent in the world of the veil of the rise of the Everest, and of many navigators regard it as the finality of their voyage in mer^,^,.

The first attempt at crossing of Cape Horn by a small sailing ship was that, in 1911, of the Pandora , a counterpart of the Spray of Joshua Slocum. It would have made shipwreck, or fails to make shipwreck in the south of the Falkland Islands shortly after its passage.

The first small sailing boat to cross Cape Horn was the Yacht Saoirse 13 m length , operated by Conor O' Brien accompanied by three friends, who passed the course “by a completely marvellous time” during a round the world tour of 1923 to 1925. The first nobody to make a success of a round the world tour as a recluse via Cape Horn was Vito Dumas, which made the voyage in 1942 on its Ketch Lehg II of 10 meters. Other navigators encased the step thereafter to him.

Today, several important races with the veil borrow the route of old trade route which passed by Horn. The first of them was the race as a recluse of the Golden Globe Challenge, which inspired several current races: the race Around Alone (circumnavigation with stopovers) and the Vendée Globe (without stopover). These two races as a recluse take place every four years, just like the Volvo Ocean Race which is it a test in team and with stops.

The Trophée Jules Verne is a price which rewards the fastest round the world tour in the sailing ship, without limitation on the size of the crew, but with prohibition of the least assistance and without stopover. And finally, the race Global Challenge makes the round the world tour with “misinterpretation” towards the west, which implies the crossing of Cape Horn vis-a-vis the dominant winds and currents.

In spite of its multiple races, to pass Cape Horn remains a dangerous test for these nautical navigators. A typical example is that of Miles and Beryl Smeeton, which tried to cross Horn on board their yacht Tzu Hang . Struck by a scélérate wave with the approach of the course, their boat collapsed with the shift. They managed to survive, and could carry out repairs necessary to Chile. They retentèrent their chance, to again see the sailing ship reversed and démâté by a gigantic wave.

Other vehicles

The passage of Drake itself can be crossed by other thing with difficulty that a boat or solid ship and prepared well; a simple boat would owe its survival only with the chance. On the other hand, several people wanted to join Cape Horn from the continent, generally since Punta Arenas, on various machines: it was reached in Kayak of sea as of 1977, even if it is supposed that the first inhabitants used already Canoë S to reach it. The smallest boat to have really crossed Horn is the Ahodori II of Japanese Hiroshi Aoki, a Yawl in Contreplaqué 7 m length, passing Horn in 1974.

Several maritime companies also propose Croisière S towards Cape Horn.

Literature and culture

Cape Horn was an icon of the maritime culture during centuries. It is the topic of Chants of sailors and caused many books on the world of the veil. One of the most traditional testimonys on the life on board a sailing ship at the time of the sailing is Two years on the forecastle of Richard Henry Dana, in whom the author describes a hard voyage from Boston as far as California via Cape Horn.

Right before eight hours (what, under this latitude, is about the moment when the sun lies down), the call: “Everyone on the bridge”, resounds with the open-type screen and the hatchway. We gained the bridge in haste and saw a large black cloud coming from the south-west, which rolled towards us, darkening all the sky. “That, it is Cape Horn which approaches”, the second says, and we had hardly time to bring and of carguer before the grain melted on us. In a few minutes, the sea was raised; I had never yet seen such high blades; they attacked us full whip and the small brig plunged inside, transformed into a genuine bath-tub. All before was entirely underwater; the sea, making irruption by the ports and the pipes, passing over the davits, threatened all to carry over edge. With the channels under the wind, there was water until the size. We leaped in gréement and premiums a double laugh in the topsails, furling the other veils by taking care that all is quite tight. But this is not enough yet. Upright with the blade, the brig tired and knocked however that the storm did nothing but worsen. At the same time, a mixture of melting snow and hail slapped us furiously full whip. We carguâmes and weighed again on the reef tackles of laugh; the small topsail was put at the close reef, one furled the main-topsail and one put at the cape starport tack. It was finished by it our beautiful dreams!

Charles Darwin, in Voyage of a naturalist around the world , which describes its five years forwarding around the world on board the Beagle , voyage which is at the origin of its work the Origin of the species , reports its meeting in 1832 with Horn:

… we approach Barnevelts. We pass in front of the immense rocks which form the course Deceit, and, around three hours, we sail round Cape Horn, storm-tossed. The evening is admirably calm, and we can enjoy the splendid spectacle which offer the close islands. But Cape Horn seems to require that we pay him a tribute, and, before it is closed night, it sends an appalling storm to us which blows just opposite us. We must gain the open sea, and, the following day, by again approaching us the ground, we see this famous headland, but this time with all the characters which are appropriate to him, i.e. surrounded by fog and surrounded by a true hurricane of wind and water. Immense black clouds darken the sky, the strong gales, hail attack us with a so extreme violence, that the captain is determined to gain, if to make may be, Wigwam Cove. It is excellent a small port located at little distance from Cape Horn; we drop anchor by an extremely calm sea there the Christmas day before even.

Alan Villiers, a specialist in the traditional sailing, wrote many works on this topic, in particular By Way off the Cape Horn . Certain navigators who attacked themselves as a recluse in Cape Horn reported their experiments, such as for example Vito Dumas, which, in Alone Through the Roaring Forties , described its voyage around the world. Other works tell crossings of Horn as a small crew. One can quote Hal and Margaret Roth which largely contributed in their writings to popularize the sailing with the big wide, in particular in Two Against Cape Horn ( ) ( ) , where they describe their voyage around Cape Horn. Or David Hays and his Daniel son who present, in Prends the bar my son , their voyage on the oceans as a human experiment during which are woven very strong emotional ties. Lastly, celebrates it French navigator Bernard Moitessier made two voyages around Horn; once with its Francoise wife, reported in Cape Horn with the veil , and another as a recluse, told in the Long roads . Moitessier devotes two chapters to Horn, and its approach starts with:

Horn is very close, about thirty miles hardly, invisible under the large cumuli which hide the mountains of the Earth of Fire. Sometimes it seems me to vaguely distinguish something with a hand on the left from the stem. And Diego Ramirez which was all my life when I saw it being born a few hours earlier is already a beautiful memory of the road of the South.

Sources

General reference

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