CAPE HORN & TIERRA DEL FUEGO

We had to sail past Cape Horn on our way from Antarctica to South America and Tierra Fuego Island. It is infamous as one of the most dangerous shipping passages in the world, and we stayed 4 miles out at sea from it. We felt some motion from the swells (wrist bands mandatory!), but were fortunate that it was not stormy. The fierce winds and sailing conditions of the Southern Ocean, the geography of the the passage itself and the extreme latitude at 56 degrees combine to make it the most treacherous and formidable in the world. Waves can attain enormous size, and when they get into shallow water south of the Horn, they become shorter, steeper and more dangerous. Some 'rogue' waves can reach heights of 100 feet!

By the end of the 1500s there were two established routes between Europe and the Asia/Pacific region. The route around Cape Horn was shorter, and European colonies in the Americas were producing wealth, and could be used as supply ports. The African route around the Cape of Good Hope was exposed to piracy and there were relatively few friendly emergency harbors. There were pirates in the Americas, but few in the far south.

Leaving Cadiz, Spain in September 1519, 39-year old Ferdinand Magellan was the first explorer to travel around the world. Their ships depended on prevailing winds to carry them across the Atlantic, and the difficult trip took several months. They finally reached the tip of South America in October, 1520 and crossed the Strait of Magellan -- the journey between the oceans took 38 days! However, Magellan never returned to Spain because he was assasinated in the Philippines in 1521. This voyage, however, proved that the world is round.

In the 16th century there were four indigenous groups, but no one knows exactly where they came from. Two tribes were hunters, were about 5'7" tall and it is thought that they travelled from Siberia, thousands of years ago, across the Bering Strait and down through the Americas, dropping off small groups in various areas along the way. The other two tribes were fishermen, and stood about 5'5" tall. These groups are thought to have sailed across the Pacific from Polynesia.

When Magellan sailed by Tierra del Fuego, they saw fires on the shore and thought that they were volcanos, so named the island, "Land of Fire". In fact, the fires were set by the natives as warnings to scare off invaders, but were also used as beacons to guide their fishermen home. There are no active volcanoes on the island.

We were happy to reach the calmer waters of the Beagle Channel taking us to our next stop, Ushuaia, Argentina.