Real Reason Ships Don't Pass Under South America (It's Not the Distance)

Most understand that the construction of the Panama Canal was necessary in order to significantly reduce the travel time of going around the tip of South America.

While that is true, there are also much more treacherous and nefarious reasons why navigators wanted to explore the long way round.

Today we’ll learn more about one of the most dangerous and infamous straits that exists in the world, a rite of passage for some of the most renowned explorers, adventurers, and scientists humanity has produced, and a region ordinary mariners and commercial ships avoid at all costs: The Drake Passage.

[garyjensen]

My dad, born 1896 in Denmark, sailed many years..He spent many years on the ship "The Star of Alaska", Now named "The Balcutha" and located in San Francisco..He rounded South America (The Horn) several times..He retired from sailing and became a Longshoreman in San Francisco and retired in 1960..He moved to a small town in Northern California (Middletown) until his death in 1974 at the age of 78..I am the last of his eleven children at 82 years old..

[Reyd_]

My dad was a navy radar tech on a frigate in the Vietnam war era. He's talked about scary situations being under-escorted by destroyers and having to enter unfriendly ports, but he said through it all, the most frightening experience was rounding south america through that passage. He said those waves make warships feel like volleyballs.

[seantlewis]

In the 1840s-50s, my Great-great-great-great grandfather was a sea captain from Portland, Maine who spent his brief career bringing cargo from the East Coast to the West Coast, and back, going by Cape Horn. It was always a harrowing journey, according to his journals. On his fourth trip, he made it around The Horn, but shipwrecked on the southern coast of the Oregon Territory. There was no loss of life, but a complete loss of cargo. He ended up settling in what is now Coos Bay, and the rock in the bay that he hit bears his name: Rackleff Rock. After the incident, he stayed in Oregon running a ferry across the Umpqua River, and starting my family's history in the West.

[ludyibon]

It's the weather. I have passed once on February 2003 from Maceo, Brazil bound to San Vicente, Argentina. I was an officer in bulk carrier and it was an experience I will never forget.
The wind was extra ordinary strong and the waves were high.
I thought we're not going to make it from Atlantic side to Pacific side because the wind gust was too strong that the ship was almost stationary. The waves was also very rough. Not all seafarers got that experience. And it's scary, but still proud to say that I'm one of those few who make it.

[jacksondouglas]

I had the good fortune to sail through the Drake Passage several times as an equipment support engineer on a Chilean Navy ship. It was one of the most unforgettable experiences I have ever had. The waves were so big that I remember that from the bridge of the ship you could see that the waves completely covered the deck and broke against the bridge window which was about 10 meters high. The other curious thing is that when the crest of the wave was in the middle of the keel of the ship, it fell violently down towards the lower part of the wave to return to dive into the next mountain of water that came next. It was raining in all directions horizontally due to the wind. I remember that we were in a formation of about 5 or 6 warships and the lowest one got a wave through the chimney and turned off the boiler, or something similar, and we had to make a very complicated maneuver to be able to reboard it. One of the most complicated things that one does not expect is that depending on the zone of the wave that was in contact with the ship, there was a periodical vertical acceleration that caused the weight of each person to reach almost zero and a few seconds later the weight almost doubled. This fact made it practically impossible to sleep because this acceleration made one suddenly almost float on the bed and then one felt an enormous pressure against it. The sailors taught us to tie ourselves to the bed in order to get some sleep. This lasted several days because these were naval exercises in extreme conditions, so we did not leave the Drake until several days later. I don't remember what we ate, because everything was thrown up, maybe some nutritious liquid. In the center of the ship there was a long corridor like that of an airplane and it was possible to see how the ship twisted periodically. Unfortunately I never saw a clear day because the place must be beautiful. Finally I would like to comment that there are fish factory ships that are permanently sailing that region because it is very rich in terms of marine fauna. The fish is packed in the same vessel and somehow delivered to other transport only vessels. I know, because my friend's father is the captain of one of these factory ships and he told me about it.

[cuioihm]

I've crossed both the Drake Passage and the Strait of Magellan. The former one on a trip to Antarctica in a 3, 175 Tonnes (293 ft Length) expedition vessel (fairly small for these waters). The forward passage was Lake Drake, the return passage a lot rougher. Fortunately I have never been affected by motion sickness. Crossing the Strait of Magellan was, however, one of my most treasured experiences. In a relatively small timber hulled vessel sailing under a mix of sail power and diesel power we crossed by night from Punta Arenas to the tiny port of Porvenir. The sea was calm, the breeze was light, the temperature freezing and a full moon was shining. The stars were also brightly visible despite the moonlight. Dolphins were our companions most of the way, swimming just ahead of the bow of the vessel, allowing its bow wave to provide them with free propulsion. Despite the intense cold and a warm pot belly stove keeping the cabin warm inside, I chose to stay on deck most of the night. Truly, a Night to Remember!

[sugoruyo]

The Greeks most certainly didn’t call Antarctica Terra Australis Incognita, that’s Latin. The theory of the southern icy continent is mentioned by Aristotle, for example, thought to balance the world. They called the constellation that can be used to navigate north “the Bear” (Arctos) and thought the place might be found going in a direction “against the Bear” (anti-Arctic). They didn’t seem to have a consistent name at the time though.

It also happens to be a helpful mnemonic for Greek speakers: the North Pole, named after the bear, is bear-friendly; the South Pole is anti-bear.

The Latin term emerges at some point around Ptolemy’s time around 500 years after the Classical era of Greece.

[SallySallySallySally]

Most of you probably don't know who Walter Cronkite was. He was a renowned journalist who wound up at CBS as a reporter and was the host of CBS Nightly News for 30 years until he retired in 1981. He was referred to as "the most trusted man in America." After he retired, he would still produce occasional "specials" for CBS. Why am I posting this here? Well, I'll tell you!

Cronkite just loved sailing. I mean, he LOVED it. One of his life-long desires was to sail around Cape Horn. Well, he did just that and presented it in one of his specials for CBS. I remember they had the camera set up on the yacht, pointing at him holding his microphone talking into the lens. Since both he and the camera were on the same platform (the yacht, ) you would see him lean back and forth. The horizon behind him was another matter! It was swinging wildly clockwise and counterclockwise, reflecting the strong winds buffeting the yacht. If I were to find myself in a similar circumstance, I would be horrified. But "the most trusted man in America" was just loving it!

"Uncle Walter" died in 2009 at the age of 92.

[hmtnhk]

That trip from Elephant Island to South Georgia in that little boat (James Caird) with Ernest Shackleton, Frank Worsley, John Vincent, Timothy is in my opinion THE GREATEST feat of seamanship and navigations skills ever

[tonescape]

At 8:01: Either the water temperature is 4°C (40°F) or 30°F (-1°C). 30°F does not equal 4°C.

[eduardotroncoso]

On March 6, 1988, four U.S. adventurers, led by the 43-year old “badass” Ned Gillette, achieved the impossible. They set a world record by maneuvering a 28-foot long heavy-gauge aluminium, slightly bulbous red rowboat, the Sea Tomato, through the treacherous Drake Passage. They departed from Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and touched land near King George Island at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The amazing 600-mile journey was completed in just 14 days (New York Times, March 7, 1988).

[geograph-ology]

On a trip to Antarctica, we went through the Drake. Every barf bag was used up in a few hours and that was after the Captain hid out the ship in calmer waters during the worst of the bad weather. Day two was not too bad but if you have the slightest problem with sea sickness, you better load up on every pill or trick they sell to avoid turning green.

[nowaythishappened]

It would have been nice to have included one particular failure of trying to cross the Drake's Passage, The Bounty.
The failure to make it thru had a butter fly effect that led to The Mutiny on the Bounty.

[jorodo]

Scott of the Antartic's son was Peter Scott. One of his letters gave his wish that the boy (Peter) have an interest in nature. Peter Scott went on to be a leading naturalist who opened multiple nature reseves here in the UK and made some important contributions towards conservation of multiple species of bird such as the Hawaiian and Barnacle Geese.

[seanbryan]

The Shackleton story is even more amazing than how it's told here. I highly recommend reading "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" for the full story.

[robinkelly]

Before the panama canal ships DID pass between South America & Antarctica (not under - there is no tunnel😅.
One of the main selling points of the panam canal WAS both distance and time saved. Economic reasons both...

[bnwww]

"The Drake passage is retty much the only way to reach Antarctica by boat".

And yet ships frequently transit to Antarctica from Australia (Tasmania). I can guarantee you those ships don't use the Drake passage.

[forton]

A shout out to the most badass expedition undertaken by my fellow Belgian, Adrian de gerlache, who spent the antarctic winter (on purpose, on his ship the Belgica) in 1898 in the what's now called the gerlache strait, south of the drake passage. It was also the first real scientific expedition. The islands Anvers and Brabant are named after Belgian places.
Just a minor historical note I wanted to point out.

[zbylwuu]

I gotta say, the craziest bit in this whole video for me is the fact that someone was crazy enough to swim through that passage 🥶

[gordonhaire]

I was a weather observer on the USS Kitty Hawk CVA63. I was on the O10 level (The highest deck on the largest ship in the world in Oct. 1962) I believe the flight deck was 90' above the waterline. Spray was washing across the flight deck.