In the past, no two words conjured up more fear to sailors than Cape Horn. With its reputation of ferocious storms and mountainous seas it was a place where a seafarer garnered respect for bravery against the odds. That is, if he lived to tell the tale (he also got to wear a gold hoop ear-ring and dine with one foot up on the table).
The Cape itself is the rugged insular tip of South America that projects into the storm-swept Drake Passage. The Dutch sailor Willem Schouten and merchant Jacob Le Maire, both from the town of Hoorn (hence Cape Horn), put it on the map in 1616 when attempting to circumvent the trade monopoly exercised by the Dutch East India Company over the Straits of Magellan.
Once an unavoidable physical gateway to adventure and commerce in the Pacific Ocean, Cape Horn nowadays has more of a spiritual attraction, drawing intrepid travellers to pay homage to the brave sailors who, by necessity, attempted to pass this wild and inhospitable headland.
During clear weather, when the island is free from the frequent icy squalls that batter its shores, a 7-metre (23 feet) high steel monument can be seen standing about 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) away from the true cape, near the Chilean navy station. It depicts the silhouette of an albatross, a bird that is said to carry the souls of those sailors who perished “rounding the Horn”. With that in mind, consider yourself lucky to confront the Horn on a luxury Expedition cruise ship rather than from the wave-washed and perilous deck of a windjammer.
