Cape Horn — Drake Passage Rounding
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Cape Horn from the deck of a research vessel — the southernmost point of South America rising 424 metres from the Drake Passage in a Force 10 gale, the Southern Ocean swell creating 10-metre waves around the headland.
Description
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Americas and historically one of the most feared navigational hazards in sail — the convergence of three ocean systems, the compression of the circumpolar current through the Drake Passage, and the absence of land barriers between South America and Antarctica producing sustained extreme weather. This image was made from the deck of the Chilean Antarctic resupply vessel Aquiles rounding the Horn in November conditions — a Force 10 gale with 10-metre swells from the southwest. The Horn itself — the rocky basalt headland of Isla Hornos, with its lighthouse station barely visible — is framed by a breaking swell that obscures the base while the 424-metre summit emerges above the spray. Shot at 1/2000 second handheld from the vessel’s bridge wing, the horizon is visible at a 20-degree angle — the vessel’s roll frozen in the frame.
