Content deleted Content added
m General formatting any tidying., typo(s) fixed: 17 and a half → {{frac|17|1|2}} |
|||
Line 4:
{{Infobox mountain
<!-- *** Heading *** -->
| name
| native_name =
| other_name =
| photo
| photo_caption =
| photo_size
<!-- *** Country *** -->
| country
| state_type
| state
| region_type
| region
| district =
| municipality =
<!-- *** Family *** -->
| range =
| border =
<!-- *** Maps *** -->
| map
| label_position = top
| map_caption
}}
'''Cape Horn''' ({{lang-es|Cabo de Hornos}}, {{IPA-es|ˈkaβo ðe ˈoɾnos|pron}}) is the southernmost headland of the [[Tierra del Fuego]] [[archipelago]] of southern [[Chile]], and is located on the small [[Hornos Island]]. Although not the most southerly point of [[South America]] (which are the [[Diego Ramírez Islands]]), Cape Horn marks the northern boundary of the [[Drake Passage]] and marks where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet.
Line 57:
The climate in the region is generally cool, owing to the southern latitude. There are no weather stations in the group of islands including Cape Horn; but a study in 1882–1883, found an annual rainfall of {{convert|1,357|mm|abbr=off}}, with an average annual temperature of {{convert|5.2|°C}}. Winds were reported to average {{convert|30|km/h|m/s mph|2|lk=off}}, (5 [[Beaufort scale|Bf]]), with squalls of over {{convert|100|km/h|m/s mph|2|lk=off}}, (10 Bf) occurring in all seasons.<ref>[http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v13_n3/JoA_v13_p311.pdf ''Opiliones from the Cape Horn Archipelago''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184356/http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v13_n3/JoA_v13_p311.pdf |date=2007-09-30 }}, James C. Cokendolpher and Dolly Lanfranco L.; from Texas Tech University, 1985. Retrieved February 5, 2006.</ref> There are 278 days of rainfall (70 days snow) and {{convert|2000|mm|abbr=off}} of annual rainfall<ref>[http://www.caphorniers.cl/rescate_cabo/RescateCabo.htm Rescate en el Cabo de Hornos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141114021323/http://www.caphorniers.cl/rescate_cabo/RescateCabo.htm |date=2014-11-14 }}, retrieved on 18 November 2012</ref>
Cloud coverage is generally extensive, with averages from 5.2 eighths in May and July to 6.4 eighths in December and January.<ref>[http://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayIntlNORMS.asp?CityCode=87938&Units=both ''Usuaia: Monthly Normals''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106204059/https://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayIntlNORMS.asp?CityCode=87938&Units=both |date=2018-11-06 }}, from Weather Underground. Retrieved February 5, 2006.</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=January 2011}} Precipitation is high throughout the year: the weather station on the nearby [[Diego Ramírez Islands]], {{convert|109
Many stories are told of hazardous journeys "around the Horn", most describing fierce storms. [[Charles Darwin]] wrote: "One sight of such a coast is enough to make a landsman dream for a week about shipwrecks, peril and death."<ref>cited in [https://books.google.co.in/books?id=WR_ACQAAQBAJ&pg=PT667&lpg=PT667&dq=One+sight+of+such+a+coast+is+enough+to+make+a+landsman+dream+for+a+week+about+shipwrecks,+peril+and+death&source=bl&ots=ckBTIs4OOR&sig=ACfU3U2QHgDMqzM6yF1Zj8v6skOw8MK1BQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihltqf05LlAhUymeYKHbazAvIQ6AEwCXoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=One%20sight%20of%20such%20a%20coast%20is%20enough%20to%20make%20a%20landsman%20dream%20for%20a%20week%20about%20shipwrecks%2C%20peril%20and%20death&f=false] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012020932/http://www.caphorniers.cl/cabo_miedo/cape_fear.htm |date=2013-10-12 }}, retrieved 18 November 2012</ref>
Being the southernmost point of land outside of Antarctica, the region experiences barely 7 hours of daylight during the June solstice, with Cape Horn itself having 6 hours and 57 minutes. The region experiences around {{frac|17
Cape Horn yields a [[Oceanic climate|subpolar oceanic climate]] (''[[Köppen climate classification|Cfb]]''), with abundant precipitation—much of which falls as sleet and snow.
Line 138:
==Modern navigation==
Many modern tankers are too wide to fit through the Panama Canal, as are a few passenger ships and several aircraft carriers. But there are no regular commercial routes around the Horn, and modern ships carrying cargo are rarely seen.
=== Sailing routes ===
Line 154:
The [[prevailing winds]] in latitudes below 40° south can blow from west to east around the world almost uninterrupted by land, giving rise to the "[[roaring forties]]" and the even more wild "furious fifties" and "screaming sixties". These winds are hazardous enough that ships traveling east would tend to stay in the northern part of the forties (i.e. not far below 40° south latitude); however, rounding Cape Horn requires ships to press south to 56° south latitude, well into the zone of fiercest winds.<ref>''Along the Clipper Way'', Francis Chichester; p. 134. Hodder & Stoughton, 1966. {{ISBN|978-0-340-00191-2}}</ref> These winds are exacerbated at the Horn by the funneling effect of the [[Andes]] and the [[Antarctic peninsula]], which channel the winds into the relatively narrow Drake Passage.
The strong winds of the Southern Ocean give rise to correspondingly large waves; these waves can attain great height as they roll around the Southern Ocean, free of any interruption from land. At the Horn, however, these waves encounter an area of shallow water to the south of the Horn, which has the effect of making the waves shorter and steeper, greatly increasing the hazard to ships.
| title = Rogue Waves – Monsters of the deep: Huge, freak waves may not be as rare as once thought
| publisher = Economist Magazine
Line 199:
[[File:ClipperRoute.png|thumb|right|The clipper route followed by ships sailing between the United Kingdom and Australia/New Zealand passed around Cape Horn.]]
[[File:Cape Horn by Alfred Agate.jpg|thumb|Cape Horn as seen during the [[United States Exploring Expedition]], depicted in watercolor by [[Alfred Thomas Agate]]]]
From the 18th to the early 20th centuries, Cape Horn was a part of the clipper routes which carried much of the world's trade. [[Sailing ship]]s sailed round the Horn carrying wool, grain, and gold from Australia back to Europe;<ref>''Along the Clipper Way''; p. 7.</ref> these included the [[windjammer]]s in the heyday of the [[Grain race|Great Grain Race]] of the 1930s.
The only facilities in the vicinity able to service or supply a ship, or provide medical care, were in the [[Falkland Islands]]. The businesses there were so notorious for price-gouging that damaged ships were sometimes abandoned at [[Port Stanley]].
Line 221:
[[Charles Darwin]], in ''The Voyage of the Beagle'', a [[Diary|journal]] of the five-year expedition upon which he based ''[[The Origin of Species]]'', described his 1832 encounter with the Horn:
{{blockquote|...
William Jones, writing of his experience in 1905 as a fifteen-year-old apprentice on one of the last commercial sailing ships, noted the contrast between his ship, which would take two months and the lives of three sailors to round the Horn, and birds adapted to the region:
|