Cape Horn: Difference between revisions

| name = Cape Horn

| native_name = ={{native name|es|Cabo de Hornos}}

| other_name = =

| photo = CapeHorn.jpg

| photo_caption = =

| photo_size = 300

| country = {{flag|Chile}}

| state_type = Region

| state = [[File:Flag of Magallanes, Chile.svg|23px]] [[Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region]]

| region_type = Subregion

| region = [[Antártica Chilena Province]]

| district = =

| municipality = =

| range = =

| border = =

| map = Chile

| label_position = top

| map_caption = Location of Cape Horn in continental Chile

Cloud coverage is generally extensive, with averages from 5.2&nbsp;eighths in May and July to 6.4&nbsp;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&nbsp;kilometres (68&nbsp;|km|mi)|abbr=off}} south-west in the [[Drake Passage]], shows the greatest rainfall in March, averaging {{convert|137.4 millimetres (5.41&nbsp;|mm|in)}}; while October, which has the least rainfall, still averages {{convert|93.7 millimetres (3.69&nbsp;|mm|in)}}.<ref>[http://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayIntlNORMS.asp?CityCode=85972&Units=both ''Isla Diego Ramirez: Monthly Normals''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106220621/https://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayIntlNORMS.asp?CityCode=85972&Units=both |date=2018-11-06 }}, from Weather Underground. Retrieved February 5, 2006.</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=January 2011}} Wind conditions are generally severe, particularly in winter. In summer, the wind at Cape Horn is [[gale]] force up to 5 percent of the time, with generally good visibility; however, in winter, gale-force winds occur up to 30 percent of the time, often with poor visibility.<ref>[http://www.seekrieg.com/SouthPacificWeather.pdf ''U.S. Navy Marine Climatic Atlas of the World: Rounding Cape Horn''], 1995. Retrieved February 5, 2006.</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 and a half|1|2}} hours of daylight during the December solstice, and experiences only [[nautical twilight]] from civil dusk to civil dawn.<!--https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/@3887849?month=12--> [[Midnight sun#White nights|White nights]] occur during the week around the December solstice.

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. However, a number of [[cruise ship]]s routinely round the Horn when traveling from one ocean to the other.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.avidcruiser.com/2012/09/avid-cruiser-voyages-rounding-the-horn/|title=South America Cruises: Rounding the Horn|date=September 5, 2012|website=Avid Cruiser Cruise Reviews, Luxury Cruises, Expedition Cruises}}</ref> These often stop in Ushuaia or [[Punta Arenas]] as well as Port Stanley. Some of the small passenger vessels shuttling between Ushuaia and the [[Antarctic Peninsula]] will pass the Horn too, time and weather permitting.

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. If the strong eastward current through the Drake Passage encounters an opposing east wind, this can have the effect of further building up the waves.<ref>''Along the Clipper Way''; pp. 151–52.</ref> In addition to these "normal" waves, the area west of the Horn is particularly notorious for [[rogue wave]]s, which can attain heights of up to {{convert|30|m|abbr=off}}.<ref name="Econ1">{{cite news

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. Much trade was carried around the Horn between Europe and the Far East; and trade and passenger ships travelled between the coasts of the United States via the Horn.<ref>[http://www.mcallen.lib.tx.us/books/circumna/ci_42cap.htm ''The Circumnavigators''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306063409/http://www.mcallen.lib.tx.us/books/circumna/ci_42cap.htm |date=2005-03-06 }}, by Don Holm; ''Around the Three Capes''. Prentice-Hall, NY, 1974. {{ISBN|978-0-13-134452-5}} Retrieved February 5, 2006.</ref><ref>[http://www.caphorniers.cl/ruta_cabo/route.htm ''North America and the Cape Horn Route''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060227180703/http://www.caphorniers.cl/ruta_cabo/route.htm |date=2006-02-27 }}, by Captain Harold D. Huycke; from Caphorniers Chile. Retrieved February 5, 2006.</ref> The Horn exacted a heavy toll from shipping, however, owing to the extremely hazardous combination of conditions there.

{{blockquote|... &nbsp;we closed in with the Barnevelts, and running past Cape Deceit with its stony peaks, about three o'clock doubled the weather-beaten Cape Horn. The evening was calm and bright, and we enjoyed a fine view of the surrounding isles. Cape Horn, however, demanded his tribute, and before night sent us a gale of wind directly in our teeth. We stood out to sea, and on the second day again made the land, when we saw on our weather-bow this notorious promontory in its proper form—veiled in a mist, and its dim outline surrounded by a storm of wind and water. Great black clouds were rolling across the heavens, and squalls of rain, with hail, swept by us with such extreme violence, that the Captain determined to run into Wigwam Cove. This is a snug little harbour, not far from Cape Horn; and here, at Christmas-eve, we anchored in smooth water.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20000816193056/http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-voyage-of-the-beagle/ ''The Voyage of the Beagle''], by Charles Darwin. National Geographic, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-7922-6559-7}}.</ref>}}