ART. V.-On the Navigation of Cape Horn; by M. F. MAURY, Passed Midshipman, U. S. Navy.

A variety of causes combine to render the navigation, from the Atlantic around Cape Horn to the Pacific, dangerous.

From the time Sir Francis Drake was driven off Cape Horn, till the present day, the boldest navigators have approached it with caution. They never venture in the latitude of it, until each has prepared his vessel for the rough weather to be expected in rounding it; for this, no precaution is omitted. Men of war strike part of their armament into the hold; get their anchors between decks; send up stump masts; bend the storm sails; and secure their spars with pre-, venter rigging, as they get near the tempestuous regions. In the roughness of the passage, the crew is liable to much exposure.

There the tempest, the sea, and the iceberg assume their most terrible character, each presenting dangers almost new in their kind and peculiar to the region.

The ice, from its beds of a thousand years, is detached in islands like masses by the gale and the shock of the sea; it is swept to the north by the winds and currents, and carries in its silent course, all the dangers of the hidden rock, until it gradually melts away under the influence of more genial climates.

The gales, frequently accompanied with hail and sleet, are proverbial among seamen for their unremitting severity, and the length of their duration. Occurrences of vessels "lying to" in gales of wind, for many days, off Cape Horn, are frequent. I have seen them arrive in Valparaiso and Callao, after having been detained eighty and even one hundred and twenty days in gales and head winds off the Cape. The case of a ship's "lying to" there, in one continued gale, for seventy days, is of recent occurrence. It is not unfrequent that vessels even of war, put into the ports of Chili crippled in the rough weather at the South. The most robust constitutions overcome by long exposure to it, succumb to its severity; they may bear up against it for many days, but the hardiest crew, exhausted at last by incessant toil, are forced in despair to give up the ship, clogged with ice and snow, to the mercies of the contending cli

mates.

The waves run to a height, which, in other seas, they seldom attain. In the calm they cause no less damage than in the gale, by

distressing the ship with labor. In that succeeding a storm, vessels sometimes roll their masts away.

To determine upon the best route for doubling Cape Horn, has been a desideratum of the first importance to South Sea navigators. Many opinions have been advanced on the subject, but down to the present time, no route has been proposed, nor directions given, which have received general approbation, or have met with the concurrence of those, whose experience in Cape Horn navigation, gives value to their opinions.

The routes, which have been most recommended, and which have been followed with most success, have resolved themselves into two-the "inshore" and the "southern." The former is peferable and more expeditious, when the winds are favorable for sailing westwardly. The latter should be taken, when gales from the westward are encountered, while doubling the Cape. By standing to the southward in such cases, the track of the violent winds, that come sweeping around the extremity of the land, from the west and northwest will be crossed; sometimes it does not reach further to the south than 57° 30′ lat., it seldom extends beyond 63° south lat.

The absence of regular periodical winds in the vicinity of the Cape, contributes to the embarrassment of opinion with regard to the most expeditious route for doubling it.

No general directions can be given, which will invariably point out the best course for a vessel to steer, while passing the boisterous region. This is prevented by the uncertainty of the winds, in regard both to their strength and the direction in which they may blow. But under the guidance of certain circumstances to be pointed out, the navigator may be greatly assisted in conducting his vessel in safety through the tempestuous sea connecting the Pacific with the Atlantic.

From peculiar circumstances connected with the western gales that blow around the Cape, there is reason to believe, that they do not extend far beyond it, with equal violence, and that they are strongest in its vicinity. It is a phenomenon occurring not unfrequently under the observations of sailors, that the same gale does not always blow over extensive tracts of the ocean. Ships, a few leagues apart, are sailing sometimes at the same moment, with winds of unequal strength and even from different directions; of this a case which occurred in 1829 can be instanced; one vessel was dismasted in a gale, when another only a few leagues from her, was sailing in fine weath

er with a moderate breeze from a different direction. This gale continued for several days nearly within the same limits.

The fact that winds

Winds from every point of the compass are met with off Cape Horn. They blow with great violence from every quarter. The secondary causes which govern them seem to follow no laws, save those concealed in their own mysterious effects. with westing, are more prevalent than those with easting, in them, is established from the circumstance, that the return is less dreaded and shorter, than the outward bound passage. The ratio of winds with westing in them to those with easting is as three to one.

During the month of our vernal equinox they appear to assume something of the character of periodicals, prevailing from the eastward; hence March is considered the most favorable season for passing from the Atlantic around Cape Horn, into the Pacific. In November they are more prevalent from the opposite direction. This is the most favorable month for returning from the Pacific.

I have before me extracts from the logbooks of a number of vessels, that have doubled Cape Horn at different seasons of the year. Of those which have passed the Cape in March, all have had fine weather with eastwardly winds. One of them, in March, performed the passage from Bordeaux, around the Cape, to Callao, without having reefed a sail.

The recent observations of sealers, engaged in taking skins, for several years, on the South Shetland Islands, go to establish the fact, that the winds there and along the icy continent to the southward, blow from the eastward two thirds of the year, the reverse of what has long been known to be the case in the vicinity of Cape Horn.

I am informed by some masters of vessels who have been in the habit of coming to the Pacific by the southern route that by going as far south as 63°, they have not only a smoother sea, but a climate less boisterous and rigid. The fact of this comparative mildness of climate is not attested sufficiently to be admitted as a truth. It is near the region of perpetual ice. The eastwardly winds that prevail near the South Shetlands and along the icy continent, are eddies to the gales from the westward, sweeping over regions a little to the north. They are confined to certain parallels by the same peculiarity of causes, by which they are put in motion.

The icebergs common in the lat. 63° are serious objections to some, why the southern rout should never be attempted, but the probability of falling in with them, is less to be dreaded, than are the injuries

and delays incidental to the westerly gales, by attempting to ride them out in the vicinity of the Cape, where they are always most violent. The range of these gales, is frequently passed, by standing two or three degrees to the southward of St. John's.

The early navigators followed the "inshore" passage. Those who came after them, in more modern times, steered more to the south, and were sometimes favored with fair winds and speedy passages. Those who were fortunate, approved of the plan, and in the pride of success, they recommended others to pursue the same route, arguing that although the distance was greater, yet the passage was shortened, by having favorable breezes and a smooth sea. In the present day, there are those who sail by both routes, and make short passages, showing that the preference should sometimes be given to the one, and at other times, and under other circumstances, to the other.

Those who go the "inshore" passage, keep close in with the land. When the wind is fair they go to the north of Diego Ramirez; never to the south of it, further than ten or twelve leagues, if they can avoid it. Supposing this cleared, they continue on due west, upon the same parallel, as far as 85° of longitude; thence upon that meridian due north, to lat. 40° S. whence they shape their course directly for the port of destination. When the wind is favorable, they pass through the straits of Le Maire; but this should be done only when they are likely to be embayed, or when they are swept under the land so that they cannot pass to the east of Staten Land, without loss of time, and probably of a fair breeze.

A vessel may enter the straits, with a favorable breeze, and under every appearance of good weather, and in coming through, be met by a gale from the south east, which would place her on a lee shore, and in a very critical situation. The possibility of taking this gale, is a good reason why vessels should go around St. Johns, in preference to passing through the straits of Le Maire, when they are free to choose either.

If a gale from the westward, be encountered off Staten Land, they seek refuge from its violence, under the lee of the island, and "heave" or "lay to" in smooth water, until the gale abates. If they be further to the westward, before they meet it, they "lay to" on either tack, preserving the latitude in which they may be at the time of taking it, as near as practicable. After the gale has passed over, they stand again to the westward. On nearing the Cape the second time, they run the same risk of meeting an adverse gale, that they did when VOL. XXVI.-No. 1.

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it was first approached. Frequently they do not clear the Cape, until the third or fourth attempt after having been set to the eastward by gales from the westward.

During the north west gales, vessels have been driven several hundred miles to the south east. In 1819-20, an English brig was set in a north wester, from the vicinity of Hermit's Island, down to the south Shetland's, which had been discovered by a Dutchman, about two hundred years previously: during this lapse of time, their existence had never been confirmed to the world, by a concurrent report from other navigators, and the reported discovery of the Dutchman, had sunk into disbelief, and finally into oblivion. The brig, after a tedious passage, arrived at Valparaiso, and her master, (one Smith,) reported the discovery he had made to Capt. Sherif, R. N. who was in the bay of Valparaiso, in command of one of his Majesty's men of Capt. Sherif chartered the brig, sent officers on board, and despatched her, to ascertain the reality of the reported discovery, and the position of the Islands. They were found without any difficulty, and after sailing among them for a day or two, the brig put into a harbor, where were several American vessels, lying quietly at anchor, some of which had been in the habit for five years, of visiting that place.

When the westerly gales, become so violent as to strip the canvass from the yards, the ship is liable to much injury, if they blow for many days, which they frequently do. By persisting in the attempt to weather out the storm, and to secure the "inshore" passage, vessels have been reduced almost to the last extremity before they succeeded. In waiting to catch a favorable moment for passing the land, some are even less fortunate. After riding out gale after gale, and being driven from the land as often as they made it, they are at last, forced in distress to put back into some port on the Atlantic side. They are seen coming into Rio Janeiro or the La Plata, their hulls so completely shattered, that they scarcely keep afloat, and the crew unable to manage them, being exhausted by long exposure to the freezing winds. The delay necessarily incurred by refitting, and from the difficulty of shipping another crew, amounts to several months. Probability favors the supposition, that these misfortunes would have been avoided by lying to, on the starboard tack, and forging to the southward, out of the strength of the gale, with the expectation of catching an easterly wind in the icy regions.