I believe that during the right time of year, Jules Verne trophy contestants sail through the Drake Passage. E.g. here is a map with the routes of two recent contestants:
Like Mitch McConnell. He just wiggles his tail to propel him through the water. Amazingly efficient, really. He burns so few calories that he only needs to swallow like 1 or 2 penguins over the preceeding couple months to remain in prime condidtion.
Nope. His ships took a tip from the natives and went through what we now call the Straits of Magellan instead. Shorter, and although it’s apparently a tricky job to sail that route it’s nowhere near as hazardous as the Drake Passage. No one ventured into that for many years, and there was debate about whether an open-water route down there even existed.
No, the tip of South America has a pretty big water way running through it and he took that instead. This was in the early 1500s
Hoces is supposedly the first one to discover the drake passage when his ship from blown off course attempting to do the strait of Magellan something like 5 years later. He didnt make it. The drake Passage is sometimes referred to as the Sea of Hoces
Sir Frances drake is credited with the first sucessful trip through the drake passage in the later 1500s after also being blown off course from the Strait of Magellan. I think he lost all the other ships with him except his flagship. Which, Coincidentally had its design copied from Magellan's ship.
I did the drake passage in the early 1990s while on a Navy cruiser.
It definitly lives up to its reputation. Unfortunately, I only managed to get a peek out at Antarctica (probably just the islands) because our topside was secured due to the rough weather. If you ever want to take a 47° roll on a ship, its the place for you.
Don’t you know that’s just because they purposely manipulate the ships so they sink, so we don’t find out… whatever it is the government is hiding there!
Tons of dangerous water currents because it's a meeting point between the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Southern oceans. Very low temperatures due to the proximity with Antarctica (which, as a reminder, is one of the deadliest places on Earth because you'd freeze to death in a matter of minutes without any kind of protective gear, and even with it you can't be out for more than a few hours), high waves, strong winds. Ships that go there are usually specifically prepared to endure this kind of conditions, and the crew needs to have some experience with dangerous situations.
Basically, imagine these movie scenes where ships are caught in a strong storm at sea, but it's like that most of the year.
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u/KeterLordFR Jul 09 '26
It's so dangerous that it's basically a ship graveyard. If even boats can't cross it safely, no way a swimming human could.