horizon. As we drew reserve buoyancy, the closer, the other S¢ren's stern ro se watches were called sharply to meet each from below.By 0520 big roller with ease. on December 9, our Her decks, though 45th day out, the steep and awash, were sheer, grey cliffs of not as treacherous as the Hom were finally on the big metal ships. two miles abeam as By 0700 we had a we made 8 knots NNW Force 10 and the reefed main sail under an ominous had to be handed and Sll)ren Larsen and Eye of the Wind Two crew aloft on Sll)ren leaden sky and a folstowed. Getting the lowing Force 6 wind. S¢ren Larsen had become the first Britheavy swinging boom down safely on the gallows required all the cool judgment of ish wooden square rigger to round the Mate Cottier. Running under main stays' 1, Horn for many a year. Twenty-six hours lower tops ' 1 and fore topmast stays' 1, we later, Eye of the Wind followed suit. We romped along, making 212 miles in our paused from the celebration and photobestday' s run so far. The weather was not graphs as Captain Tony Davies held a sustained, but we were reassured to find moment 's sil ence to remember those seafarers of all nationalities who had that ship and crew were up to it. The day took its toll with various sprains and peri shed in these waters in the years bruises, the worst being suffered by Dick gone by. Scotland from New Zealand. He received It was three more days before we could a gash to the forehead after being thrown feel solid ground beneath our feet in Port Capt. Tony Davies and First Mate Jim Cottier into the scuppers and had to be stitched up Stanley in the Falkland Islands. We had by Cath Pigott, the young Irish doctor aboard. the briefest chance to visit the many historic wrecks there, Days and weeks rolled by. The winds were oddly variable, including the Lady Elizabeth and Jhelum, before sailing to make but the temperature grew steadily colder as we reached 50°-55° Montevideo for Christmas. South. As we sailed farther from land , we were acutely aware The second leg of the Homeward 'Round the Horn voyage of the vastness of that ocean and our own isolation. One tookS¢ren Larson andEyeoftheWindeastandnorththroughthe wonderedatthefortitudeofformerCapeHornersintheselonely Tradewinds to the remote South Atlantic Islands. In three waters, without even the comfort of radio contact. For the crew, months we watched the stars slowly tum upside down, realizing their way of life prior to the start of the trip was now a dim our circumnavigation was nearly complete as we saw the Pole memory; sleep was won in short Star again for the first time on snatches, day and night had no th e northern horizon and distinction , personal space did watched the Southern Cross not exist, tallowed and salty fade from sight to the South. damp clothes were reworn After 17,778 miles and 130 againandagain,andeveneightdays, 21 hours, we made the day intervals between freshport of Lisbon. water showers were accepted. It was the end of a unique But rather than focusing on the voyage and I knew I would rough , cold and wet, I will remi ss the bi g ocean skies, the creak and moan of the rigmember the Southern Ocean as big-very big. ging, the exacting care of On December 6, at 58°22' working aloft on the open sea, South, we wore ship in light the encounters with visiting winds and made our final tack dolphins and whales, the ever northeast toward the Horn . It present wheeling albatross, was a fine 4' C on deck, al"Cape Horn in sight!"---from the the aft deck the conical shape of and , above all , the comradeship of our crew. Perhaps in though Eye of the Wind had Cape Horn can be seen in the background. some snow and hail during the ni ght. 40 or 50 years' time I may even stand on the deck of a tall ship Twodays later,ourfirstsightofland was Isle Diego Ramirez- with a shipmate and tell another generation of sailors of the some miles SW of the Cape where the seabed shelves steeply time we went round the Horn with Davies and Cottier in the from 4500 meters to 400 meters-where we spoke to the S¢ren Larsen, back in 1991 ! bemused Chilean Lighthouse keeper on VHF. The ship 's bread is baked ni ghtl y by the midnight to 0400 A shipbroker, chartering bulk cargo ship s, Ian Hutchinson watch, and , it being my turn, I was in the galley kneading sailed out to Australia on the S0ren Larsen in 1988 and chose dough when the door was flung open and an excited fi gure the C4pe Horn voyage to make his return to England in 1992. cried: "Cape Hom in sight! " Even at 0215 it was getting light For m ore information contact Ocean Voyages , 1709 and I could just make out a small conical irregularity on the Bridgeway, Sausalito CA 94965. SEA HISTORY 62, SUMMER 1992
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