The Drake Passage

THE DRAKE PASSAGE

The Drake Passage gets its name from Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), an English Explorer and buccaneer. Drake was born in Devon and had been sailing the seas since he was thirteen years old. He went on trips to the West Indies and participated in raids on the Spanish.

In 1577-1580 he sailed around the world, the first Englishman to do so. He mapped new territories and plundered Spanish ships. Due to this practice, he was often called a pirate.

In 1577 Drake nevertheless had a serious mission. The merchants and ministers who financed his voyage wanted him to search for the unknown continent “Terra Australis Incognita”. Since ancient times people believed that there had to be another continent in the most southern regions of the earth.

For a long time, mapmakers considered Tierra del Fuego a part of this continent. Drake proved this theory to be wrong. Whilst sailing just out of the Straits of Magellan, Drake’s vessel The Golden Hind, was struck by a severe storm. They drifted as far south as 57 degrees, to the very turbulent area where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. Now it was clear at last that Tierra del Fuego was not part of Terra Australis Incognita. The search had to go on.

And it was not until 1820 that the Antarctic mainland – the unknown continent - was seen for the first time.

On the 30 January 1820, the British Royal Navy sent Edward Bransfield to investigate further, following British captain William Smith’s discovery of the South Shetland Islands. With Smith as pilot, Bransfield reached the islands and continued southeast. They were the first in recorded history to see the Antarctic Peninsula. Bransfield’s midshipman Bone, recorded the following:

‘… the only cheer the sight afforded was that this might be the long sought-after southern continent.’