It would seem that the direst danger Magellan’s ships faced as they entered the strait that would bear his name was the probability that they would run into an oil platform.
Oil rigs are all over the huge bay on the east end of the strait. There are whole towns of them, three or four platforms in a group linked by catwalks. I can’t understand why Magellan never mentioned them. Or the big tank farm on an island bordering the bay.
The captain read excerpts from Magellan’s log as we approached the narrowest part of the Strait of Magellan. It added a lovely touch to an historical era and area. The narrowest part consists of two low, flat fingers of land that jut out, approaching each other, like pincers just waiting for a sailing vessel to come through. They are less than two miles apart.
Like us, Magellan approached from east to west. This is against the grain so to speak, for the currents and the prevailing winds run west to east. And they do run. If the tides are wrong, the currents can run eight to ten knots, and Magellan’s vessels could, at the very best, make about twelve. In a word, Magellan would have to tack the length of the strait against the wind and currents, and at this narrowest point he had to set his tack such that he would not have to switch back, for there’s not enough room. Negotiating the strait in a sailing vessel with no auxiliary power is a superb feat of seamanship.
The land here is very flat and very low, a few hundred feel at most in elevation. It is mostly weakly consolidated sandstone and glacial till, for it froze over several times even when nowhere else did. As Magellan traversed the strait, threading his way, he wrote, approximately, that he hoped to see the Pacific Ocean any minute now. What he saw in the distance up ahead was the southern-most range of the Andes. That must have been heart-chilling. But he pressed on and, of course, triumphed.
We too are pressing on. Our captain picked this particular time to make the passage for two reasons—it is still daylight, and the tide and currents are as slack as they ever get. Even cruise ships eight times as long as Magellan’s flagship hold a healthy respect for the tides and currents and the narrow, shallow stretches.
These days, beacons and buoys help out along the way, but sailing around the bottom of the world is still treacherous. And I’m thinking that sailing around the top of the world lies in our not-too-distant future. The day is soon coming when beacons and buoys will help out along the way across the northwest passage.
And the way up there will be treacherous as well.