Cape Horn
Cape Horn: In 1616, almost 100 years after Magellan, Willem Schouten went further south and found Cape Horn. This was a better route because it does not require navigating a narrow channel. Only after about 1780 did significant numbers of ships use the Cape Horn route. Cape Horn westbound is difficult because the wind blows from the west and the east-bound Antarctic Circumpolar Current is forced through the gap between Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica. The nineteenth century Clipper Ship Route went from Europe southward to the roaring forties, took them to Australia, and continued east around Cape Horn and returned to England.