Drake´s Passage: An Analysis Of Drake's Passage

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Drake’s Passage
If you struggle while paddling across a clear lake, I wouldn’t recommend crossing Drake’s Passage. After reading any description of the passage, one would warily wonder what other dangers the depths hide and why Sir Ernest Shackleton would ever cross it in this condition, a decision I whole-heartedly agree with. Despite the harsh conditions, the desolate attitude of my crew and slim chance of survival, Shackleton pressed on. A feat that seems downright inhuman once you hear of the odds stacked against him. Between waves that can swallow you whole, unpredictable weather systems and waters that are among the coldest on Earth, to even fathom crossing without the proper equipment and years of experience is impossible. …show more content…

Because the Passage is where the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Sea converge with no nearby landmass, it is home to choppy, turbulent waters. Underneath the waves is where you could very well end up, depending on the mood of the currents. Violently thrashing sailors most of the time, the waters have a mind of their own. You never know if it will be smooth sailing or the longest ten days of your life. Shackleton and his crew ran into that very phenomenon “By 10:00 P.M the water seemed relatively clear of ice, and their spirits rose: so far, so good ...By the third day of sailing, the weather turned rotten. A gale blew up with snow squalls and heavy seas. And waves broke incessantly over the boat.” (98). Freezing waves. Bitter winds. Relentless rain. Coupled together they spell a recipe for a multitude of health issues, including potentially deadly hypothermia. Shackleton and his crew were not spared, “After the third day our feet and legs had swelled … and began to be superficially frostbitten, the constant soaking in seawater, with the temperature at times nearly down to zero; and the lack of exercise. During the last gale they turned dead white and lost all surface feeling”... They were cold, frostbitten and covered with salt-water blisters. Their legs were rubbed raw from the chafing of their wet pants… Their bodies were bruised and aching from the pounding up and down in the bows, and they were exhausted from lack of sleep.”(100) Many a ship and sailor have been left battered and seasick and braving this desolate sea who has conquered and claimed numerous ships for it’s own, allegedly beginning with Francisco de Hoces in the early 1500s. Little is known of his trip through the Passage. A handful of decades later, the Passage was bravely navigated by a British sea captain named Francis Drake. In English influenced countries, it is Drake’s

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