Rounding the Horn: Being the Story of Williwaws and Windjammers, Drake, Darwin, Murdered Missionaries and Naked Natives--a Deck's-eye View of Cape Horn [Paperback]

Dallas Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 2005

Fifty-five degrees 59 minutes South by 67 degrees 16 minutes West: Cape Horn—a buttressed pyramid of crumbly rock situated at the very bottom of South America—is a place of forlorn and foreboding beauty that has captured the dark imaginations of explorers and writers from Francis Drake to Joseph Conrad. For centuries, the small stretch of water between Cape Horn and the Antarctic Peninsula was the only gateway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It’s a place where the storms are bigger, the winds stronger, and the seas rougher than anywhere else on earth.Dallas Murphy has always been sea-struck. In Rounding the Horn he undertakes the ultimate maritime rite of passage, and brings the reader along for a thrilling, exuberant tour. Weaving together stories of his own nautical adventures with long-lost tales of those who braved the Cape before him—from Spanish missionaries to Captain Cook—and interspersing them with breathtaking descriptions of the surrounding wilderness, Murphy has crafted an immensely enjoyable read.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Even landlubbers may recognize Cape Horn as the Americas' southernmost tip. Between this crag of rock and Antarctica lies the Drake Passage, whose waters are the planet's most consistently violent. Of a trip through these latitudes, sailors warned, "Below 40 South there is no law, below 50 South there is no God." Murphy, a mystery writer and nautical journalist, sailed there from Ushuaia, Argentina, in a 53-foot sloop and carefully points out that he only visited the island rather than sailing around it. He revels in the tales of those who made the entire trip, however, and spends much time vividly recounting their adventures, found in old books with thrilling titles like The World Encompassed and A Two Years' Cruise off Tierra Del Fuego. Nautical buffs will find some of these yarns familiar: Darwin's South American voyages aboard HMS Beagle were the subject of last fall's Evolution's Captain, by Peter Nichols, and Murphy's version adds little to the story beyond subtle interpretive differences. Another chapter touches upon the U.S. Navy's South Seas Exploring Expedition, chronicled at length by Nathaniel Philbrick in Sea of Glory (also published last fall). Yet such narrative retreads are offset by the details of Murphy's own voyage (his desire to explore almost set off an international incident with the Chilean government). As exciting as Murphy's historical yarns are, it's always a treat to return to him and his crew as they brave the elements at the end of the earth. Maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Cape Horn is the southernmost point of South America, in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Murphy, a novelist and journalist, sailed to Cape Horn in 2000. He chronicles the history of the cape and describes in detail the many ships that have made the voyage, battered by the unique weather with its treacherous winds. Francis Drake and Robert FitzRoy are two of the many explorers whose voyages Murphy recounts here. (FitzRoy was the captain of the Beagle and Charles Darwin was its most famous passenger.) Much of the book deals with Murphy's own trip to Cape Horn. In vivid prose, he describes the ship and observes and wonders about birds and other animals; he makes readers experience the island wilderness as if firsthand, and feel for themselves the driving rain and wind that he encountered. The book will interest those looking for an adventure but too frightened to actually make the trip. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (May 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465047602
• ISBN-13: 978-0465047604
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Texas
  • #16 in Books > History > Americas > South America > Chile
  • #23 in Books > Travel > Latin America > South America > Chile

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History and Contemporary Experience, July 25, 2004

By 

K. Floy (Minnetonka, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rounding The Horn: Being The Story Of Williwaws And Windjammers, Drake, Darwin, Murdered Missionaries And Naked Natives--a Deck's-eye View Of Cape Horn (Hardcover)

This is the account of the author's trip to Cape Horn and the surrounding archipelago. Murphy weaves in to this account the history of the Cape Horn region, including some of the experiences of the many sailing ships which rounded the Horn and the interactions between natives and Europeans in the region.

The historical segments of this book are quite good, although far more information on Magellan and Drake is given than is needed to tell the history of Cape Horn. But by and large, the historical parts of this book work quite well and are satisfying to the reader. Much less interesting is Murphy's account of his wanderings through the archipelago. His 21st century experience is dull and uninteresting when juxtaposed against the rich history of Cape Horn.

In spite of this shortcoming, the book is certainly worth a read by those who are interested in learning more about this intriguing part of the world.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning more about an (in)famous place!!!, June 3, 2004

By 

Kevin D. Fritze (Lovelady, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rounding The Horn: Being The Story Of Williwaws And Windjammers, Drake, Darwin, Murdered Missionaries And Naked Natives--a Deck's-eye View Of Cape Horn (Hardcover)

I recently bought this book because it caught my eye in a bookstore. I have long been a fan of geography and I also love the sea lore surrounding Cape Horn. The Cape is the stuff legends are made of! I (like most people) have only been exposed to Cape Horn from history books and various movies such as "The Bounty" and "Master and Commander" but this book fills in all the gaps. This book is a fun and entertaining read. Mr. Murphy tells of trip he made to Cape Horn to explore the region with several companions but he also spends a great deal of time discussing the history of the area. He tells the reader about the famous explorations of Magellan, Drake, Darwin and many others who experienced the wrath of the Horn. This book would be great for anyone wanting a fun summer read - plus anyone wanting to know more about one of the neatest places on Earth - Cape Horn.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, worthy, but stretched thin for a travel yarn, December 3, 2005

By 

R Schmidt (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Rounding The Horn: Being The Story Of Williwaws And Windjammers, Drake, Darwin, Murdered Missionaries And Naked Natives--a Deck's-eye View Of Cape Horn (Hardcover)

I picked up this book only because my children had returned from a visit to the Antarctic Peninsula and Ushuaia, Argentina. I listened to their stories and I looked at their photographs. I surfed the web, chatted with friends who had been stationed there, and read Kim Stanley Robinson's book Antarctica (another good read). Rounding the Horn was a book I spotted in an airport bookstore that I thought my kids might be interested in.

They weren't.

So I read the book.

Rounding the Horn is not a tale about Antarctica, although you will learn more about this continent, particularly the weather patterns associated with Cape Horn. It is a book about sailing in uncharted waters and troubled seas. It is a story of the destruction of indigenous peoples and cultures. You will be surprised at the number of famous explorers who challenged the Horn to ease access to the riches on the other side of the world. Charles Darwin himself visited, and was shaped, by his experiences in Tierra del Fuego.

This book was supposed to give the reader a greater understanding of the discovery (by the western world) of this area, of the dangers associated with crossing the Horn, of the natural and human history of the area, and how it affects a visitor's soul. It is about geography, physical and human. It is a travelogue. I think every reader will pick up on these issues, more or less. To me, it seemed that Dallas Murphy was trying to do too much with this book. There wasn't enough there to understand the native Yahgan people and their destruction. The maps, intended to keep the reader oriented with all the inlets and islands and bays, started blending in to one another, looking the same. And I did have some difficulty with Murphy emphasizing, and reemphasizing, the risk he was taking in sailing these waters but, with his modern boat and equipment, that risk really never was evident. I think he needed to live on one of the islands for a month or two, or three.

Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to travelers intending to visit this part of the world. They need to supplement it with a good regional natural history text. Now if I could only get my kids to read it...