Drake Passage is a treacherous stretch of ocean between South America and Antarctica, known for its rough waters and frigid currents. It was named after Sir Francis Drake, but was likely discovered by Francisco de Hoces. Despite being the largest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, it has limited vessel traffic due to the ease of navigating the Strait of Magellan.
Drake Passage is the stretch of ocean between the southern tip of South America, also known as Cape Horn or Tierra del Fuego, part of Chile, and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Drake Passage is famous for being the site of some of the roughest and most unforgiving waters in the world, even among the coldest in the world, as they are part of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, a frigid current that endlessly circles the southernmost continent of the world, Antarctica . It is this current that is responsible for transforming Antarctica from a continent of temperate forest into a frigid wasteland covered in kilometers thick glaciers over millions of years.
Drake Passage is named after the 16th-century privateer (state-sponsored pirate) Sir Francis Drake, who passed through the passage after his ship was accidentally blown up far south during an attempt to cross the Strait of Magellan, a smaller passage between the Pacific and Atlantic located to the north. The passage was actually probably first discovered by the Spanish navigator Francisco de Hoces, who found it under similar circumstances, but did not end up crossing the passage, instead passing through the Strait of Magellan. For this reason, the piece is sometimes called Mar de Hoces by Latin and Spanish historians.
The latitudes at which the Drake Passage exists are somewhat unique being that they are among the only coherent east-west stretches of unbroken ocean on the planet, the only other latitudes with this quality being those of the Arctic Ocean, most of which I’m almost always blocked by sea ice. The only islands at Drake Passage latitudes are the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic and the South Macquerie Islands south of New Zealand, land bodies too small to seriously affect the flow of ocean currents.
Despite being the largest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Drake Passage has relatively limited vessel traffic, as most of the shipping lanes between the two oceans pass through the Strait of Magellan. This has not been the case for much of history, as it is easier for sailing vessels to maneuver within the Passage than the Strait, which is narrow and often icy or so windy that safe passage is impossible. Today, using vessels with engines that can be maneuvered with precision, the Strait of Magellan tends to be a faster route.
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