How appropriate that, after we've just finished two National Geographic Magazine articles about the ocean, including Magellan's historic trip around the world, then an article about maps, that the very next article concerns a ship race around Cape Horn. This is a very long race! A.J. Villiers reports to us in The Cape Horn Grain-Ship Race: The Gallant "Parma" Leads the Vanishing Fleet of Square-Riggers Through Raging Gales and Irksome Calms 16,000 Miles, from Australia to England, January, 1933.
Why use sailing ships to transport grain in 1933 when there were faster and more modern steamships? "If steamers were employed - with their insistence on a minimum daily delivery to the ship's side delivery of 500 tons - the small ports could load only barges and similar vessels, to be sent to larger ports for transshipment of their cargoes. The sailing ship, with little or no overhead, no coal bunkers to deplete, no highly paid crew to keep, and, also, since she generally lies at open anchorage, no dock dues to pay, can take as much time as necessary to load. Being able at her best to accomplish only one round voyage in the Australian trade annually, she may be two weeks loading or two months. The main consideration is to obtain a cargo," (p. 1). In short, since there were a few old-fashioned sailing ships willing to do the job, it was much cheaper for the grain dealers to use them for the long Australia to England trip.
Thus, there developed an annual race among the sailing ships on this route. Some of them may have not been exactly safe, and most were not as fast as a clipper ship, but "they do their best and always have done so," (p. 1). "They know that being at sea costs nothing, and that being in port is expensive, yet the racing spirit cannot be defeated," (p. 3).
In 1933, there were twenty ships which represented only three countries: 17 from Finland, one from Sweden, and one from Germany. The author was co-owner of one of the ships, the Parma, with a particularly experienced and worthy captain. As for the race, he reported, "Whether we won or lost, we hoped that at least we should have what peace of mind comes from reflecting on a hard voyage well sailed," (p. 10).
The crew of the Parma put out to sea on March 17, 1932, close to Walaroo, Australia. The twenty ships began their trip on different days, but "That did not matter; the race is not to the first ship in, but to the ship making the fastest passage," (p. 10). Their closest competitor, the Pamir, left shortly after they did for the long journey. Due to sea storms, the two ships would not sight each other again for 80 days.
As the Parma approached Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America, the gale-strength storms never abated but increased. None of the crew had ever worked together. Also, "With the exception of the officers and two sailors. . . no one had previously been round Cape Horn," (p. 16).
Can you imagine this sight, "the ship was openly exposed to the whole ocean; and the enormous seas, rearing their great glinting heads as they tore past, were terrifying to behold. They looked so brutal, so evil, so intent upon our destruction. Still there came no let-up," (p. 16).
"So onward we raced, the captain tight-lipped and anxious, all hands standing by aft, waiting for a let-up, hoping for the morning," (p. 19). Let's leave our good sailors there today, as we're approximately 50% into the long article.
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