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|  | |  | | | 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 | | | | | SKU:
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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | Fifty-five degrees 59 minutes South by 67 degrees 16 minutes West: Cape Horna buttressed pyramid of crumbly rock situated at the very bottom of South Americais 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 himfrom Spanish missionaries to Captain Cookand interspersing them with breathtaking descriptions of the surrounding wilderness, Murphy has crafted an immensely enjoyable read. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Dallas Murphy | | Paperback: | 384 pages | | Publisher: | Basic Books | | Publication Date: | May 24, 2005 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0465047602 | | Product Length: | 8.05 inches | | Product Width: | 5.31 inches | | Product Height: | 1.0 inches | | Product Weight: | 0.78 pounds | | Package Length: | 7.9 inches | | Package Width: | 5.3 inches | | Package Height: | 1.1 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.9 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 26 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 26 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 found the following review helpful:
 History and Contemporary Experience Jul 25, 2004
By K. Floy
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 found the following review helpful:
 Learning more about an (in)famous place!!! Jun 03, 2004
By Kevin D. Fritze
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 found the following review helpful:
Interesting, worthy, but stretched thin for a travel yarn Dec 03, 2005
By R Schmidt
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...
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
An excellent literary voyage Feb 11, 2006
By Prodigal Knot
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but was pleasantly surprised to find it quite a good read. I am very glad that the author didn't dwell too much on his personal voyage as it was somewhat uneventful. While interesting and informative, I did not buy the book with the expectation it would be a travelogue; and it's not.
Instead, the book is rich with insightful and entertaining descriptions of the early explorer's encounters with the climate, topography and indigenous people of that time. Covering everything from the earliest Spanish explorers to the present day territorial conflicts, he also includes wrongheaded missionaries and intriguing eyewitness accounts from clipper ship and windjammer voyages.
The history of the Yaghan natives such as the "adopted" Jemmy Button and "Fuegia Basket" was wonderfully detailed for the small amount of time spent on them. The author is a keen observer of things many of us would overlook or fail to appreciate properly. This book is definitely a page turner, as the author expertly seques from his present situations to wonderfully told sea stories.
Anyone who enjoys arcane history and anything to do with sailing or ocean adventures should enjoy this tremendously. Highly recommended.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
A very satisfying survey Mar 21, 2006
By J. Gunter
This is a hard book to categorize, as it is equal parts geography, history, meteorology, and oceanography. Although none of these parts was exceptional, they added up to a very engaging survey of the southernmost part of South America.
The narrative alternates between the author's own short expedition through Tierra del Fuego and accounts of discovery, exploration, and feats of seafaring. Thankfully, the author doesn't try to overdramatize his own trip and as a result creates a nice contrast between his peaceful exploration of the area and the tumultuous history of natives, explorers and missionaries. I always feel that the danger of a book like this is that the author tries to take center stage and tell "his story," but that doesn't happen here. Instead, the author shares enough of his knowledge about Cape Horn and seafaring that the reader understands why he is so fascinated by seeing these places in person. The overall sense of balance to the book, and the wealth of information about an undernoticed area of the world, made this a very satisfying read.
I would recommend this book for those who liked Simon Winchester's Krakatoa, and vice versa.
See all 26 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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