The Drake Passage is a roughly 600-mile stretch of ocean between the southern tip of South America and the South Shetland Islands, north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is the narrowest point in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the strongest ocean current on the planet. That current flows uninterrupted around Antarctica, driven by westerly winds with no landmass to slow it down.
Because the passage is the pinch point for this immense flow of water, conditions there are consistently severe. The average depth is about 11,000 feet, and in some areas it reaches nearly 15,000 feet. The current moves an estimated 134 to 182 million cubic meters of water per second, a volume roughly equivalent to 5,000 Amazon Rivers. Waves of about 40 feet are common during storms, and the interaction of wind, current, and an uneven seafloor can produce rogue waves.
Historical records suggest the passage has claimed more than 800 ships and an estimated 20,000 lives, though precise figures are difficult to confirm. The first European believed to have encountered it was Spanish navigator Francisco de Hoces in 1525. The passage later took the name of English privateer Sir Francis Drake, who sailed through in 1578.
For centuries, the Drake Passage was a major hazard for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans before the Panama Canal opened in 1914. Sailors attempting to round Cape Horn faced extreme weather, freezing temperatures, and weeks at sea with no safe harbor. Captain William Bligh spent four weeks attempting to round the Horn in 1788 before turning back and adding 10,000 nautical miles to his voyage. In 1905, the ship Susanna took 99 days to make the crossing.
The dangers are not limited to wooden sailing ships. Modern vessels remain vulnerable to the extreme forces at work in the passage.
Naval engineers describe a phenomenon called hogging and sagging, in which large waves cause a ship’s hull to bend. If the middle of a ship is lifted by a wave crest while the bow and stern droop, the hull bends upward in a motion called hogging. If the bow and stern are supported by crests while the middle hangs over a trough, the hull sags downward. When a wave is roughly the same length as the ship, the stress on the hull is at its maximum and can cause the vessel to break apart.
In 2013, the modern container ship MOL Comfort, built five years earlier and over 1,000 feet long, broke in half in heavy seas in the Indian Ocean due to such stress. The entire ship and its cargo were lost, though all 26 crew members were rescued.
Two incidents in the Drake Passage illustrate the limits of modern design. In December 2010, the cruise ship Clelia II was returning from Antarctica with 88 passengers and 77 crew when it encountered 30-to-40-foot seas. A wave tore a handrail from the exterior and threw it through the bridge windshield, knocking out the ship’s communications and radar. Operating on one engine with no navigation systems, the ship was shadowed by another vessel until it reached port in Ushuaia, Argentina, two days later. No one was seriously injured.
In November 2022, the expedition cruise ship Viking Polaris was crossing the passage toward Ushuaia when a breaking wave struck the vessel south of Cape Horn. The wave shattered windows in seven passenger cabins, and freezing water entered the rooms. According to Norway’s Accident Investigation Board, the impact felt to passengers like the ship had struck an iceberg. A 62-year-old American passenger was killed and eight others were injured. Investigators found that the ship’s windows met current maritime design standards, but those standards did not account for the force of breaking waves hitting a vessel’s side.
The historical record includes a number of ships lost entirely in the passage. In 1819, the Spanish warship San Telmo, carrying 644 men, was last seen near the South Shetland Islands after being damaged in a storm. The rest of its squadron could not assist in the heavy seas. Wreckage consistent with the ship was later found on Livingston Island in the South Shetlands. It is possible that some of the crew survived the sinking and reached the island, which would make them among the first people known to have set foot on any part of Antarctica. If they did, they would have had no shelter, no food, and no prospect of rescue, and no sign of them has ever been found.
The abyssal plain at the bottom of the Drake Passage remains largely unexplored. The cold water preserves shipwrecks for centuries, and the remains of many vessels are likely still resting on the seafloor. The depth, pressure, and currents make salvage operations effectively impossible with current technology.
The passage sits far from any rescue infrastructure. The nearest major port is Ushuaia, Argentina, which can be days away depending on conditions. Antarctic research stations are not equipped for search and rescue operations. There is no nearby coastline, no harbor, and no quick way to reach a vessel in distress.
The Drake Passage itself is a relatively recent geological feature. It opened between 17 and 49 million years ago when the tectonic plates carrying South America and Antarctica separated. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current began flowing through the gap and has continued ever since. It plays a major role in global ocean circulation and in keeping warm water away from Antarctica, which is why the continent has an ice sheet.
Roughly 100,000 tourists now cross the Drake Passage each year on their way to Antarctica, a tenfold increase since 1992. About 70 percent of crossings take place in what travelers call a “Drake Lake,” meaning relatively calm conditions. The remaining 30 percent experience the rougher conditions known as the “Drake Shake.”
The passage remains an unforgiving stretch of water. The physics of the ocean, the wind, and the seafloor are not affected by advances in ship design or changes in maritime regulations. Every vessel that crosses it is subject to the same powerful forces that have been in place for millions of years.
