Cape Horn

Cape Horn, the solitary rocky islet at the southern extremity of the South American continent, stands as a pivotal landmark in the voyage of the Nautilus. Named by Dutch seamen after their hometown of Hoorn, this cape represents a boundary between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, a threshold that the submarine crosses with characteristic speed and purpose. Its presence in the narrative marks both the beginning of the Pacific leg of the hunt for the mysterious sea creature and, later, the return to northern waters after the perilous Antarctic expedition.

Geographical and Navigational Significance

Cape Horn is first encountered during the Abraham Lincoln's pursuit of the supposed narwhale. Commander Farragut, unwilling to attempt the tortuous Strait of Magellan, maneuvers to double the cape, a decision that meets with unanimous approval from the crew, who swear the monster is too big for the cramped strait. On July 6, near three o'clock in the afternoon, fifteen miles south of shore, the frigate doubles the solitary islet, and the next day its propeller finally churns the waters of the Pacific. This passage marks a decisive shift in the hunt, moving the expedition into the vast expanse where the monster's latest antics had been reported. The cape thus serves as a gateway to the central arena of the chase.

Return from the Antarctic

After the harrowing journey to the South Pole and the desperate escape from the ice, the Nautilus travels swiftly northward. By March 31 at seven o'clock in the evening, it clears the Antarctic Circle and the promontory of Cape Horn. This return to the cape signals the end of the extreme southern phase of the voyage and the beginning of the journey back toward more temperate and populated waters. The memory of the imprisonment under the ice fades as the submarine resumes its course, and the cape becomes a marker of survival and the transition back to a different kind of sea.

Symbolic and Narrative Role

Cape Horn functions as more than a mere geographical coordinate; it embodies the transition between the known and the unknown, between the stormy southern oceans and the calmer seas to the north. For the crew of the Abraham Lincoln, it represents the commitment to the hunt; for the passengers of the Nautilus, it marks the return from the extremes of the Antarctic. The cape's appearance in the narrative is always associated with a change in direction and purpose, underscoring the relentless, globe-spanning nature of the voyage. It is a point of passage that, once doubled, irrevocably alters the course of the journey, whether toward the Pacific's mysteries or back toward the Atlantic's familiar shores.