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CAPE HORN PASSAGE in schooner WANDER BIRD
July 20, 2026 · 28 min · 85K views · Cape Horn
What this video covers
Commodore Tompkins narrates his childhood aboard Wander Bird, an 85-foot German pilot schooner that his father, Captain Tompkins, sailed from Gloucester around Cape Horn to San Francisco — roughly 10,000 miles.2:26 The passage took fewer than the 120-day average for square-riggers of the era.24:24 The narrator was four years old at the time, and his account draws on photographs and film footage shot during the voyage. Preparations included re-rigging the schooner, installing a coal-fired galley, carrying water under the cabin sole and in a deck tank, and deploying baggy wrinkle throughout the rigging to prevent sail chafe.6:24 Navigation used a taffrail log with a rotor spinner.5:39 South of 50°, the crew encountered 50 gales in 20 days, 60-foot seas, waterspouts, and adverse currents over the continental shelf.0:37 The schooner hove to in the worst conditions; oil bags stuffed with oakum and fish oil, deployed over the side, suppressed breaking crests visibly.18:51 The route required tacking at roughly 100-degree angles to windward against current, and the boat twice lost sea room near shore and had to run off.20:36 Rio de Janeiro and Talcahuano were the only stops before rounding the Horn.24:14
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