Ghosts of Cape Horn

Prior to the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, Ghosts of Cape Horn a 1980 documentary, retraces the journey made by sailing ships during the days when it was necessary to travel 18,000 miles around Cape Horn in order to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast of the U.S ...
I do not own this documentary or the music
Credits to my knowledge :
Executive Producer James R. Donaldosn III
Directed by Keith F. Critchlow
Produced by Keith F. Critchlow, James R. Donaldosn III
Narrated by Jason Robards
Original Score Edd Kalehoff
"Ghosts of Cape Horn" © by Gordon Lightfoot
"Song of the Sea" © by Lisa Gilkyson
Shanties by Bill Schustik and Friends
Film Editors Lana Jokel, Keith F. Critchlow
Cinematographer Peter Jensen
Additional Photography Tedd Churchill, Carl Kriegeskotte, Jesper Baek-Sørensen
Sound Design Jerry Ross
Associate Sound Editor Margie Crimmins
Re-Recordist Lee Dichter
Written by Peter L. Brosnan, Peter Stanford
Principal Sponsorship Down Corning Corporation
Archaeological Consultant Peter Throckmorton
Associate Producers Margot Taylor Dearborn, Robert F. Little, Dr. Ira Abrams
Title Design Linda Kosarin
Animation Miguel Muñoz, Bono Film Services
Map Animation Chris Kogler
"Ghosts of Cape Horn" Painting by John Stobart

[@barryb90]

My grandfather was a sailor and loved this documentary. He recorded it on VHS and my Uncle loved and watched it all the time too. Last year, My Uncle was dying in the hospital and I bought him a little tablet to watch this on. I hope it brought him some comfort. Rest in peace John.

[@LilA-zl6tf]

R.I.lP. John.

[@krockpotbroccoli65]

What an awesome old documentary. Gotta respect the grit and determination of those old school sailors. Makes us modern guys with our transducers, radar, chart plotters, motors and solar panels look like pampered sissies by comparison.

[@formerparatrooper]

Years ago, 1972, my wife and I sailed on the Guglielmo Marconi, an immigrant ship, from Naples Italy to Melbourne Australia around the Cape of Good Hope. Nothing like these pictures but the storm we went through was real enough. The crew insisted we stay in our rooms and preferably in our bunks until we were safely around, but we found a way to wander about below decks. Later we were told that we went through seas of more than 30 feet. It was an adventure for sure. There were six English speaking travelers, us from the US, an Australian couple and a couple from England.

[@drwolfgangtritt304]

Eine wunderbare Dokumentation über die Leistungen der Schiffsbauer und die Seeleute, die diese Schiffe gefahren haben. Sie haben meinen höchsten Respekt.

[@lookronjon]

Great show. Thanks. Being heavily clothed and not knowing how to swim. No life jackets. No help. May all who lost their lives at sea Rest in peace.

[@mactcampbell]

Excellent documentary. I've worked in several occupations where there was occupational risk. Other than having to fight in a war, I can't think of a more hazardous job than the ones portrayed in this video. These sailors were physically fit, acrobatic, had oodles of physical stamina and were very brave. They're all gone, now, but thankfully we have footage like this to verify their legacy.

[@dehoedisc7247]

And Gordon Lightfoot,too. Well done.

[@PillSharks]

Plenty of men from my maritime village served on British clippers and have rounded the horn.. my old grandmother said her grandfather sailed from England to Valparaiso on a few occasions, his name was John Dungey and finished up working as a Westernman on the Bristol Channel Pilot cutters! Another man called Bill Bailey also worked on the Clippers and my father can remember him always having on his sea boots which he always polished up until he was an old man… another local who I can remember was old Jack Rowles who was at anchor in San Francisco Bay when the 1906 earth quake hit, he was from the same Rowles family who built the legendary Bristol Channel Pilot cutters in Pill, Somerset in England! They don’t make men like that anymore or the ships..

[@jamesbugbee6812]

Nary a second wasted in this beautifully-concise film, w/ great music as well 💜.

[@robertdlucas7418]

When I was about nine,my dad gave me an abridged version of "Two Years Before The Mast" by Richard Henry Dana. I read and re-read that book. what a great adventure that was, since one had to imagine the seas and sleet rounding Cape Horn. I am 75 now and have gotten the complete book and from time to time I re-read it.

[@stephenhappy6259]

I read that book a few years ago And it was incredible!!!

[@BeKindToBirds]

I'm still looking for an un-abridged version myself.

[@nevermorefarm]

I sailed on the replica brig Lady Washington over 20 years ago. Sail tech circa 1790. We used to say that we weren't pimples on real sailors' a$$h****s because however nasty we had it aboard, we weren't going around the Horn and we also had a Detroit diesel engine down below if the captain decided the canvas wasn't cutting it. We mostly port-hopped on the USA west coast but I saw one really decent storm that gave me a small taste of being battered around in the fo'c's'le and being really glad that our tiller had a handbrake. The men on these ships were a breed that doesn't exist anymore, I don't think. We worked hard, they worked four times harder, never with decent rest or food and with no safety equipment. I went to sea because I wanted to understand the bite of frozen canvas on my hands, the tedium of days spent tarring the rigging and stitching sails, learning the lines, all of it. The sea is magically awful, gloriously deadly. I envy the things they saw and experienced but not their pain, deprivations and misery. If only we could keep the best of it and leave the rest of it, because the watery part of the world truly holds unmatched splendors.

[@lenmclane8032]

What a fine well written commentary... Have been aboard the Lady Washington many times in years past when you were likely among its crew.

[@Yeaitstemp]

Not to talk trash but I know me and have worked many hard jobs on the ocean and I love sailing I believe I could do it

[@unconventionalideas5683]

You know, people still voluntarily sail around Cape Horn, just because they want to…

[@Yeaitstemp]

@unconventionalideas5683 yes cause I'm a sailor just saying climbing rigging in the cold in gale

[@nevermorefarm]

@@lenmclane8032 I was crew early 2000 Late December 1999 to about April 2000 when a whopping case of pneumonia sent me to shore. Sailed under captains Jake and Evil Ryan. Got better but moved over to the staysail schooner Talofa for 2 months. Was later able to come here and there for an occasional weekend but had to go back to the real world and my old job. I'll never be sorry for the experience...just wish a horse riding accident at 32 hadn't given me lower back issues that made furling the sails really hard. Ha ha shoulda just stayed to cook and sing shantys ;-) hmm it's never too late...🤪

[@jonathansimmonds5784]

I've watched this film many times when sailing as rigger and mast captain on the 4 mast barque Sea Cloud, it reminded we modern sailors of what it was like for our forefathers, same sized ships but a world of difference thanks to technology, except aloft in a storm, that aspect will never change!

[@ziblot1235]

Beautiful video. It is amazing to me tha some of the guys like the Boatswain, and the Captain can look up in the rigging and tell you what each rope do. And the name of it. Imagine the mind that invented such a thing. My gggranfather was a Boatswain in the young USNavy. (Warrant officer) He joined when he was a youngster. Came here from Ireland in the 1700s with his Dad who fought for Washington.

[@janeryan3634]

Deeply moving, beautifully scripted, awesome footage; unforgettable. Loved Song of the Sea.

[@LilA-zl6tf]

Still waiting the Song of the Sea to be available in any digital form.... I love it, too.....

[@jarrowmarrow]

As a younger man I worked for an old man who was a sailor on these Cape Horn rounding vessels. He started as a boy in New York. He was employed delivering grain from San Francisco to Australia. Wooden doors and windows from the Pacific Northwest to England. He was there to see the Demise of the sailing ship. He said the biggest problems the sailing ship buisness faced were nobody wanted to do the job anymore it was too hard. Also the steamship could be scheduled to arrive at a specific date therefore the cargo could be speculated on by the traders in the grain markets.He was a man from different time. His name was Don Martin he ended his career as a harbor pilot in S.F. Bay. It was a privilege to know him. The man was the meaning of stubborn personified I worked for him at his property so I knew how he thought. Till the end .Everthing had to be ship shape a.k.a perfect he never let up ever… A man way tougher than most today absolutely refused to stop doing work around his house even though his skin was falling off from extreme old age and med side effects. He was from a different age I knew him for three years before he revealed his Christian name before that he was Mr Martin.

[@musheopeaus4125]

Lolz you must be 150+ yrs old

[@dalehaak4443]

I appreciate your tribute to the kind of man who sadly may very well be extinct among us in our time. His observation that the job was just too hard was intriguing and reminded me of the scene near the end of the movie "A League of Their Own" , where Dotty [Gina Davis] tells her coach [Tom Hanks] that she won't be back next year because "it's just too hard". At that point her coach leans in and says quietly, but with obvious conviction, "It's supposed to be hard. The "hard" is what makes it great". That was certainly true on a whole other level for the men who made it their life's work to round the horn. Such men are worth remembering.

[@edschwing2414]

@@dalehaak4443 I was a merchant seaman for 12 years...that field of work is a tough job for even young people..once you hit your late 30's if you havent moved to the wheelhouse or engine room you need to start looking for a diff field...I moved to the wheelhouse and took my license in both motor and steam....those were men of iron for certain...

[@mactcampbell]

@@edschwing2414 You're right. I worked on the offshore anchor handling tugs in the oil patch. I was on deck after I reached 40. Of the entire fleet in the oil patch in Atlantic Canada, myself and another seaman were the only two that were over 40. It was starting to take its toll on us.

[@carolbell8008]

Hi, yes, that generation of men were truly awesome, brave, tough, men’s men!

[@cesarretamal9059]

Born and raised by the coast of the Cape Horn. Documentary well done!

[@rudywoodcraft9553]

Wonderful that the early days of film overlapped the end of the golden age of sail this is a great video

[@unconventionalideas5683]

This is from 1980, as I understand, but it was indeed a happy coincidence, though there is a revival of sailing that is starting now.

[@joachimmacdonald2702]

​@@unconventionalideas5683the sailing footage is from the 1920s i believe

[@Josh442]

I had to laugh when I saw this, because this film almost cost me my first job. I was working at Filmsounds, and old-line audio post production house in New York, and Jason Robards came in to record the narration for the documentary. The kid who ordinarily ran the dubbers that recorded the audio on 35mm film was out sick that day, so my boss asked me to fill in for him. Now I was in engineering, and the only thing I ever put up on the dubbers was a short alignment film, but I gamely put up the first roll, and when the buzzer sounded half an hour in switched over to another dubber and took the film off the first one. Now these are *big* rolls of magnetic film and there are no flanges, just a little yellow plastic core. Newbie that I was, I didn't hold the roll vertically, but grabbed it by the edges so it was horizontal to the floor -- whereupon all 3000 feet of film sprung apart and half an hour of Jason Robards lay in a tangle on the floor. OK, so I saw my job flying out the window on little job wings. In desperation, I dragged the spaghetti mess through the hall into the projection booth and started winding it back onto the core. And wound and wound and wound, until the buzzer sounded and I ran back to the dubber room to start the next reel, and then ran back to the projection booth and started winding again. When the job finally wrapped, I had just gotten the last of the film back on the reel, so I put it in its box and nobody was ever the wiser! Now, I'm going to have to listen to the first half hour to see if there are any traces of its time on the floor. :-)

[@nevermorefarm]

oh god my heart was pounding for you...duuuuuuuude. Just, big hug from a total stranger because this is exactly the kind of thing I would manage to do myself.

[@tomcarberry4445]

I joined the Merchant Navy when I was 16, quit when I turned 23. Been round the Horn many times. One of the Cunarders, either the Mary or the Lizzie, brought a London Bus on board and secured it to one of the Decks. As she neared the horn they started selling tickets to sit on the bus as the ship steamed around the horn. The pitch was “Ride a London Bus Round the Horn”.

[@mikef.1000]

Great documentary, and excellent poetic commentary -- so much better than the cliche'd mash we get these days.

[@LinnPhipps]

What a fantastic film, a great achievement to have created this. Exciting to discover that among the shanty singing Friends of Bill Schustik in this film is my pal Jim Lucas! Well done one and all.

[@lupuscanis7523]

There could not be too much respect for those brave sailors !! Unbelievable pictures.

[@jamesstewart2962]

hi

[@Iris_Germany]

❤ Wonderful, magnificent and eerily! ❤ Watching this was a trip in another time. I have goosebumps because I love Tall Ships! Greetings from Germany 🙋🏼‍♀️🇩🇪

[@michaelhayden725]

About 40 years ago I was introduced to a much older man over a few beers. I was eventually informed that he had sailed around Cape Horn on one the last two Windjammers that sailed out of Port Victoria STH Australia. Unfortunately I did not understand how significant this feat was and I did not buy him a beer and ask him what this adventure was like. RIP Ray!

[@tomh6183]

Outstanding piece of history and the men who endeavored.

[@kidmohair8151]

I love the old footage of the building and the sailing of the last of the ships of sail... the skeletons on the shores of the Falklands and South Georgia.... a couple of interesting things that crop up in the credits. One of the sponsors was Sperry-TopSider (the preppy deck shoe maker) and Zoetrope Studios (George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola) did the sound effects, which I found quite good

[@LukeMcGuireoides]

One of the most sentimental documentaries I've ever seen

[@mikemarley2389]

I have layed thousands of european cobblestones dug up from the streets of San Francisco and around the Bay Area.They all came here from the gold rush ships and abandoned vessels that were used for ballast.And that is Capt Irving Johnsen and his dog .He is cutting a shipmates hair .Over 300 trips around the Horn.Amazing men that have no betters today.A rare breed that compares to the Astronauts of our current space programs.And one can say they were the tougher lot by far.

[@grahammorrison6418]

Lovely choice of music, and an outstanding film - much more than a documentary. Grand to hear the Falkland Islander men singing “Leaving of Liverpool”.

[@Zeeuwland2]

Music is indeed fine, but the shanty's I personally dont fancy. Sung by naieve romanticing landlubbers not having any notion of how the reality was.

[@dwaynekoblitz6032]

Most excellent!! The film footage absolutely astounding!! Exemplary. Very well done and narrated. A time in history past. Those beautiful ships were absolute masterpieces! Very highly enjoyed! R.I.P. to those lost souls.

[@ionaguirre]

Have you ever thought on those who sailed back and forth during the first times? Around 300 hundred years before this pics were taken, spanish sailors sailed from Atlantic to Pacific and back as the only way between both sides of America. Comparatively small, wake, primitive and slow ships. The best at their times bur only a wooden shell when compared with those to come. The trade, for centuries, became a deadly routine schedule for all those brave men that seem to have been forgotten for history. I, as a spanish seaman, am proud of that heritage and feel the weight of history and tradition on my shoulders. Never forget those who opened the paths of the oceans for the world.

[@Oakleaf700]

Wonderful film! Those tattered Wrecks are so eerie. The Shipwrights are so skilled..Beautiful craft Trade. A Ship's Carver in Bristol {Anderson} when carvings went out of fashion began to make Fairground gallopers with the signature scrollings and Ship's art on them.

[@ericswild]

Tough breed of men. Wow what skill!

[@neilward5968]

And the most famous square rigger of all, the "Cutty Sark", what a speed machine she was. Now preserved in the UK

[@MrDorbel]

Not a good example of preservation I am afraid!

[@benjaminweston2065]

@@MrDorbel I don't know, all that carbon dioxide from it burning will be around for quite some time, yes?

[@unconventionalideas5683]

Unfortunately, her preservation is not unblemished. There was a fire…

[@woltervoorwaarts2]

Its almost unbelieveble what a struggle sailors had in that time

[@ThisTrainIsLost]

The details and sources given in the description are among the most thorough I have seen on The Tube. An excellent documentary excellently supported. Well done indeed!!

[@lawrenceveinotte]

I had the chance to get to know Captain Lou Kennedy, "The Last Schooner Man" he retired back to a home on the LaHave River in Nova Scotia, he and his wife, Pat, would come have dinner with my family quite often, they had some great stories of his life on the sea.

[@ziblot1235]

I cant get over it. Those men are artists

[@snakebait5118]

I really appreciated this video! I've read every account of Allen John Villiers and have watched several videos of the sailing ships and the chances and hardships of their crews. All I can say is "Unbelievable"! Thanks! Do more!

[@johannbehrends3705]

Ich habe noch nie so eine gute Dokumentation über unsere frühere Seefahrt gesehen und bezeuge meinen Allerhöchsten Respekt den fachlich versierten Rechercheuren! Als langjähriger Fahrensmann in der deutschen Handelsmarine, bedanke ich mich auch für die Darstellung der Wirklichkeit ohne jegliche Schnörkel und Romantik. Jan Behrends

[@garlandremingtoniii1338]

It hit me like a Fid up-side me head!! BAM!!!!! It’s Jason Robards doing the perfect 👍 narrating!!!!

[@1KemosabeLarry]

Love this vid AND the music!

[@steven-tb9eq]

Way late to this vid. Ex Navy - did two Cape of Good Hope transits and six equators. 😎 Nimitz 100,000 tons and 1100 feet; Texas & California @ 600 feet and about 12,000 tons each. Nuclear powered, state of the art ship & when we're rounding the cape the word was passed all non essentials turn into your bunk. Cool by me. I go 04 level and watch about a mile or so off our starboard beam Nimitz, pitching and taking spray on the flight deck (100 feet above the waterline). My boat just be a cork.😎 So, The sailors that did these things are just extraordinary. 🙂

[@david9783]

EVERYTHING these sailors did was a struggle. There were no wimps on these ships. Ican't imagine being a shanghaied landsman, waking up with a severe hangover, only to be heading out to sea on one of these monsters.

[@josephhinton5489]

bless their souls that is hard work. RIP.

[@matthewpoplawski8740]

AN OUTSTANDING VIDEO!! You can't go wrong with the voices of Gordon Lightfoot and Jason Robards. I'm not sure if this book is still in print,but, if one can find it , it's a WORTHWHILE READ. The name of this book is THE CAPE HORN BREED by W.H.S. Jones (ship's master). This describes his service on the iron ship THE BRITISH ISLES, from his signing as a "brassbound apprentice " to eventually, First Mate(the best part of this book, at least to me ,was how the ship's crew repaired a mast in the port of Valparaiso, Chile).⛵⛵⛵⛵⚓⚓⚓⚓✌✌✌✌

[@matthewpoplawski8740]

One more comment. In the B.O.C. AROUND ALONE RACE, part of the homeward leg went around Cape Horn.(I'm not sure if they still have this race). I believe this race was discontinued because boats were getting damaged either in THE ROARING FORTIES,or, traversing Cape Horn. A couple of sailors were OVERDUE...MISSING...LOST AT SEA.😪😪😪⛵⛵⛵⚓⚓⚓

[@sherryneglia4804]

You really can see it the sailors eyes! Wow! Good hard men.

[@greggclaussen]

Simply terrific. Thank you!

[@Canopus68]

I knew a man whose last same was Snow. I don't recall his first name. He worked for the local YMCA and took kids on trips. One trip we visited the Morgan, in Mystic. Snow told us how his grandfather was on the last voyage of the Morgan the Cape Horn. Must have been some ride.

[@markbaker8607]

Absolutely amazing. Thank you!

[@wadeadams2775]

Wow!! I love that song!!

[@sonjalewis3047]

Does this film start out with Gordon Lightfoot singing?

[@kevinduffy2502]

Excellent show, one of the very few of my video feed as of late

[@LilA-zl6tf]

Thanks. One of my all time favourite documents. Remember watching this in tv when I was young. - Have tried to get Gilkyson to put that fine ballad of hers to ITunes, but still waiting.

[@elmagodelmaryahoo]

*THX* MaineiacNorth for this Very Well Done Documentary = Definitely both a highly informative *_and_* engaging exposé.... Jason Robards as narrator was P E R F E C T (too)!!! The historic treachery of The Horn was well-known to me, but I had never realized that _"the majority of arrivals to San Francisco during the Gold Rush"_ had come by sea around The Horn. The sequence of changing over to "tons" of heavy sails to navigate The Horn's dangerous conditions was also interesting info. Ditto for the mandatory scenes of the Falklands = Often a critical element to help survive that brave voyage..... where _"over the centuries _*_hundreds_*_ of ships went down, with all hands lost....."_

[@elmagodelmaryahoo]

*PS:* Imagine the *TONNAGE* of gold and silver that lay _"at the bottom"_ around Cape Horn in lost Spanish Galleons from the 15, 16, and 1700s during the The Conquest Years of western Mexico and South America..... STILL!!!!

[@wadeadams2775]

I cant believe this woman's voice with this masterpiece of a song!

[@laserbeam002]

I'm not sure why you hear a woman's voice coming from Gordon Lightfoot??? I hear a mans voice.

[@wadeadams2775]

@@laserbeam002 lightfoot had nothing to do with it

[@Garryck-1]

@@laserbeam002 - "Song of the Sea" @ 42:55 was by Lisa Gilkyson, not Gordon Lightfoot.

[@56smitch]

@@Garryck-1 Lisa goes by Eliza now and is still a beloved musician in the Austin tx area. In my opinion she is one of the greatest artists of our time.

[@LilA-zl6tf]

I am here again, and spreading the history of our ancestors along, and wide.

[@stevelindstedt8858]

3:00 . . . That's a photo of the "Alice" . . Lost nowhere near Cape Horn . . . She struck sand off Ocean Park, just north of the Columbia River Bar, Cape Disappointment, Washington, USA, in 1909 . . with a full load of cement in her holds . . . as the cement came in contact with seawater, she was doomed to slowly sink in the gaping sands..the remains of .her hull was last seen in 1930.

[@deborahdoyle6743]

Amazing documentary about the remarkable craftsmen and brave sailors.

[@tmesisskewomorph7491]

Very interesting. Good presentation. Thanks - Thanks for keeping the background noise relevant, and volume and tone below that of the narrators voice. Nice.

[@sherryneglia4804]

Such amazing craftsmanship. 👏

[@iainsanders4775]

Only American ships dealt with here, but the US had a small oceanic fleet compared with those worldwide, and Britain, with her world-wide empire had the largest national fleet.

[@michaelhayden725]

Yes the Passat and the Pamier deserved honourable mentions!

[@richarddodson1158]

The Song at 42.52 "Song of the Sea" is absolutely haunting..Have loved it since first seeing this Docu years ago..Good show but very little mention of our great Scots Clippers , but , i guess it is an American show..Brilliant anyway..

[@ricknash8650]

Does anyone know where you can find the vocalist or the song anywhere but in this clip

[@woltervoorwaarts2]

Thank you for this video

[@richardadams6124]

I enjoyed your documentary so much...I am lost for words.❤

[@richardlawton1023]

Fantastic.

[@JohnJohnson-hk7cj]

Nostalgia= old people memories and history❤️

[@robertdlucas7418]

Just simply great.

[@vonwillful]

awesome! thank you.

[@JohnJohnson-hk7cj]

Also cleverly edited but no CGI!

[@gmendes1831]

Great upload!

[@richarddodson1158]

Beautiful ,enigmatic song at 42.5

[@JohnDoe-jn3es]

Enjoyed history thanks

[@laserbeam002]

If anyone is wondering the singer is Gordon Lightfoot. He was ask to write this beautiful song for this film.

[@maineiacnorth1243]

Do you have any more information pertaining to him writing that for the film? As far as I know that song came from his 1980 album Dream Street Rose.

[@laserbeam002]

@@maineiacnorth1243 There is a video of Gordon Lightfoot in concert. Before he performed this song he said the producers came to him and ask him to write a song for this film so he came up this piece. Thats all I know. Sorry.

[@maineiacnorth1243]

@@laserbeam002 Ok, thanks.

[@wadeadams2775]

Then he has a.most beautiful woman's voice

[@pageribe9412]

@@wadeadams2775 Gordon's song is at the tail end of the doc. The song you're talking about is earlier in the doc.

[@michaeld2716]

Thank you.

[@patriciasears4209]

Good documentary.

[@maineiacnorth1243]

It truly is, I'm glad you liked it.

[@PennWolfsSailingAdventures]

It maybe the passage that cuts my future trip short, but I look forward to it.

[@mikepierce1724]

Awsome . I'm from where alot of ships was built around my area down east me.

[@quester09]

the Balclutha is available to tour at Aquatic Park SF.

[@safetydave720]

#FANtastic

[@BohemianBeatster]

Groovy video

[@carolbell8008]

Cool Clippers! Good vid.

[@1PlainOne]

I really enjoy these documentaries and each voice that tell the stories, the voices that are gifted with "documentary voice" ...they delightfully doctor something inside of you for an hour or two. But then there's Almighty God Who art in heaven...now He is the One Who is the Storm that ever calms every soul.❤

[@hertzair1186]

Listen to Gordon Lightfoot’s song ‘Ghosts of Cape Horn’

[@mikecimerian6913]

This is the next best thing to owning a time travelling machine.

[@johngalt0096]

Excellently done, though i figured Sting’s “Valparaiso” would’ve been in there, somewhere (unless I missed it).

[@andyjarman4958]

1980? This looks a decade older. Had no idea Stanley had a pub, four years later and they'd be serving Argentinians at that bar!

[@fandangofandango2022]

Great DOCO AND HISTORY.

[@carolbell8008]

Wow, so when the water comes up to his chest is when the sailor climbs up into the rigging? Super sailing there.

[@sonjalewis3047]

Neat how the builders capitalized on the individual features of an individual tree trunk--not just what was typical for that species.

[@mickdeburgo5836]

The harsh moving mountains of the sea 🌊 ✨

[@josephgreeley5569]

It's a good documentary, but I am surprised and disappointed that there is no mention of 'Peking' and her sisters, nor is there any credit given to Irving Johnson whose footage is used throughout the documentary. I get that the focus of the film is on the American experience, but 'Cutty Sark' rates an appearance, and neither 'Balclutha' nor 'Star of India' were American owned during their Cape Horn days. To my mind, the 'Flying "P" Line' ships and Johnson certainly merit at least a mention. So does 'Wavertree' which was dismasted trying to round the Horn. I was also amused to see the 'Hesper' and 'Luther Little' in Wiscasset Maine being billed as 'Ghosts' when they never got within a thousand miles of Cape Horn. The underwater footage at 48' I'm pretty sure is of a Japanese ship filmed at Truk Lagoon. Another ship that deserved mention and some screen time is the 'Peter Iredale' which left her bones on the beach at Fort Stevens just south of the Columbia River's entrance. I used to play on her as a kid. When I was a volunteer at South Street Seaport back in the '90s, I helped to remove 'Wavertree's' mizzen topmast which had developed rot. It was an experience I'll never forget. It was alarming enough tied securely to the dock. Working that high when the ship was rolling and pitching in a storm off Cape Horn would be terrifying. I've also seen that section of the 'St. Mary' at the Maine State Museum and it's impressive. What happened to Captain Carver is not exactly a mystery-he committed suicide. I saw the bow of 'Snow Squall' when it was displayed at Maine Maritime Museum, and damn it was impressive. Like the edge of a knife.

[@OmmerSyssel]

Thanks a lot for an excellent contribution.

[@secretsquirrel6308]

The navigation chart for Columbia River has hundreds, if not thousands, of shipwrecks shown. Those are just those which are navigational hazards. How many more were lost?

[@josephgreeley5569]

@@secretsquirrel6308 I haven't looked at the chart recently, but even though the Columbia River Bar was one of the most dangerous crossing around, I'm pretty sure there aren't more than a thousand or so wrecks in that area. There's a picture of a square rigger being towed across the Bar taken from the stern of the tug. The towline disappears into a wave and on the other side all that can be seen of the tow is her topmasts. I also remember parking down at the South Jetty with my girlfriend one night during a bad storm. Even though we were a few hundred feet from the Jetty, we could still feel the ground shaking as waves slammed into the stones and the car was being hit by spray.

[@Josh442]

I was present when Jason Robards narrated this, after which Irving Johnson came in to narrate his film. Jim Donaldson, who produced the documentary, was responsible for bringing in Captain Johnson and preserving his film and narration for posterity. I'm not sure why Captain Johnson isn't credited in the documentary, but Jim deserves a lot of credit for what he did. It was truly a labor of love.

[@zacharysmith7700]

shoutout to my man Teddy Roosevelt for the canal; thanks for the upload :)

[@hurri7720]

That canal like the Suez were started by the French. As for this Cape Horn story try this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6XYhX6epryNqdE

[@SmithWhitey]

@@hurri7720 Great film and story ! Thank You

[@christophermacintyre5890]

A shout out for Gordon Lightfoot as well!

[@maineiacnorth1243]

You're welcome.

[@keesmerkelbach5150]

thanks

[@LilA-zl6tf]

Still here. This is the best film. Love it. - Still havent gotten the Song of the Sea of this document in digital form.... Can you others maybe send some messages to that direction, too? For, it is the best sea ballad of our times. And Lightfoot has passed already, so - the mankind needs to get to enjoy her ballad as well. I love Mr. Lightfoods work! May he rest in peace.

[@tanglediver]

I guessed correctly, Jason Robards and Gordon Lightfoot.

[@laserbeam002]

I'm not sure but I think the female singer at 43:00 is Lisa Gilkyson.

[@ArtifexBarbarus]

Speaking of a "war on Cape Horn" while viewing the bones of the wrecked ships at the end reminds me of the North American opossums' "war on the automobile"... Not going well for the possums, and the cars didn't even notice there was a war. Not the metaphor I'd have gone with!

[@mr711307]

Some of those photos at 50.06 onwards are from cornwall, taken by the Gibsons of cornish shipwrecks around mounts Bay and the lizard ?

[@stevenbryant4718]

Production assistant Chip Cronkite must have been young then. His father Walter was still anchor at CBS.

[@suegordon6805]

Hubby and I will be going to Antarctica in November and will be passing through the Drake Passage. It’s a 2 day trip. We hope for Drake Lake but one never knows.