Winds in The Age of Sail - Europeans Westward

Europeans Westward

North Atlantic: The European who sails west is sailing into the wind. Further north, he is sailing against the Gulf Stream. It is not clear how winds and currents were used in this region.

Caribbean: Columbus underestimated the size of the earth and thought he could reach China by doing a grand volta do mar, going west on the trade winds and returning home on the westerlies. He had the right route but reached the Caribbean Sea rather than China. In 1513 Juan Ponce de León while exploring the east coast of Florida discovered the Gulf Stream. A few years later his pilot, Anton de Alaminos, used the Gulf Stream to push him north to the westerlies and return to Spain. This established the standard Spanish route to the Americas: south to the Canary Islands, west on the trade winds to the Caribbean, then beat against the wind north of Cuba using the Florida Current to the Gulf Steam, use it to go north to the westerlies which led directly home. Since wind systems move north is summer and south in winter, there is a question of the best season, which is poorly documented. The Caribbean was the gateway to Spanish America since is the closest part of America to Europe measured in sailing days. Nearby were the riches of Mexico and, by crossing Panama, the riches of Peru.

Strait of Magellan and the Pacific: Ferdinand Magellan discovered the strait which bears his name in 1519. Entering the Pacific, he used the Humboldt Current to go north to the trade winds which then blew him westward to the Philippines. One of his surviving ships tried to return east using the northern westerlies but was unable to find them and was forced to return to the East Indies. In 1565 Andrés de Urdaneta found a wind system that would reliably blow a ship eastward back to the Americas. From then until 1815 the annual Manila Galleons crossed the Pacific from Mexico to the Philippines and back. The Strait of Magellan was rarely used since it was so far out of the way. The Spanish found it more practical to build ships on the Pacific coast. Silver from Peru was carried north on the Humboldt Current to Panama and carried across the isthmus to join Spanish treasure fleet in the Caribbean. Fernandez-Armesto thinks that southbound ships stood out to sea from Panama to avoid the Humboldt Current, but offers no good evidence.

Cape Horn: In 1616, almost 100 years after Magellan, Willem Schouten went further south and found Cape Horn. This was a better route because it does not require navigating a narrow channel. Only after about 1780 did significant numbers of ships use the Cape Horn route. Cape horn westbound is difficult because the wind blows from the west and the east-bound Antarctic Circumpolar Current is forced through the gap between Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica. The nineteenth century Clipper Ship Route went from Europe southward to the roaring forties, took them to Australia, and continued east around Cape Horn and returned to England.