The Gentleman's Magellan

I really only bought this book due to a slight interest in its author Peter Mulgrew - a good friend of Sir Ed Hillary, who died some 5 years after the publication of this book. Mulgrew was commentator on a sightseeing flight to Antarctica, replacing Hillary at short notice. The plane slammed into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board. Hillary, of course, went on to marry Mulgrew's widow in later years. Hillary also wrote a short foreword in this book.

Anyway, a group of New Zealanders, led by Mulgrew, had the ambition to make a journey around Cape Horn in a small ship. They were unable to justify the long journey from New Zealand to Chile, so investigated options for chartering a ship in Chile to carry out the ambition, and so found the ‘Rayo', a Chilean cutter, recently sold by the Chilean Navy to the Club Deportes Nautico in Punta Arenas. Along with the ship they engaged the services of two Chileans - one a naval officer, and one a civilian mechanic.

The book itself is an ok short read, there a numerous colour photographs, which sadly lack captions for the most part although they roughly align with the text, the reader is never quite sure of what they are seeing. A history of the Cape and Tierra del Fuego are included, concentrating more on Magellan and his voyage to locate the strait named after him.

In remarkably good weather, and very controlled seas, the ‘Rayo' makes a successful journey out of Punta Arenas south through the Strait of Magellan, threads through the islands to the Canal Beagle, calling at Ushuaia (Argentina). They travelled east above Isla Navarino then south to the Wollaston islands which make up the very southernmost point. Some circling around and through these, the back north on the western side of Isla Navario and re-traced their route back to Punta Arenas.

3 stars ***