Bulkeley, based on these observations and on his calculations of the Speedwell’s latitude, was confident that they had reached the Strait of Magellan. After he tacked the Speedwell to the southeast, on the verge of realizing his plan, he betrayed a feeling that he rarely acknowledged: absolute fear. “I never in my life…have seen such a sea as runs here,” he observed. The winds were of typhoon strength, and the waters seemed at war with themselves.
