The 3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of Magellan, level with Cape Vierges.

But Commander Farragut would not take a tortuous passage, but doubled Cape Horn.
The ship's crew agreed with him.

And certainly it was possible that they might meet the narwhal in this narrow pass.

Many of the sailors affirmed that the monster could not pass there, "that he was too big for that!" The 6th of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Abraham Lincoln, at fifteen miles to the south, doubled the solitary island, this lost rock at the extremity of the American continent, to which some Dutch sailors gave the name of their native town, Cape Horn.

The course was taken towards the north-west, and the next day the screw of the frigate was at last beating the waters of the Pacific.
"Keep your eyes open!" called out the sailors.
And they were opened widely.