Because the Passage is where the Atlantic, Pacific, and South Sea converge without any nearby landmass, it is home to rough and turbulent waters. Below the waves is where you could very well end up, depending on the mood of the currents. Violently hitting sailors most of the time, the waters have a mind of their own. You never know if everything will go smoothly or if it will be the longest ten days of your life. Shackleton and his crew encountered just that phenomenon. “By 10pm the water seemed relatively ice-free, and their spirits had lifted: so far, so good… On the third day of sailing, the weather it had gotten worse. A storm broke out with snow flurries and heavy seas. And the waves crashed incessantly on the boat.” (98). Cold waves. Bitter winds. Incessant rain. Together, they represent a recipe for a multitude of health problems, including potentially deadly hypothermia. Shackleton and his crew were not spared: “After the third day our feet and legs had swollen… and began to be superficially frozen, the constant soaking in sea water, with the temperature sometimes almost freezing to zero; and lack of exercise. During the last storm they turned white and lost all superficial sensation”… They were cold, frozen and covered in salt water blisters. Their legs were sore from the chafing of their wet trousers... Their bodies were bruised and sore from the beating up and down of the bow, and they were exhausted from lack of sleep. "(100) Many ships and sailors were abandoned battered and seasick and braved this desolate sea which conquered and claimed numerous ships, presumably beginning with Francisco de Hoces in the early 1500s. Little is known of his voyage across the Passage. A handful of decades later, the Passage was bravely navigated by a British sea captain named Francis Drake. In English-influenced countries, it is Drake's