The Drake Passage or Mar de Hoces - Sea of "Hoces"- is the body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean. The passage is named after the 16th century English privateer Sir Francis Drake, whose only remaining ship after passing through the Strait of Magellan was blown far South in September 1578 and who implied an open connection of the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

The 800 km (500 miles) wide passage between Cape Horn and Greenwich Island is the shortest crossing from Antarctica to the rest of the world's land.

Did you know…….. .... Sir Francis Drake was not only an explorer, but was also an extremely successful pirate. September 26th 1580, Drake sailed into Plymouth England after completing a journey of 2 years and 10 months, with pirated treasures worth over 10 million dollars. It was for this plundering that Queen Elizabeth knighted the wayward explorer !