Horse Latitudes

What Are the Roaring Forties?

Sailors call the latitudes between 40 and 50 degrees south of the equator the Roaring Forties. In 1611, Dutch explorer Hendrik Brouwer first used this band by which it effectively halved the duration of the trip from Europe to Java. “To run the easting down” was the phrase used to describe the fast passages achieved through the Roaring Forties. During…