Our regular contributor Pedro SAPUNAR P., who occupied the office of Chief Engineer of the Dredges and Machinery Department, Directorate of Port Works of Chile, has sent us a note related to the world’s first submarine rounding of Cape Horn, by the old O'BRIEN.

The story is as follows:

"On the 18th of March 1931 the Manoeuvres Squadron (then the name the Navy’s Active Squadron) set sail from Puerto Montt towards the south of the country to go through an instruction program in the Southern Channels.

The Manoeuvres Squadron, under the command of Rear Admiral Alejandro GARCIA CASTELBLANCO, was on this occasion made up of the Submarine Mothership ARAUCANO, (flagship), the destroyers VIDELA, HYATT, RIQUELME, and ALDEA, and the submarine O'BRIEN, all new units launched in English shipyards between 1929 and 1930.

On the 27th of March the Manoeuvres Squadron anchored in Punta Arenas and four days later sailed from this port towards the Beagle Channel and Cape Horn. Stops were made in: Bahía Gente Grande, (Tierra del Fuego island), where it stayed until the 2nd of April; Bahía Sholl, (now Bahía Morris); Magdalena Channel; Puerto Burnt; and later, sailing through the Beagle Channel to Bahía Romanche where the naval formation anchored on the 4th of April.

On the 6th of April at 04:00 hours the Manoeuvres Squadron sailed from Bahía Goree for Cape Horn, which was sighted at 07:45 hours. The submarine O'BRIEN, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Gustavo SILVA, submerged at 08:20 hours and at 09:00 surfaced, having rounded Cape Horn. They later continued on to anchor the same day in Bahía Orange at 17:20 hours. Thus a world record was notched up for the Chilean Submarine Branch: the first rounding of Cape Horn in the history of navigation by a submerged vessel".