Pamir’s Final Voyage

The Pamir, captured sailing around Cape Horn in 1949, is a poignant emblem of the bygone era of commercial ocean-going sailing ships. This majestic vessel, one of the last of its kind, met a tragic fate, though. In 1957, while carrying a cargo of barley, it succumbed to a hurricane in the Atlantic.

It tragically lost 80 of its 86 crew members. This disaster marked the end of an era as maritime commerce transitioned to more reliable and faster steam-powered vessels. The image of the Pamir at Cape Horn thus symbolizes both the grandeur of sailing ships and the sea’s relentless, often unforgiving nature.