45-foot waves? No problem. Now imagine hanging off the third level rigging, trying to take in canvas with no harness. In a snowstorm. It’s no wonder voyages around Cape Horn were perilous and daunting. These are AUTUMN conditions. Notice the red and purple below and right of Tierra Del Fuego. That’s 15 meters, and one in every 3,000 waves will be double that. (A wave will reach double that height every 8 hours.) https://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/viewer.shtml?-multi_1-