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The '''Roaring Forties''' is the term for a band of prevailing strong westerly winds that blow between latitudes 40 and 50 degrees south. In the age of sail they were used by mariners on westward voyages across the southern [[Indian Ocean]] first, from 1610, by the [[Dutch|Dutchman]] Hendrick Brouwer on his way to the [[East Indies]] and, from the late 18th century, by the [[British]] to [[Australia]] and later to [[New Zealand]].  

The '''Roaring Forties''' is the term for a band of prevailing strong westerly winds that blow between latitudes 40 and 50 degrees south. In the age of sail they were used by mariners on westward voyages across the southern [[Indian Ocean]] first, from 1610, by the [[Dutch]]man Hendrick Brouwer on his way to the [[East Indies]] and, from the late 18th century, by the [[British]] to [[Australia]] and later to [[New Zealand]].  

Ships would sail south from [[Cape of Good Hope]] searching for these winds before which they could then "run free" under full sail, often making particularly fast times.  (''“The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History”'', in its article on the Indian Ocean  has stated that vessels could reach 30 [[knot]]s in the right conditions.) By the mid-nineteenth century these ships, usually the big [[full-rigged ship]]s or [[clipper]]s, were said to ''"run the easting down"''.  

Ships would sail south from [[Cape of Good Hope]] searching for these winds before which they could then "run free" under full sail, often making particularly fast times.  (''“The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History”'', in its article on the Indian Ocean  has stated that vessels could reach 30 [[knot]]s in the right conditions.) By the mid-nineteenth century these ships, usually the big [[full-rigged ship]]s or [[clipper]]s, were said to ''"run the easting down"''.