海角大神

As freezing water thrashed their rowboat in some of the most treacherous waters in the world, six men fought for 13 days to make history, becoming the first people to traverse the infamous Drake Passage with nothing other than sheer manpower.

They dodged icebergs, held their breaths as giant whales breached near their small boat and rode building-sized waves while rowing 24 hours a day toward Antarctica.

The team of men from four countries finished crossing the Drake Passage on Wednesday in just under two weeks after pushing off from the southern tip of South America.

鈥淭his is a really big deal in Antarctic history to hear about this,鈥� said Wayne Ranney, a Flagstaff, Arizona-based geologist who has led expeditions to Antarctica and crossed the Drake Passage in motorized vessels more than 50 times. 鈥淥ne hundred percent of their progress was done with those 12 arms for 600 (nautical) miles. That鈥檚 just phenomenal. I can鈥檛 even imagine.鈥�

Besides the threat to their lives, the men labored under grueling conditions. Their 29-foot (9-meter) rowboat, named the Ohana, had to be in constant motion to avoid capsizing. That meant three men would row for 90 minutes while the other three rested, still cold and wet.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e rowing inside an open hold, 40-foot sea waves are splashing in your face, near-freezing water is splashing over the bow,鈥� said 34-year-old Colin O'Brady of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, one of the six men on the boat.

鈥淚t was quite harrowing," O'Brady told The Associated Press on Thursday in his first interview after the journey. 鈥淏y the end, we all lost a good amount of weight and were delirious from the sleep deprivation."

The men had to use a bucket to go to the bathroom. To rest, two men needed to lie shoulder to shoulder in a tiny space while a third would lay in a fetal position in an even smaller area.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e curled up and jammed into a small space, trying to get a few winks of sleep before the alarm would go off and boom, you鈥檙e back at it again,鈥� O鈥橞rady said.

The toughest part for O'Brady's fellow rower, Jamie Douglas-Hamilton of Edinburgh, Scotland, was the constant bombardment from the elements.

鈥淲e were hit by winds from every single direction ... and the seas down here are very violent 鈥� it's the roughest ocean in the world,鈥� the 38-year-old said. 鈥淲e almost capsized many times, and the problem with that is the water is so cold that if you go in, you've probably got two to five minutes.鈥�

Physically, Douglas-Hamilton said he fought crippling seasickness and numb hands and feet. At one point, a strap he had to wear around his ankles while rowing wore through his boots and cut into his skin all the way to the bone.

鈥淚t was absolute agony,鈥� Douglas-Hamilton said.

The other men on the expedition were: Fiann Paul of Reykjavik, Iceland; Cameron Bellamy of Cape Town, South Africa; Andrew Towne of Grand Forks, North Dakota; and John Petersen of Oakland, California.

Paul, Douglas-Hamilton and Bellamy are record-breaking ocean rowers, Towne is a championship rower and has climbed the tallest mountain on every continent, and Petersen was a championship college rower.

In addition to storms and waves, the men dodged icebergs and whales that could easily have destroyed their small vessel. And then there were the mental challenges, especially during the night shift.

鈥淎t night we can鈥檛 see the waves as they roll and crash into us and we can't see the horizon so there is no sense of progress," O鈥橞rady wrote on聽Instagram聽as he documented the journey. 鈥淚t feels like being inside of a washing machine, blindfolded where time is standing still."

Discovery聽documented the journey while following the men in a larger, motorized boat.

O鈥橞rady鈥檚 wife, Jenna Besaw, was on the Discovery boat running logistics and watching her husband鈥檚 death-defying adventure.

鈥淭here have been some frightening, intense moments when our boat 鈥� a 120-foot-long boat 鈥� was lurching forward and up and over these massive waves, to see the rowboat hidden for minutes at a time was rather unnerving,鈥� Besaw said.

The row across the Drake Passage is just the latest adventure for O鈥橞rady, who became the聽first person聽to traverse Antarctica alone without help last year.

A book about that journey is coming out on Jan. 14, 12 years to the day since O鈥橞rady was severely burned in a fire in Thailand. After the fire, he said he was told he would never walk again.

He said that prognosis has helped fuel each new adventure.

鈥淚 am dreaming of what鈥檚 next,鈥� O鈥橞rady said. 鈥淭o be determined, but I don鈥檛 think my expedition life is over.鈥�

For Douglas-Hamilton, the journey across the Drake Passage might be his last time setting a record, and he's content with that.

鈥淚 would rank this as the toughest challenge any of us has ever done,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his was such a good one, I'd be happy leaving it at this. The memories from this one will last forever.鈥�