The
Brouwer Route was a route for ships sailing from the
Cape of Good Hope to the
Dutch East Indies base of
Java. The route took ships south from the Cape (which is at
34° latitude south) into the
Roaring Forties (at 40-50° latitude south), then east across the
Indian Ocean, before turning northwest for Java. Thus it took advantage of the strong westerly winds for which the
Roaring Forties are named, greatly increasing travel speed. The problem with the route, however, was that there was no accurate way at the time to determine longitude. The sighting of either
Amsterdam Island or
Saint Paul Island was the cue for ships to change direction and head north. However this was reliant on the captain's expertise.