The other week I saw a documentary about Magellan's 'circumnavigation*' of the globe (*well, he didn't, did he, as he was killed before getting home...).
The pertinent point is that he didn't really "round the Horn" - he sailed through a passage starting some 360 km to the north of the actual Cape Horn - aclled the Strait(s?) of Magellan ... very tortuous - but not facing into the teeth of the Roaring Forties. He came out somewhat closer to the Horn, at the western end - but what nearly defeated his ecpedition was the fact that the Middle Ages has ignored the Greeks' accurate measururement of the diameter of the Earth for a much reduced later guess. (This is also why Columbus was certain he had reached India or China!)
Trouble is, I don't think anyone else went to the trouble of weaving through the Strait(s?) of Magellan ... over just tackling the Forties head on (and, in later years they sailed the "Circular Route" ... heading west all the way. It was much easier to sail around the world with the wind behind you all the way than to turn round and sail back against the Roaring Forties.