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| ==Background== | ==Background== | ||
| Captain Slocum, a highly experienced ] and |
Captain Slocum, a highly experienced ] and ship-owner, rebuilt and refitted the derelict sloop '']'' in a seaside pasture at ] during a thirteen-month period between early 1893 and 1894. | ||
| Between April 24, 1895 and June 27, 1898, Slocum, aboard the ''Spray'', crossed the ] twice (to Gibraltar and back to South America), negotiated the ], and crossed the ]. He also visited ] and ] before crossing the ] (for the third time) to reach home after a journey of 46,000 miles. | |||
| ==The Book== | ==The Book== | ||
Revision as of 15:20, 10 May 2007
Sailing Alone Around the World is the title of the book in which Joshua Slocum described his epic single-handed circumnavigation of the world aboard the sloop Spray, the first voyage of its kind.
Background
Captain Slocum, a highly experienced navigator and ship-owner, rebuilt and refitted the derelict sloop Spray in a seaside pasture at Fairhaven, Massachusetts during a thirteen-month period between early 1893 and 1894.
Between April 24, 1895 and June 27, 1898, Slocum, aboard the Spray, crossed the Atlantic twice (to Gibraltar and back to South America), negotiated the Strait of Magellan, and crossed the Pacific. He also visited Australia and South Africa before crossing the Atlantic (for the third time) to reach home after a journey of 46,000 miles.
The Book
There was considerable international interest in Slocum's journey, particularly once he had entered the Pacific and he was anticipated at most of his ports of call, giving lectures and lantern-slide shows to well-filled halls. His journal, which is masterfully self-deprecaiting, was first published in installments before being issued in book form in 1900 (variously 1989). The book was lavishly illustrated.
Book summary
Slocum tells his story as a sequence of adventures, understating his own part and giving credit always to the Spray. He even invents a Columbus' crew-member: the pilot of the Pinta to take credit for the safety of the vessel while he sleeps.
The Itinerary:
Fairhaven, Boston, Gloucester, Nova Scotia, Azores, Gibraltar, (Morocco), Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Maldonado, Montevideo, Strait of Magellan, Cockburn Channel, Port Angosto, Juan Fernandez, Marquesas, Samoa, Fiji, Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, Cooktown, Christmas Island, Keeling Cocos, Rodriguez, Mauritius, Durban, Cape Town, (Transvaal), St Helena, Ascension Island, Devil's Island, Trinidad, Grenada, Newport, Fairhaven.
Highlights of the journey include:
Perils of sailing blue water: fog, gales, danger of collision, loneliness, doldroms, navigation, fatgue, gear failure.
Perils of costal navigation: pirates, attack by 'savages', embayed, shoals and coral seas, stranding, shipwreck.
Footnotes
The book was greatly admired by Arthur Ransome. Some editions contain an introduction by Ransome, who wrote in 1947: "A school library without this book is incomplete. It should be part of the education of every English or American boy."
Captain Slocum continued to sail the Spray for the remainder of his life. In 1909, he and the Spray were lost at sea under unknown circumstances on a journey from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts to the mouth of the Orinoco river in Venezuela.
External links
The book may be found at Project Gutenberg. . It is also available, with original illustrations from IBiblio.
There is also an unabridged audio recording of the book on the Librivox web site.
See also Circumnavigation, Travel Literature.
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