Posted on June 27, 2017
On this date in 1898, writer
and adventurer Joshua
Slocum finished the first
solo circumnavigation of
the world.
In other words, he sailed all
the way around the world -
alone!
He did it aboard a sloop
oyster boat named Spray,
which was about 36 feet and
9 inches (11.2 m) long. He
sailed more than 48,000
miles (74,000 km).
And it took more than three
years!
One reason it took as long
as it did - and why he
traveled so many miles - is because, when Slocum first set sail from
Boston, Massachusetts, in April of 1895, he sailed north to visit his
boyhood home of Nova Scotia. He only left North America in July of that
year, sailing eastward across the Atlantic. He intended to sail through the
Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, and then eastward through
the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
But when he reached Gibraltar, he learned that there was so much piracy
in the Southern Mediterranean, it was too unsafe - so Slocum went
BACK across the Atlantic to South America, and then through the Straits
of Magellan to the Pacific. That's a pretty big double-back!!
When Slocum landed in Newport, Rhode Island, his amazing feat drew
little notice. While he was busy staying alive alone on "the seven seas,"
Spain and the United States had embarked on a war, and the
newspapers were full of battle headlines.
Luckily for all of us, Slocum took the
time to write about his adventure:
Sailing Alone Around the World.
And he THEN got the attention he
deserved - his book was very well
received, and he was invited to
give lectures and to be a part of the
Pan-American Expo in 1901.
Slocum was even invited to talk
at a dinner honoring Mark Twain!
Would it surprise you
to learn that this
famous seaman met
his death, at age 65,
by being lost at sea?
He went out on one of
his usual winter
voyages on November
14, 1909, and he was
never heard from again.
In 1924, he was finally
declared legally dead,
although his wife was sure he had drowned by July of 1910.
She probably knew that, despite the fact that Slocum spent so much
time on the water, he'd never learned to swim. Actually, he considered
knowing how to swim to be useless - which strikes me as entirely weird,
but I gather that lots of people back then didn't know how to swim...
and adventurer Joshua
Slocum finished the first
solo circumnavigation of
the world.
In other words, he sailed all
the way around the world -
alone!
He did it aboard a sloop oyster boat named Spray,
which was about 36 feet and
9 inches (11.2 m) long. He
sailed more than 48,000
miles (74,000 km).
And it took more than three
years!
One reason it took as long
as it did - and why he
traveled so many miles - is because, when Slocum first set sail from
Boston, Massachusetts, in April of 1895, he sailed north to visit his
boyhood home of Nova Scotia. He only left North America in July of that
year, sailing eastward across the Atlantic. He intended to sail through the
Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, and then eastward through
the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
But when he reached Gibraltar, he learned that there was so much piracy
in the Southern Mediterranean, it was too unsafe - so Slocum went
BACK across the Atlantic to South America, and then through the Straits
of Magellan to the Pacific. That's a pretty big double-back!!
When Slocum landed in Newport, Rhode Island, his amazing feat drew
little notice. While he was busy staying alive alone on "the seven seas,"
Spain and the United States had embarked on a war, and the
newspapers were full of battle headlines.
Luckily for all of us, Slocum took the time to write about his adventure:
Sailing Alone Around the World.
And he THEN got the attention he
deserved - his book was very well
received, and he was invited to
give lectures and to be a part of the
Pan-American Expo in 1901.
Slocum was even invited to talk
at a dinner honoring Mark Twain!
Would it surprise you to learn that this
famous seaman met
his death, at age 65,
by being lost at sea?
He went out on one of
his usual winter
voyages on November
14, 1909, and he was
never heard from again.
In 1924, he was finally
declared legally dead,
although his wife was sure he had drowned by July of 1910.
She probably knew that, despite the fact that Slocum spent so much
time on the water, he'd never learned to swim. Actually, he considered
knowing how to swim to be useless - which strikes me as entirely weird,
but I gather that lots of people back then didn't know how to swim...
Also on this date:
Mathematician Augustus
DeMorgan's birthday
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