nPosted on June 27, 2017
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Key points
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nand adventurer Joshua
nSlocum finished the first
nsolo circumnavigation of
nthe world.
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nIn other words, he sailed all
nthe way around the world –
nalone!
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He did it aboard a sloop noyster boat named Spray,
nwhich was about 36 feet and
n9 inches (11.2 m) long. He
nsailed more than 48,000
nmiles (74,000 km).
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nAnd it took more than three
nyears!
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nOne reason it took as long
nas it did – and why he
ntraveled so many miles – is because, when Slocum first set sail from
nBoston, Massachusetts, in April of 1895, he sailed north to visit his
nboyhood home of Nova Scotia. He only left North America in July of that
nyear, sailing eastward across the Atlantic. He intended to sail through the
nMediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, and then eastward through
nthe Indian and Pacific Oceans.
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nBut when he reached Gibraltar, he learned that there was so much piracy
nin the Southern Mediterranean, it was too unsafe – so Slocum went
nBACK across the Atlantic to South America, and then through the Straits
nof Magellan to the Pacific. That’s a pretty big double-back!!
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nWhen Slocum landed in Newport, Rhode Island, his amazing feat drew
nlittle notice. While he was busy staying alive alone on “the seven seas,”
nSpain and the United States had embarked on a war, and the
nnewspapers were full of battle headlines.
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Luckily for all of us, Slocum took the ntime to write about his adventure:
nSailing Alone Around the World.
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nAnd he THEN got the attention he
ndeserved – his book was very well
nreceived, and he was invited to
ngive lectures and to be a part of the
nPan-American Expo in 1901.
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nSlocum was even invited to talk
nat a dinner honoring Mark Twain!
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Would it surprise you
nto learn that this
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nfamous seaman met
nhis death, at age 65,
nby being lost at sea?
nHe went out on one of
nhis usual winter
nvoyages on November
n14, 1909, and he was
nnever heard from again.
nIn 1924, he was finally
ndeclared legally dead,
nalthough his wife was sure he had drowned by July of 1910.
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nShe probably knew that, despite the fact that Slocum spent so much
ntime on the water, he’d never learned to swim. Actually, he considered
nknowing how to swim to be useless – which strikes me as entirely weird,
nbut I gather that lots of people back then didn’t know how to swim…
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ninvasion of Buenos Aires
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nMathematician Augustus
nDeMorgan’s birthday
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nDay
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nNational Sunglasses Day
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nDjibouti’s Independence
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Plan ahead:
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Check out my Pinterest boards for:
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nJune holidays
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nJune birthdays
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nHistorical anniversaries in June
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nJuly holidays
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nJuly birthdays
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nHistorical anniversaries in July
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