Description
Book SynopsisThe classic travel narrative of a Don Quixote-of-the-seas – the first man to circumnavigate the world singlehandedly.
Joshua Slocum’s autobiographical account of his solo trip around the world is one of the most remarkable – and entertaining – travel narratives of all time. Setting off alone from Boston aboard the thirty-six-foot wooden sloop Spray in April 1895, Captain Slocum went on to join the ranks of the world’s great circumnavigators – Magellan, Drake, and Cook. But by circling the globe without crew or consorts, Slocum would outdo them all: his three-year solo voyage of more than 46,000 miles remains unmatched in maritime history for its courage, skill, and determination.
Sailing Alone around the World recounts Slocum’s wonderful adventures: hair-raising encounters with pirates off Gibraltar and savage Indians in Tierra del Fuego; raging tempests and treacherous coral reefs; flyin
Table of Contents
Sailing Alone Around The WorldList of Illustrations
Introduction by Thomas Philbrick
Suggestions for Further Reading
A Note on the Text and Illustrations
Sailing Alone around the World
Chapter IA blue-nose ancestry with Yankee proclivities
Youthful fondness for the sea
Master of the ship Norhtern Light
Loss of the Aquidneck
Return home from Brazil in the canoe Liberdale
The gift of a "ship"
The rebuilding of the Spray
Conundrums in regard to finance and calking
The launching of the Spray
Chapter II
Failure as a fisherman
A voyage around the world projected
From Boston to Gloucester
Fitting out for the ocean voyage
Half of a dory for a ship's boat
The run from Gloucester to Nova Scotia
A shaking up in home waters
Among old friends
Chapter III
Good-by to the American coast
Off Sable Island in a fog
In the open sea
The man in the moon takes an interest in the voyage
The first fit of loneliness
The Spray encounters La Vaguisa
A bottle of wine from the Spaniard
A bout of words with the captain of the Java
The steamship Olympia spoken
Arrival at the Azores
Chapter IV
Squally weather in the Azores
High living
Delirious from cheese and plums
The pilot of the Pinta
At Gibraltar
Compliments exchanged with the British navy
A picnic on the Morocco shore
Chapter VSailing from Gibraltar with assistance of her Majesty's tug
The Spray's course changed from the Suez Canal to Cape Horn
Chased by a Moorish pirate
A comparison with Columbus
The Canary Islands
The Cape Verde Islands
Sea life
Arrival at Pernambuco
A bill against the Brazilian government
Preparing for the stormy weather of the cape
Chapter VI
Departure from Rio de Janeiro
The Spray ashore on the sands of Uruguay
A narrow escape from shipwreck
The boy who found a sloop
The Spray floated but somewhat damaged
Courtesies from the British consul at Maldonado
A warm greeting at Montevideo
An excursion to Buenos Aires
Shortening the mast and bowsprit
Chapter VII
Weighing anchor at Buenos Aires
An outburst of emotion at the mouth of the Plate
Submerged by a great wave
A stormy entrance to the strait
Captain Samblich's happy gift of a bag of carpet-tacks
Off Cape Froward
Chased by Indians from Fortescue Bay
A miss-shot for "Black Pedro"
Taking in supplies of wood and water at Three Island Cove
Animal life
Chapter VIII
From Cape Pillar into the Pacific
Driven by a tempest toward Cape Horn
Captain Slocum's greatest sea adventure
Reaching the strait again by way of Cockburn Channel
Some savages find the carpet-tacks
Danger from firebrands
A series of fierce williwaws
Again sailing westward
Chapter IX
Repairing the Spray's sails
Savages and an obstreperous anchor
A spider-fight
An encounter with Black Pedro
A visit to the steamship Colombia
On the defensive against a fleet of canoes
A record of voyages through the strait
A chance cargo of tallow
Chapter X
Running to Port Angosto in a snow-storm
A defective sheet-rope places the Spray in peril
The Spray as a target for a Fuegian arrow
The island of Alan Erric
Again in the open Pacific
The run to the island of Juan Fernandez
An absentee king
At Robinson Crusoe's anchorage
Chapter XI
The islanders of Juan Fernandez entertained with Yankee doughnuts
The beauties of Robinson Crusoe's realm
The mountain monument to Alexander Selkirk
Robinson Crusoe's cave
A stroll with the children of the island
Westward ho! with a friendly gale
A month's free sailing with the Southern Cross and the sun for guides
Sighting the Marquesas
Experience in reckoning
Chapter XII
Seventy-two days without a port
Whales and birds
A peep into the Spray's galley
Flying-fish for breakfast
A welcome at Apia
A visit from Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson
At Vailima
Samoan hospitality
Arrested for fast riding
An amusing merry-go-round
Teachers and pupils of Papauta College
At the mercy of sea-nymphs
Chapter XIII
Samoan royalty
King Malietoa
Good-bye to friends at Vailima
Leaving Fiji to the south
Arrival at Newcastle, Australia
The yachts of Sydney
A ducking on the Spray
Commodore Foy presents the sloop with a new suit of sails
On to Melbourne
A shark that proved to be valuable
A change of course
The "Rain of Blood"
In Tasmania
Chapter XIV
A testimonial from a lady
Cruising round Tasmania
The skipper delivers his first lecture on the voyage
Abundant provisions
An inspection of the Spray for safety at Devonport
Again at Sydney
Northward bound for Torres Strait
An amateur shipwreck
Friends on the Autralian coast
Perils of a coral sea
Chapter XV
Arrival at Port Denison, Queensland
A lecture
Reminiscences of Captain Cook
Lecturing for charity at Cooktown
A happy escape from a coral reef
Home Island, Sunday Island, Bird Island
An American pearl-fisherman
Jubilee at Thursday Island
A new ensign for the Spray
Booby Island
Across the Indian Ocean
Christmas Island
Chapter XVI
A call for careful navigation
Three hours' steering in twenty-three days
Arrival at the Keeling Cocos Islands
A curious chapter of social history
A welcome from the children of the islands
Cleaning and painting the Spray on the beach
A Mohammedan blessing for a pot of jam
Keeling as a paradise
A risky adventure in a small boat
Away to Rodriguez
Taken for Antichrist
The governor calms the fears of the people
A lecture
A convent in the hills
Chapter XVII
A clean bill of health at Mauritius
Sailing the voyage over again in the opera-house
A newly discovered plant named in honor of the Spray's skipper
A party of young ladies out for a sail
A bivouac on deck
A warm reception at Durban
A friendly cross-examination by Henry M. Stanley
Three wise Boers seek proof of the flatness of the earth
Leaving South Africa
Chapter XVIII
Rounding the "Cape of Storms" in olden time
A rough Christmas
The Spray ties up for a three months' rest at Cape Town
A railway trip to the Transvaal
President Kruger's odd definition of the Spray's voyage
His terse sayings
Distinguished guests on the Spray
Cocoanut fiber as a padlock
Courtesies from the admiral of the Queen's navy
Off for St. Helena
Land in sight
Chapter XIX
In the isle of Napoleon's exile
Two lectures
A guest in the ghost-room at Plantation House
An excursion to historic Longwood
Coffee in the husk, and a goat to shell it
The Spray's ill luck with animals
A prejudice against small dogs
A rat, the Boston spider, and the cannibal cricket
Ascension Island
Chapter XX
In the favoring current of Cape St. Roque, Brazil
All at sea regarding the Spanish-American war
An exchange of signals with the battle-ship Oregon
Off Dreyfus's prison on Devil's Island
Reappearance to the Spray of the north star
The light on Trinidad
A charming introduction to Grenada
Talks to friendly auditors
Chapter XXI
Clearing for home
In the calm belt
A sea covered with sargasso
The jibstay parts in a gale
Welcomed by a tornado off Fire Island
A change of plan
Arrival at Newport
End of a cruise of over forty-six thousand miles
The Spray again at Fairhaven
Appendix
Lines and Sail-Plan of the "Spray"
Her pedigree so far as known
The lines of the Spray
Her self-steering qualities
Sail-plan and steering-gear
An unprecedented feat
A cheer to would-be navigators
Notes
