The First Man To Sail Around The World Alone

Joshua Slocum was born on February 20, 1844, in Nova Scotia, and spent much of his childhood on Brier Island, a small fishing and sailing community. While his father worked as a farmer and cobbler making boots for fishermen, Slocum’s family was deeply connected to the sea. Growing up hearing about all the adventures people went on, it’s no surprise Slocum wanted to sail out onto the water himself.

One famous claim says that Slocum ran away from home when he was just 14 years old, finding work as a cabin boy or cook on a fishing schooner. He did eventually return home, only leaving Nova Scotia for good after his mother died, when he was around 16. When the sea calls, you answer!

Slocum grabbed a friend and hopped on a merchant ship bound for Dublin, Ireland, where they worked as ordinary seamen. That trip was only just the beginning for Slocum, who would soon travel all over the world.

Sometimes, Slocum is portrayed as this amateur who simply repaired an old boat and, on a whim, decided to sail around the world. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Slocum had spent roughly 35 years working at sea before even attempting his great feat. He held various responsibilities over the years, including work as a sailor, captain, shipowner, and navigator. By 1895, he had sailed through the Pacific and visited Australia, Asia, North America, and South America. This man was impressive, and he earned his reputation through years of hard work.

In 1871, Slocum married Virginia Albertina Walker. Unlike many marriages where sailors would leave their wives at home to care for the family for months or even years at a time, Virginia and several of their children joined Slocum at sea. Raising a family aboard various merchant ships was challenging, but the family stayed together, and that’s what was most important. Sadly, Virginia passed away in 1884 after becoming ill while traveling aboard the Aquidneck, one of Slocum’s ships.

Slocum’s second marriage was far from perfect. First off, his second wife, Henrietta “Hettie” Elliott, was his cousin. Yep, I’ll try to forget that. And unlike Virginia, Hettie wasn’t too fond of life on the water.. She did join him on at least one voyage, but after enduring a hurricane, a cholera quarantine, a smallpox outbreak, a mutiny, and a shipwreck, she refused to sail again. So, she stayed on land, causing their marriage to become strained. Considering the conditions aboard 19th-century vessels, these were no luxury trips. I don’t blame her for staying behind.

In 1887, Slocum found himself in a bit of a pickle when his vessel, the Aquidneck, was wrecked on a sandbar in southern Brazil. Because the ship was uninsured, Slocum lost a major source of his income. Instead of panicking and waiting around for help, Slocum decided to save himself and his family by building a small boat from local materials. He called it the Liberdade (Liberty in Portuguese!). Oh, and Hettie was aboard during this very trip. The trip that finally made her swear off sailing for good.

Slocum was adventurous, yes, and I’m sure a major reason why he decided to travel around the world solo was for the thrill of it all, but there was another reason that wasn’t quite as exciting: finances. Yep, steam-powered vessels were replacing traditional sailing ships by the late 19th century, so Slocum’s skills just weren’t as crucial as before. After several failed business ventures, Slocum probably decided that he needed to shift focus. Maybe a bit of fame could give him that steady income he had lost.

Before he could sail around the world, Slocum needed one very important thing: a boat! Luckily, in the early 1890s, before the idea of circumnavigating the globe came to mind, an acquaintance offered him an abandoned old vessel, the Spray. Unluckily for him, the boat was a disaster.

The Spray was in such bad shape that it’s a miracle that Slocum was able to revive it. It took him 13 months to rebuild, and he had to replace everything, from the frames to the planks and timbers. It was hard work, but Slocum managed to revive the vessel.

With his shiny new boat, Slocum was ready for his big adventure. He departed from Boston on April 24, 1895, with no crew, no engine, and no radio. The guy was on his own. The journey was risky. Without a radio, no one would warn him about impending storms. Without an engine, he could get stuck in some dangerous currents or rocky areas. Nevertheless, Slocum was determined to succeed.

When Slocum first crossed the Atlantic to Europe, he reached Gibraltar. His plan was to then continue through the Mediterranean. However, while in Gibraltar, he received warnings that pirates could attack along his desired route. So, he turned right back around and crossed part of the Atlantic again. Was this a major inconvenience, and did it also lead him through the Strait of Magellan (one of the most dangerous sections of his trip)? Yes, but hey, at least he avoided those scary pirates!

According to Slocum, after leaving Gibraltar, a vessel started following him. He thought that maybe the people on board wanted to rob him or even attack him, but thankfully, he managed to get away without any direct contact. We only have Slocum’s word that this story happened, but whether it did or not, he made himself vulnerable to these types of attacks as a lone traveler.

One of Slocum’s challenges was passing through the Strait of Magellan to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This passage was a pain to get through. Storms, narrow channels, powerful currents, and winds made it difficult for even the most skilled sailor to pass through. Slocum was constantly being driven backward and had to wait for the ideal time and conditions to make it through.

Slocum also had a few challenges on land, and that included locals wanting to board his ship. In his memoir, Slocum claims that while anchored near Tierra del Fuego, a group of Indigenous Fuegians tried to board his ship while he slept. The solution? He spread carpet tacks across the deck, sharp ends pointing upward. So, when intruders set foot on his boat, they’d be met with the sharpest pain.

You may be wondering how one man was able to steer a boat, cook meals, and find time to sleep. Well, when the conditions were good, Slocum could secure the ship’s wheel and adjust the sails, and just like that, the vessel could continue forward without his hands on the wheel.

Slocum didn’t have a crew or a radio, and he also didn’t have a marine chronometer. Since accurate timekeeping is crucial at sea, you’d think Slocum would have to be mad not to have one. But Slocum was smart, and he was able to use charts, a compass, a sextant, dead reckoning, and celestial observations. He even used a lunar-distance calculation on one occasion to check his longitude.

At some point, Slocum may have had food poisoning and become very sick. In his memoir, he wrote that a mysterious man came aboard, introducing himself as the pilot of the Pinta. Yes, one of the ships used during Christopher Columbus’s first Atlantic voyage. In Slocum’s delirious account, the ghost then took control of the vessel until he got better. Now, did this really happen? Unlikely, though it is possible that Slocum truly believed it did in his feverish state. Or, he thought this would be a fun story to add to his book! I guess we’ll never know.

After over three years, Slocum completed his circumnavigation around the world, returning to America in 1898. His journey covered about 46,000 miles. Slocum put his journey into writing, publishing Sailing Alone Around the World in 1900. This helped cement his reputation as the first person recognized to have completed a solo circumnavigation under sail.

Slocum was last seen in November 1909, after sailing away from Massachusetts. He was on the trusted Spray and had intended to head south. No one knows what happened to him or where he went. No confirmed wreckage or body was ever recovered, and sadly, he was declared legally dead in 1924. So, what happened? There are so many theories floating around, and while many are plausible, none have been proven. I’d hope at least that his final days were peaceful and that he was laid to rest in the place he loved most: the sea.

This content was created with the help of AI.