Sailing Alone Around the World (Order the Book Here)
by Captain Joshua Slocum
It is said that by being the first to circumnavigate the world alone, Slocum paved the way for generations of solo and recreational sailors to also circumnavigate the world, or at least to dream of such an endeavor. I don’t think that’s fair. It’s not fair because it is too narrow of an honor. He did much more. He thought of the idea. The idea to sail around the world by oneself originated in the mind of Slocum. One a crazy thing for one to originally think of. Why would someone dream of this? Well, it turned out to be not just a crazy thing, but a crazy thing that would push the boundaries of individuals and organizations across the globe for a dozen decades now. It captured the imagination and curiosity of both the sailing world and the world that exist landside. Joshua Slocum is a monument to industrious individualism and insouciant risk-taking.
His auto-biographical account of his trip around the world is laid out in “Sailing Alone Around the World,” which was an instant best seller moving into the 20th century. Below we recap the story, chapter by chapter, and point out additional trivial aspects of the Captain’s personal life and influence on the maritime.
Chapter 1
Slocum had been around the globe before. He was an established captain and well respected in the maritime. Having been in every ocean and stationed in many large ports around the globe, he was certainly fit for this type of endeavor, he at least knew the physical challenge that the trip would be and he knew the logistics of the trip. Slocum worked his way up in the maritime, starting as a curious child, to a cabin boy, hand, mate, and then captain. He had his ups and downs in his maritime career. He had successful and not so successful ventures with the US Government and the government of Brazil. Sailing alone around the world was just a mysterious draw, that would allow him to visit old stomping grounds, breathe in the ocean air, and escape the hard grounds of the North East Coast all within one mission. As he began building his boat, The Spray, for the task, his neighbors thought he was mad. The predicted failure.
Page 2. “The next step toward the goal of happiness found me before the mast in a full-rigged ship bound for a voyage. Thus I came “over the bows,” and not in through the cabin windows, to the command of a ship.”
Chapter 2
He was a minimalist by birth.
Page 15. “For sufficient reasons I left that at home, where the Dutchman left that anchor.”
Chapter 3
The Spray and “her crew” (a line Slocum used in jest throughout his trip and his book) set sail in April of 1895, from Boston New England.
Page 26. “During the days a feeling of awe crept over me. My memory worked with startling power. The ominous, the insignificant, the great, the small, the wonderful, the common place – all appeared before my mental vision in magical succession.”
Chapter 4
Many one-liners have been taken from Slocum’s book. The one below was one I’ve heard offhand for years now and never considered where it came from or what it meant.
Page 39. “’I have come to do you no harm. I have sailed free,’ he said, ‘but was never worse than a contrabandista. I am one of Columbus’ crew,’ he continued. ‘I am the pilot of the Pinta come to aid you. Lie quiet, Senor Captain,’[…]”
Chapter 5
In chapter 5 I was struck by the drastic changes 120 years brings. Slocum encounters pirates and piratical men in his travels, and he does so in a very simplistic matter-of-fact way. It’s also true that he does not give his emotions credit at any point during the book, so maybe we should read the excitement, fear, and anxiety between the lines – I’m not sure. I found it fascinating that he wrote this encounter as he did, and I wonder how many followed in his footsteps that were not so lucky and who found themselves frozen in fear and in action during these moments of life and death.
Page 52. “I made mental calculations that the pirate would by this time have recovered his course and be close aboard, and that when I saw him next it would be better for me to be looking at him along the barrel of a gun.”
Chapter 6
Slocum’s original route took him across the Atlantic and through the Mediterranean. After considering reports of pirates and dangerous along this route, he switched back and headed for South America, to round that land by Cape Horn. Here he landed near Brazil…
“I sprang from the oars to my feet, and lifting the anchor above my head, threw it clear just as she was turning over.”
Chapter 7
“On February 11 the Spray rounded Cape Virgins and entered the Strait of Magellan. The scene was again real and gloomy; the wind, northeast, and blowing a gale, sent feather=white spume along the coast.”
Chapter 8
Traveling through the Straight of Magellan first to enter the Pacific, only to be blown south and have to retreat again to the Straight, Slocum was at constant risk of being robbed or pirated by natives and other locals who lived off of vulnerable travelers. The tactics Slocum used to overcome these dangerous seem so rudimentary it was surprising they worked time and time again.
“Then I climbed the mast to survey the wild scene astern. The great naturalist Darwin looked over this seascape from the deck of the Beagle and wrote in his journal, ‘Any landsman seeing the Milky Way would have a nightmare for a week.”
Chapter 9
“In danger now of being flanked by the savages in the bush close aboard, I was obliged to hoist the sails.”
Chapter 10
I couldn’t help but note that Slocum was fond of writing crass comments about the women which he crossed paths with. When I went back and scavenged the internet I found a few disturbing theories of the man. According to a biography written by Haskell Springer, Slocum married twice. After the death of his first wife, he married his cousin who was half his age. As the sales of his famous book began to dwindle in 1905ish, he was charged with the rape of a 12 year old girl – the charges were dropped and instead he was charged with lewd behavior – which Slocum says he has no memory of.
Page 137. “Juan Fernandez was then under the administration of a governor of Swedish nobility, so I was told. I was also told that his daughter could ride the wildest goat on the island.”
Chapter 11
Even at that stage of travel, men were extremely interested in culture, history, and social theory. Slocum stopped on the island known as the home of the real Robinson Crusoe.
“I of course made a pilgrimage to the old lookout place at the top of the mountain, where Selkirk spent many days peering into the distance for the ship which came at last.”
Chapter 12
“to be alone 43 days would seem a long time, but in reality, even here, winged moments flew lightly by,”…
Chapter 13
A long stop in Australia…
“If a boy in Australia has not the means to by himself a boat, he builds one, and it is usually one not to be ashamed of.”
Chapter 14
Slocum was tough on others he met. He certainly meant well though I get the feeling he had odious reasons to shame others – he had a monstrous ego and could do no wrong.
“These three jolly tars comprised the crew. None of them knew more about the sea or about a vessel than a babe knows about another world.”
Chapter 15
This chapter shows how word of mouth is often wrong, and when history is taught on word-of-mouth alone, people can end up confused and not even realize it… In Australia’s Cooktown, the residence all operate under the belief that Cook had fought and died and was indeed buried in that town. They argued over the spot he hauled his famous boat the HMS Endeavour for repairs. It is only that I know the story that I know Slocum’s comments to his crowd are chastising, otherwise, he seems to be polite and knowledgeable. I wonder how many things in his book did slip by me, cause I am not in the know, or because I hold no grudge against weekend warriors???
“On the following morning captain Jones brought onboard two pairs of exquisite shells, the most perfect ones I ever saw. They were probably the best he had, for Jones was the heart-yarn of a sailor.”
Chapter 16
The feat of sailing around the world alone is mostly incomprehensible to anyone who’s spent little time aboard vessels and at sea. It is truly exhausting, treacherous, and head-taxing. Slocum did something amazing, and he knew it.
Page 211. It was a delightful sail! During those twenty three days I had not spent altogether more than three hours at the helm, including the time occupied in beating into Keeling harbor. I just lashed the helm and let her go; whether the wind was abeam or dead aft, it was all the same: she always sailed on her course. No part of the voyage up to this point, taking it by and large, had been so finished as this.” “You couldn’t have beaten it in the navy!”
Chapter 17
“At Mauritius, where I drew a long breath, the Spray rested her wings, it being the season of fine whether. The hardships of the voyage, if there had been any, were now computed by officers of experience as nine tenths finished, and yet somehow I could not forget that the United States was still a long way off.”
Chapter 18
He had crossed three oceans and rounded Cape Horn. Now, Cape Hope was the “most prominent point to pass.” Along the way he met many quirky and unlearned persons. Strangest were the learned men and prominent officials who insisted that the world was flat. Slocum wrote of two such government officials who challenged Slocum when he said he was sailing “round the world.” I can’t fathom how a learned person of the late 19th century could argue the world is flat, it makes sense only when we consider the dogmatic circles such people lived in – and still live in today – after all, the most sold book of all times claims the world is flat.
“His Excellency received me cordially enough; but my friend Judge Beyers, the gentleman who presented me, by mentioning that I was on a voyage around the world, unwittingly gave great offense to the venerable statesman, which we both regretted deeply. Mr. Kruger corrected the judge rather sharply, reminding him that the world is flat. ‘you don’t mean round the world,’ said the president; ‘it is impossible! You mean in the world. Impossible!’ he said, ‘impossible!’ and not another word did he utter to the judge or to me.”
I reflect on this often. Humans have had the same brain for 100,000 years or more. The structure has not had time to evolve in that time. It is only information that has accumulated and passed on through the generations that make us so smart. But regardless of smart, we are all certain. Our intuition is programmed to be correct. The idea of claiming an intellectual superiority over your specific knowledge base is thus ridiculous. Your ideas may be true, but you could not know that truth intuitively – you only feel you do. Poor Mr. Kruger. Poor Slocum. Poor reader.
Chapter 19
Page 262. “On May 8, 1898, she crossed the track, homeward bound, that she had made October 2, 1895, on the voyage out. She passed Fernando do Noronha at night, going some miles south of it, and so I did not see the island. I felt a contentment in knowing that the Spray had encircled the globe, and evn as an adventure alone I was in no way discouraged as to its utility, and said to my self, “Let what will happen, the voyage is now on record.”’ A period was made.”
Chapter 20
“And I slapped her on the transom, proud of her last noble effort to leap clear of the danger, when a wave greater than the rest threw her higher than before, and, behold, from the crest of it was revealed, at once all there was of the reef. I fell back in a coil of rope, speechless and amazed, not distressed, but rejoiced. Aladin’s lamp! My fisherman’s own lantern! It was the great revolving light on the island of Trinidad, thirty miles away, throwing flashes over the waves, which had deceived me!”
Chapter 21
“On the 23rd of June I was at last tired, tired, tired of baffling squalls and fretful cobble-seas. I had not seen a vessel for days and days, where I had expected the company of at least a schooner now and then. As to the whistling of the wind through the rigging, and the slopping of the sea against the sloop’s sides, that was well enough in its way, and we could not have got on without it, the Spray and I; but there was so much of it now, and it lasted so long!”
