Slocum Circumnavigates Alone: First Solo Globe Voyage
Joshua Slocum completed the first solo circumnavigation of the globe on June 27, 1898, sailing into Fairhaven, Massachusetts, after a voyage of 46,000 miles that had taken three years, two months, and two days. His vessel, the Spray, was a 37-foot oyster sloop he had rebuilt from a derelict hull. Slocum was 54 when he departed Boston in April 1895. He navigated using dead reckoning and a tin clock, having declined to carry a chronometer. In the Strait of Magellan, he scattered carpet tacks on the deck to deter barefoot Fuegian Indians attempting to board at night. His book, Sailing Alone Around the World (1900), became a classic of adventure literature. Slocum disappeared at sea in November 1909 while sailing to South America. Neither he nor the Spray were ever found.
June 27, 1898
128 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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