Voyage of the Liberdade
by Joshua Slocum
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Description
Captain Joshua Slocum, an experienced mariner, tells the thrilling tale of the Liberdade and the great journey it made from South America, through the Caribbean, and onto the United States. When this book first appeared in 1890, it received wide praise for authentically capturing the spirit of naval adventure and human resourcefulness. At a time when ordinary sailing boats were fast being obsoleted by faster vessels powered by steam engines, Captain Slocum's recollections are testament that show more sea voyages were as exciting as they ever were. The Liberdade was constructed from materials salvaged from the locality of Brazil, where Slocum was stranded at the time. The ship received its name as one day after its launch, on May 14th 1888, slavery was abolished by the Brazilian government. The fifty-five day voyage of Joshua Slocum and his family back to the United States is chronicled in this book, with the high and low points of their epic adventure mentioned. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
There's a reason this book isn't as well-known as Slocum's excellent Sailing Alone around the World; it just isn't as interesting. After being shipwrecked in Brazil, Slocum builds what he calls a "canoe" (a small sailboat) to sail home with his family. The shipwreck itself is only about halfway through this very short book, and much of the actual voyage of the Liberdade is just a series of dates and ports. There's certainly no reason to avoid it, but it's not nearly as good as Sailing Alone around the World.
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ThingScore 75
Of course, many more people know of Slocum than have had the good fortune to read his book. It has not always been easy to find a copy. Of those who know Sailing alone around the world, not one in ten thousand knows his earlier book, Voyage of the Liberdade, published by Roberts Brothers of Boston in 1894. I know of only two copies in England, one in the library of the Cruising Association and show more the other in that of the British Museum. The two are now brought together. Voyage of the Liberdade has not so spectacular a subject as Sailing alone, but it has the same invaluable quality of gusto, the same direct power of letting the reader share in the experiences it describes. show less
added by Cynfelyn
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Le voyage du "Liberdade" : 5 500 miles en canot ouvert
- Original title
- The voyage of the "Libertade"
- Original publication date
- 1890
- People/Characters
- Joshua Slocum; Aquidneck (sloop); Victor Slocum; Garfield Slocum; Friday (dog, rescued at sea); Liberdade (35-foot sailing canoe) (show all 11); Mr Newkirk (Canadian treasure hunter, Cabo Frio, Brazil); HMS Thetis (sank, 1830); Anderson (family of South Santee, South Carolina, USA); Captain Bloodgood (of the Packet, schooner); Packet (40-ton Carolina schooner)
- Important places
- Atlantic Ocean; Montevideo, Uruguay; Antonina, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Brazil; Rosario, Brazil; Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro, Argentina (show all 20); Maldonado, Uruguay; Isla de Flores, River Plate, Uruguay; Guarakasava, Brazil; River Paranaguá, Brazil; Cabo Frio, Brazil (as Cape Frio); Abrolhos Archipelago, Brazil; São Paulo, Brazil; Bahia de Todos os Santos, Brazil; Mayagüez, Puerto Rico; Cay Lobos Lighthouse, Bahamas; Cape Romain Lighthouse, South Carolina, USA (as Cape Roman); New River, North Carolina, USA; Beaufort, North Carolina, USA; Washington, D.C., USA (Christmas 1882)
- Important events
- cholera (Buenos Aires, 1886); mutiny (1887); smallpox (Isla de Flores, Uruguay, 1887); Christmas (Washington, D.C., USA, 1888)
- Epigraph
- Away, away, no cloud is lowering o'er us,
Freely now we stem the wave;
Hoist, hoist all sail, before us
Hope's beacon shines to cheer the brave.
Masaniello.
(Chapter IX). - Quotations
- A book that has been read at sea has a near claim on our friendship, and is a thing one is loth to part with, even for a better book. (Chapter III).
- Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Travel, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, History, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 910.4 — History & geography Geography & travel modified standard subdivisions of Geography and travel Pirates & Shipwrecks
- LCC
- G530 .L61 .S56 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Geography (General) Adventures, shipwrecks, buried treasure, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 65
- Popularity
- 477,548
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.58)
- Languages
- 6 — Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Portuguese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 21
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 4
