Sailing Alone Around the World

This book is written in a breezy manner and with some narrative skill, but readers looking for an adventure tale about the rigours of the voyage will only get small tastes of that. As first suggested when he makes his oh-so-casual decision to undertake the voyage - there must have been more to this? - I think Mr. Slocum skims over the risks and dangers of his undertaking more than most writers would. Threats encountered are usually acknowledged and dismissed within a paragraph or two. This journey might have yielded a more gripping tale if its author had exposure to today's dramatizing.

The fact that he didn't, however, lends the story a charming humility. The bulk of the narrative is taken up with describing the people and places he show more encounters on his voyage around the world. Some romanticized descriptions of islands he visits - he was especially fond of Samoa - seem unlikely for being so idyllic. I read these as the pleasant memories of his stay, the way I might talk about a Carribbean vacation after I'm back at work. The rest is mostly descriptions of the course he sets. It's a fun book to follow along with a map. Beginning with his voyage up the New England coast, a good atlas will show you the harbours and islands he names along the way and you can follow his progress. Around Cape Horn especially, I found this imperative for fully understanding the route he was describing, which is otherwise a bit confusing. I appreciated it again as he set his course around Australia and across the Indian Ocean.

By the time he visits Australia he is being heralded for the bravery of his journey thus far, and roped into making presentations to a long sequence of small communities that probably leaped at the chance for any sort of event to enliven their days. His tone here is only amused rather than proud. Pride only shines through when he is speaking of the Spray's performance, a vessel he built practically from scratch. Its reliability and his lifetime of nautical know-how prove more than a match for every challenge he encounters. The fact that this is primarily the story of whom he met may be the final proof of that. It's not the story I expected, but there's still no way to beat a solo-voyage-around-the-world tale as told by the man who lived it, any way he wants to tell it. show less

Slocum was the first person recorded to have sailed solo around the world. It was such a feat a the time that various harbor masters and others he encountered along the way refused to believe it. His adventures included warding off hostile pirated through a combination of force and misdirection. He struggled against stormy seas and a miscreant goat. Despite these challenges and weeks at a time of solitude, he seemed to have enjoyed every bit of the nearly three-year journey. What I enjoyed most about his written account was the sagacity and humor he used to convey the magnitude of his achievements, all while coming across as quite humble. This book is an enjoyable tale of exploration and adventure, and an interesting character study.

"Ai giovani che progettano un viaggio..."

"...io dico di andare". E' il congedo più bello che un uomo in giro per il mondo, sia per mare che per terra, possa lasciare. Joshua Slocum, comandante di numerose imbarcazioni da carico, parte nel 1895 da Boston con una barca di 11 metri che giaceva in secco in pessime condizioni nel porto di Fairhaven. La rimette in sesto con le sue mani e parte per un viaggio di tre anni che lo porta a doppiare Capo Horn, il Capo di Buona Speranza fino a far ritorno là dove era partito. Unico uomo di equipaggio, primo viaggio in solitario documentato, Slocum non parla di sè come di un uomo che sta affrontando "l'impresa". Un racconto dimesso, sottotono, più che altro un viaggio per misurarsi con sè show more stesso, con gli elementi, con i luoghi e gli esseri che li popolano. Slocum non attribuisce a sè particolari capacità pur dichiarando realisticamente che la fatica e i pericoli sono presenti, ma non più di quelli che un qualsiasi uomo affronta sulla terra. E' l'imbarcazione a prendersi tutti i meriti di questa lunghissima crociera, lo "Spray", quasi fosse lei la narratrice e Slocum l'umile passeggero scarrozzato per gli oceani. Vien da chiedersi come abbia fatto a scrivere questo diario che ha dell'incredibile per umanità, tecniche di navigazione e marineria, così ben calibrato e dosato da sembrar scritto da un'altra entità presente sulla barca con lui. Semplicemente senza tempo per bellezza e audacia. show less

Memoir of a man's circumnavigation of the world all alone, in a sloop (sail boat) built almost by himself, in the 1890s, what is not to like about this book? The idea itself is so fantastic that reading the account written by the man himself feels surreal. Except for the profusion of sailing jargon, the book is very well written, holding the reader's interest. This book is one of the greatest adventures I have read, more so because it is all true!

In the late 1890s, Joshua Slocum set out to sail the world alone in a mostly self-built boat, a journey that took over three years. He left New England sailing around Tierra del Fuego and on his return found New York harbor mined due to the outbreak of the Spanish American War. Brittainia still ruled the waves and he found a welcome in many far flung colonies eager to hear him lecture and help him on his way. There were many misadventures including illness, storm damage, and a ravenous goat that ate his charts. This is a delightful glimpse at the world as it was.

Born in Nova Scotia, Slocum was a naturalized American. He set off alone in 1895 and spent three years circumnavigaing the world in The Spray, a 37 foot sloop he mostly built himself. This is his personal account published in 1900. It was fun to read this with a map nearby to follow his route and the remote islands he visited. He didn't inflate his terrific achievement or what he endured apart from saying a couple of times that he felt a bit lonely. Curiously, the account had little about the actual sailing, but concentrated on places and people he met. The journey was not without events: he celebrated Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee while in Queensland, Australia and in Samoa met with Fanny, wife of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Off the show more coast of Australia he encountered a whaling ship, a trade new to the seas at the time. The captain assured the crew that to kill a whale was "no different than killing a rabbit". It's only to be expected that the writing is dated and definitely not PC, but it's still an interesting memoir and it set the bar high for the explorers that followed.

This is one of several books my son's friend John mailed to me as lockdown entertainment. show less

Joshua Slocum did it, he wrote it up.
Originally published in 1900, and the prey of reprinters ever since. It's not consciously literary, but has the charm of the immediate.