Sailing Alone Around the World Hardcover – October 2, 2019

Even though I've never lived within 400 miles of an ocean, I once entertained the notion of setting off in a sailboat, my own man, as free as the wind. The first man to do it all alone and around the world was Joshua Slocum, in the 1890s. He was not only a skilled sailor with 30 years experience on the sea, but an excellent writer, as this book attests. On his first leg, from Cape Sable to the Azores, he manages to convey the sense of what it was like Out There: a world apart, a world of endless sky and wind, of heaving waves, sea and sky and nothing more.Equally impressive was Slocum's knowledge of the world's oceans. He knew the ocean currents and the winds as well as a man might know the hills and valleys where he lives. He is not above "tooting his own horn" with regard to his seamanship. But as they say in sports, if you can do it, it ain't bragging.The reader unfamiliar with sailing might want to keep a dictionary handy. When sentences like "I shook out a reef, and set the whole jib, for, having sea-room, I could square away two points" are encountered, one can make out what he's saying if necessary. But even if you don't know a halyard from a bowsprit, you can still enjoy a rollicking good tale.

"I had resolved on a voyage around the world. ... A thrilling pulse beat high in me. My step was light on deck in the crisp air. I felt there could be no turning back, and that I was engaging in an adventure the meaning of which I thoroughly understood. " So says Captain Joshua Slocum in the beginning of this remarkable first-person account of a three-year, 46,000 mile adventure, the likes of which not only made his book an international sensation but also a staple of public school reading lists for generations after.A Nova Scotian by birth and naturalized American, Slocum came from families of sailors on both sides. Alhough he spent his life at sea (on coastal fishing vessels and commercial ships, working his way up to a captaincy in his 40s, and had numerous adventures in so doing), by his own admission he had not done that much solo sailing, where every action, both for safety and for progress, was in his hands alone, yet he seemed undaunted by the challenge.His feat was astounding in numerous ways, from how he took a disused oyster boat that had lain in a field outside Fairhaven, Massachusetts (across the mouth of the Acushnet River from the great sailing port of New Bedford), redesigned and rebuilt it himself from the keel up, and without a chronometer (he used instead a $1 tin clock) used dead-reckoning for his longitude, to the numerous brushes with doom along the way. It's easy to see why the English writer Arthur Ransome said, "Boys who do not like this book ought to be drowned at once."For those who love sailing or adventure, Slocum's page-turning account satisfies from beginning to end, and though he never says precisely what motivated him at the age of 51 to circumnavigate the globe, alone, in a converted oyster boat of just over 36 feet, one gets a clear sense of an answer before the end. His straightforward, matter-of-fact style cannot hide what seems apparent - he loved the sea and, through that, life as journey. Other facts gleaned from outside reading support that conclusion - he had spent his life on ships, had sailed everywhere, and had seen both the golden age of sail (barks, brigantines, clipper ships of all sizes plying the oceans of the world and filling their harbors with groves of masts and spars) as well as its sad eclipse by the dully efficient and ugly age of steamships. Furthermore, a wife and four children (all born at sea) were not enough to keep him on land. It brings to mind a few lines of Ulysses:How dull it is to pause, to make an end,To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!As tho' to breathe were life!Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;Death closes all: but something ere the end,Some work of noble note, may yet be done,Some work, indeed.

Sailing Alone Around the World is a firsthand autobiographical story of Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail singlehandedly around the world. The book, first published in 1901, would be considered an "old book" if not for the fact that, by any other measure, it is a timeless story. Slocum's personal words, illustrations and maps combine to create a literary gem that serves as a memoir of adventure travel, a motivational and spiritual guide, and a lesson in modesty and resilience.Sailing Alone Around the World is the story of an aging sea captain who, in 1893, found himself out of work, out of prospects, out of plans, and out of dreams, but somehow managed to put himself back to work, create his own prospects, make a daring plan, and pursue a new dream. In doing so, Slocum not only succeeded in realizing his seemingly impossible dream, but also succeeded in turning himself into a record-setting global hero, whose voyage was followed closely by newspapers in every country in the world. His is a timeless story of courage, of defying the odds and the naysayers, and of changing the world of sailing--and of dreaming--forever.Before 1895, Joshua Slocum was a professional ship captain in an era of transition from sailing ships to steam ships. Like many commercial captains of that generation, he took his family along on the ships he captained while delivering cargo from port to port in different parts of the world. Rather than be away from his family for months or years at the time, his wife and children traveled with him. But in an era that life expectancy hovered somewhere in the mid-forties, Slocum at fifty found himself unemployed and without prospects of future employment. An acquaintance gifted him the decrepit remains of a small boat called the Spray. It was a 37-foot oyster sloop, whose wood had rotten away and left little of its original structure and none of its seaworthiness.Slocum, an endlessly curios self-educated maritime expert had a good working knowledge of shipbuilding, which he applied to restoring the Spray, bringing it back to its proud, seagoing past. The boat was designed for coastal work, not for ocean crossing, but that did not stop Slocum. After he sailed the Spray locally up and down the New England coast, a publisher suggested a journey around the world--alone! No one has ever done that, let along in a small sailboat, but Slocum was undeterred.Sailing Alone Around the World chronicles Slocum's three-year journey, beginning in 1895. He crossed the Atlantic to Gibraltar, then back west to South America, struggled valiantly through the traitorous Strait of Magellan, and sailed across the Pacific. He paid visits to various islands, visited New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, and then crossed the Atlantic for the third time, arriving back in Massachusetts with his sailing log at over 46,000 miles.Slocum writes in a conversational, unassuming voice of a man who knows what he is doing and faces the elements with even temper and a cool mind. His descriptions and illustrations of fascinating foreign lands, many of them unexplored at that time, as well as sea and land animals, are priceless. The challenges that nature threw in his way across the vast oceans nearly destroyed him and the Spray many times. He faced pirates, savages, thieves, and a variety of mechanical and technical breakdowns, each potentially fatal. Defying all odds, he returned home to write the book while becoming a household name and serving as a role model for countless courageous sailors who risk their lives circumnavigating the globe even today.The book's fluid prose is clear and straightforward so that even the modern reader quickly forgets how long ago it was written. Between the lines, we can tell that Slocum was a humorous man, who took life seriously, but didn't take himself too seriously. He risked his life repeatedly in a pursuit of a dream, but he writes about it with no pretentions. On the contrary, he makes it sound as if anyone could have done it.An amusing anecdote tells of Slocum's meeting with the popular, long-time president of the South African Republic, Paul Kruger, a man of German descent who was deeply religious. When Slocum was introduced to President Kruger as someone who was sailing around the world, the president became upset and insisted that Slocum was selling on the world, not around it. There followed a meeting with the president's team of scientists who were busy proving (at the president's insistance) that the world was indeed flat and not round as most of people knew. With his typical humor, which got him through other tight spots throughout his long journey, Slocum made light of the disagreement and agrees to consider the world flat while he was on land. Thus earning President Kroger's affection, Slocum enjoyed extensive sightseeing trips across the magnificent South African topographical wonders, vibrant wildlife, and fascinating tribal cultures.Even when describing horrendous conditions and near-death experiences at sea, the author tells his story matter-of-factly, explaining how he contended with each crisis in a practical and logical way. When he describes how he fell off his boat during a violent storm while trying to change sails, he mentions casually the fact that he had never learned how to swim. "What is the point?" He asks. In other words, it was the opinion of this lifelong seaman that, when a person falls off in the middle of the ocean, he is better off drowning quickly than treading water for long time only to suffer a slow death. Considering that his trip took place before radio or any of the modern communication devices that and can alert rescuers the distress, his logic appears sound, though extreme.In summary, Sailing Alone Around the World is a fascinating story, well written, and suspenseful. It provides a snapshot of an old world, barely on the verge of modernity, yet it creates a panoramic snapshot that provides unique perspective and a spectrum of details without comparison. For those who love sailing, or any kind of extreme adventure, this book is obviously a must. Yet its appeal would be strong for anyone who appreciates human stories of overcoming incredible odds and setting a new path for others to follow. Reading Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World is as close as it gets to the literary equivalent of taking a journey around the world.* Avraham Azrieli writes novels and screenplays.

If I had my life again and if I had only read this book when I was 16 or 17, I may well have learnt to sail early on in life and then try to follow in Joshua Slocum's footsteps (so to speak)...or at least try to follow his route to adventure, fame and fortune. Not that he thereafter lived that long to enjoy his fame or fortune, dying mysteriously in his mid-60s in 1909 on his way from the USA to the West Indies in his famous sailboat, Spray. His book Sailing Alone Around the World has a wonderful and exciting narrative style, with short and pithy sentences. My wife liked the book as much as I did, perhaps even more. It surely encouraged us to learn to sail! You'll love the old Master's adventures and courage and acts of derring do….and sheer pluck…as well as luck. Many people might not even get as far as Land's End were they to try and sail from Plymouth westwards….but Joshua Slocum sailed from Boston, Massachusetts right round the world in just over three years starting April 24th, 1895….and on his own…a record that was not broken until Sir Francis Chichester did it again in 1966-67 via the clipper route in his yacht Gipsy Moth IV. Slocum stopped at several places en route, including Australia and South Africa, to have the boat re-fitted and see the countryside. His descriptions of the Cape are especially interesting. Chichester stopped once en route during his trip around the world….in Sydney, Australia, Sir Robin Knox Johnston did the whole thing in 1968-69 without ever touching land, and our very own Ellen MacArthur (now Dame Ellen) did the same amazing feat herself more recently (2004-2005), single handed in the fastest ever time with all the very real dangers that this involves. Surely, still one of the greatest feats a person can do, requiring great skill, stamina, courage, luck and the ability to sleep little and stay alert. So, all in all, I thoroughly recommend Slocum's uplifting book.

John Kretschmer, one of the most experienced bluewater sailors alive, thinks this is the best tale of all times in the 'recreational sailing' category. I read thisbook 35 five years ago for the first time (in spanish, my mother tongue, twice) then a few more times in english and as ebook. It's always a joy to reread it. This edition is quite nice, with the pictures and drawings.

An interesting true tale of Joshua Slocum's adventures while sailing single handed around the world. Probably the first single handed circum-navigation. A classic book from the Victorian era.

I first read this many years ago (about 40+ years ago!) and was fascinated by it then so having now started to read it all over again have found it can still keep me fascinated. No it is probably not a candidate for the great literary works of art but it does what any good book should do which is tell a story and fire up the imagination.

I loved this book. A riveting tale of courage and adventure. Joshua Slocum was a true hero, and sailed his yacht , single handedly around the world, without much of the modern sailors navigation aids. Disappeared, presumably at sea while attempting a second circumnavigation. Looking forward to reading his book again.

All sailors should have a copy. Such a classic, nothing could be added

I have read this book three times and will doubly read it again ! I like to dip into it every so often , I have my favourite passages ! These give me a relaxing time and I imagine the times when life was much slower and thorough ! Tony Wilson

Mr Slocums enterprise and marine architectural skills are only matched by his intrepid navigational and boat handling. A far cry from current single handed, non-stop circumnavigations but, I imagine, much more fun

if you like sailing, then this is the original single adventurer story you must read. Simple as that.The story of a true sailor who was a real sailor making a living from the old days of sail.

a story of a sailor rebuilding a boat and setting off to sail single handed around the world in it and this was 1895!You have to marvel in the audacity and confidence of the undertaking.Oh! and he encounters unpleasant locals several times in the process

Anyone who likes boats should read this book. Anyone who doesn't like boats would also enjoy this book. Written in a delightful way, you will feel he's an old friend whose skill, bravery,modesty and spirit is rarely seen. A true life adventure. Read it.

Great little tale of circumnavigation in a sailing ship aloneBy far the best bit is negotiating cape horn with the rather tense episode with the "savages"Never a dull moment on this voyage -well worth the read

An absolute classic. Very readable account of a very brave adventurous man.

If this book doesn't inspire you to sail around the world, nothing will! Fabulous account of fear, excitement and bravery. It stands alone.

bought this for a friend as i had read it and found it brilliant