SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD
BY JOSHUA SLOCUM
In 1893, the retired American/Canadian sea captain Joshua Slocum bought what we might now call “a project boat” – the 37ft (11m) oyster sloop Spray – spent a year restoring her, then became the first person in history to, as the title has it, sail around the world alone, from 1895-8. His voyage memoir is probably the most famous sailing book of all time, and tells of fog, fear, loneliness, gear failure, pirates, strandings and more. The haphazard, 46,000-mile voyage, starting in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, took boat and skipper is in pdf format and free, so we’ll forgive the alteration of the title to Spray. The real title is, and will always be, Sailing Alone Around the World.
