Sailing Alone Around the World: Stanfords Travel Classics

In 1895, at the age of 51, Captain Joshua Slocum left Boston on his sloop Spray. Three years later, after sailing single-handed 46,000 miles around the world, Slocum returned to Newport, Rhode Island. Through this, he was revered by sailors and adventurers around the world. The story of this journey is a classic tale of achievement in the face of overwhelming odds. ""Walden' without the training wheels." -Nathaniel Philbrick

Sailing Alone Around The World List of Illustrations
Introduction by Thomas Philbrick
Suggestions for Further Reading
A Note on the Text and Illustrations
Sailing Alone around the World
Chapter I A blue-nose ancestry with Yankee proclivities
Youthful fondness for the sea
Master of the ship Norhtern Light
Loss of the Aquidneck
Return home from Brazil in the canoe Liberdale
The gift of a "ship"
The rebuilding of the Spray
Conundrums in regard to finance and calking
The launching of the Spray

Chapter II
Failure as a fisherman
A voyage around the world projected
From Boston to Gloucester
Fitting out for the ocean voyage
Half of a dory for a ship's boat
The run from Gloucester to Nova Scotia
A shaking up in home waters
Among old friends

Chapter III
Good-by to the American coast
Off Sable Island in a fog
In the open sea
The man in the moon takes an interest in the voyage
The first fit of loneliness
The Spray encounters La Vaguisa
A bottle of wine from the Spaniard
A bout of words with the captain of the Java
The steamship Olympia spoken
Arrival at the Azores

Chapter IV
Squally weather in the Azores
High living
Delirious from cheese and plums
The pilot of the Pinta
At Gibraltar
Compliments exchanged with the British navy
A picnic on the Morocco shore

Chapter V Sailing from Gibraltar with assistance of her Majesty's tug
The Spray's course changed from the Suez Canal to Cape Horn
Chased by a Moorish pirate
A comparison with Columbus
The Canary Islands
The Cape Verde Islands
Sea life
Arrival at Pernambuco
A bill against the Brazilian government
Preparing for the stormy weather of the cape

Chapter VI
Departure from Rio de Janeiro
The Spray ashore on the sands of Uruguay
A narrow escape from shipwreck
The boy who found a sloop
The Spray floated but somewhat damaged
Courtesies from the British consul at Maldonado
A warm greeting at Montevideo
An excursion to Buenos Aires
Shortening the mast and bowsprit

Chapter VII
Weighing anchor at Buenos Aires
An outburst of emotion at the mouth of the Plate
Submerged by a great wave
A stormy entrance to the strait
Captain Samblich's happy gift of a bag of carpet-tacks
Off Cape Froward
Chased by Indians from Fortescue Bay
A miss-shot for "Black Pedro"
Taking in supplies of wood and water at Three Island Cove
Animal life

Chapter VIII
From Cape Pillar into the Pacific
Driven by a tempest toward Cape Horn
Captain Slocum's greatest sea adventure
Reaching the strait again by way of Cockburn Channel
Some savages find the carpet-tacks
Danger from firebrands
A series of fierce williwaws
Again sailing westward

Chapter IX
Repairing the Spray's sails
Savages and an obstreperous anchor
A spider-fight
An encounter with Black Pedro
A visit to the steamship Colombia
On the defensive against a fleet of canoes
A record of voyages through the strait
A chance cargo of tallow

Chapter X
Running to Port Angosto in a snow-storm
A defective sheet-rope places the Spray in peril
The Spray as a target for a Fuegian arrow
The island of Alan Erric
Again in the open Pacific
The run to the island of Juan Fernandez
An absentee king
At Robinson Crusoe's anchorage

Chapter XI
The islanders of Juan Fernandez entertained with Yankee doughnuts
The beauties of Robinson Crusoe's realm
The mountain monument to Alexander Selkirk
Robinson Crusoe's cave
A stroll with the children of the island
Westward ho! with a friendly gale
A month's free sailing with the Southern Cross and the sun for guides
Sighting the Marquesas
Experience in reckoning

Chapter XII
Seventy-two days without a port
Whales and birds
A peep into the Spray's galley
Flying-fish for breakfast
A welcome at Apia
A visit from Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson
At Vailima
Samoan hospitality
Arrested for fast riding
An amusing merry-go-round
Teachers and pupils of Papauta College
At the mercy of sea-nymphs

Chapter XIII
Samoan royalty
King Malietoa
Good-bye to friends at Vailima
Leaving Fiji to the south
Arrival at Newcastle, Australia
The yachts of Sydney
A ducking on the Spray
Commodore Foy presents the sloop with a new suit of sails
On to Melbourne
A shark that proved to be valuable
A change of course
The "Rain of Blood"
In Tasmania

Chapter XIV
A testimonial from a lady
Cruising round Tasmania
The skipper delivers his first lecture on the voyage
Abundant provisions
An inspection of the Spray for safety at Devonport
Again at Sydney
Northward bound for Torres Strait
An amateur shipwreck
Friends on the Autralian coast
Perils of a coral sea

Chapter XV
Arrival at Port Denison, Queensland
A lecture
Reminiscences of Captain Cook
Lecturing for charity at Cooktown
A happy escape from a coral reef
Home Island, Sunday Island, Bird Island
An American pearl-fisherman
Jubilee at Thursday Island
A new ensign for the Spray
Booby Island
Across the Indian Ocean
Christmas Island

Chapter XVI
A call for careful navigation
Three hours' steering in twenty-three days
Arrival at the Keeling Cocos Islands
A curious chapter of social history
A welcome from the children of the islands
Cleaning and painting the Spray on the beach
A Mohammedan blessing for a pot of jam
Keeling as a paradise
A risky adventure in a small boat
Away to Rodriguez
Taken for Antichrist
The governor calms the fears of the people
A lecture
A convent in the hills

Chapter XVII
A clean bill of health at Mauritius
Sailing the voyage over again in the opera-house
A newly discovered plant named in honor of the Spray's skipper
A party of young ladies out for a sail
A bivouac on deck
A warm reception at Durban
A friendly cross-examination by Henry M. Stanley
Three wise Boers seek proof of the flatness of the earth
Leaving South Africa

Chapter XVIII
Rounding the "Cape of Storms" in olden time
A rough Christmas
The Spray ties up for a three months' rest at Cape Town
A railway trip to the Transvaal
President Kruger's odd definition of the Spray's voyage
His terse sayings
Distinguished guests on the Spray
Cocoanut fiber as a padlock
Courtesies from the admiral of the Queen's navy
Off for St. Helena
Land in sight

Chapter XIX
In the isle of Napoleon's exile
Two lectures
A guest in the ghost-room at Plantation House
An excursion to historic Longwood
Coffee in the husk, and a goat to shell it
The Spray's ill luck with animals
A prejudice against small dogs
A rat, the Boston spider, and the cannibal cricket
Ascension Island

Chapter XX
In the favoring current of Cape St. Roque, Brazil
All at sea regarding the Spanish-American war
An exchange of signals with the battle-ship Oregon
Off Dreyfus's prison on Devil's Island
Reappearance to the Spray of the north star
The light on Trinidad
A charming introduction to Grenada
Talks to friendly auditors

Chapter XXI
Clearing for home
In the calm belt
A sea covered with sargasso
The jibstay parts in a gale
Welcomed by a tornado off Fire Island
A change of plan
Arrival at Newport
End of a cruise of over forty-six thousand miles
The Spray again at Fairhaven

Appendix
Lines and Sail-Plan of the "Spray"
Her pedigree so far as known
The lines of the Spray
Her self-steering qualities
Sail-plan and steering-gear
An unprecedented feat
A cheer to would-be navigators

Notes