• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

The Living on Earth Almanac

Air Date: Week of

This week, facts about... 100 years ago, Joshua Slocum became the first person on record to sail solo around the world.

Transcript

CURWOOD: A hundred years ago, Joshua Slocum became the first person on record to sail solo around the world. He was 51 years old when he set out from East Boston. More than 3 years and 46,000 miles later, he returned to Massachusetts on July 3rd, 1898. Captain Slocum had circumnavigated the globe several times before, but never alone or in such a small vessel. His 36-foot sloop was called Spray, a rebuilt oyster boat which itself was more than 100 years old at the time of the voyage. Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Captain Slocum went to sea at age 16. He was a sailor who didn't know how to swim, and writer who didn't know how to spell, as he had about a 3rd-grade education. That did not keep him from writing about his record-setting adventure, full of tales of pirates and squalls. His book, called Sailing Alone Around the World, was compared to Thoreau's Walden for its dry wit. It was an immediate best-seller and is still in print today. Joshua Slocum disappeared in 1909 aboard the Spray enroute to South America. And for this week that's the Living on Earth Almanac.

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth