Friday, September 14, 2012

Reading "Sailing Around the World Alone"

Well I have been reading "Sailing Around the World Alone" again for the 4th time.  Written by Joshua Slocum at the turn of the last century about being the first one to sail around the world single handed.

Slocum reading aboard the S/V Spray

I am amazed by his writing style and elegance for simplicity and self-reliance.  For example from his book when he thought he might be attack by pirates,

"Now, it is well known that one cannot step on a tack without saying something about it. A pretty good Christian will whistle when he steps on the "commercial end" of a carpet-tack; a savage will howl and claw the air, and that was just what happened that night about twelve o'clock, while I was asleep in the cabin, where the savages thought they "had me," sloop and all, but changed their minds when they stepped on deck, for then they thought that I or somebody else had them. I had no need of a dog; they howled like a pack of hounds. I had hardly use for a gun. They jumped pell-mell, some into their canoes and some into the sea, to cool off, I suppose, and there was a deal of free language over it as they went. I fired several guns when I came on deck, to let the rascals know that I was home, and then I turned in again, feeling sure I should not be disturbed any more by people who left in so great a hurry."

His little boat a gift from an aging friend was called the Spray.


He rebuilt the Spray, all 36 ft of her by his own hand when he was 51.  The book chronicles the three year circumnavigation, and is a wonderful read.   Slocum was lost at sea five year after writing the book aboard the Spray.

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