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Joshua Slocum | |
|---|---|
 FromThe Century Magazine, Sept. 1899 | |
| Born | Joshua Slocomb (1844-02-20)February 20, 1844 |
| Disappeared | November 14, 1909(1909-11-14) (aged 65) At sea |
| Known for | First solo circumnavigation of the world (1895–1898) |
| Spouse(s) | Virginia Albertina Walker (m. 1871–1884), Henrietta Slocum (m. 1886–1909) |
| Children | Victor Slocum Benjamin Slocum Jessie Slocum James Slocum |
| Parent(s) | John Slocomb Sarah Southern |
| Relatives | Joshua Slocum (Grandfather) |
Joshua Slocum (February 20, 1844[1] – on or shortly after November 14, 1909) was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world. He was aNova Scotian-born,naturalised American seaman and adventurer, and a noted writer. In 1900 he wrote a book about his journey,Sailing Alone Around the World, which became an international best-seller. Hedisappeared in November 1909 while aboard his boat, theSpray.
Joshua Slocum was born on February 20, 1844,[1] inMount Hanley,Annapolis County, Nova Scotia (officially recorded as Wilmot Station),[1] a community on theNorth Mountain within sight of theBay of Fundy. The fifth of eleven children of John Slocomb[1][2] and Sarah Jane Slocombenée Southern,[1] Joshua descended, on his father's side, from aQuaker known as "John the Exile", who left the United States shortly after 1780 because of his opposition to theAmerican War for Independence.[1][3] As part of theLoyalist migration to Nova Scotia, the Slocombes were granted 500 acres (2.0 km2) of farmland inNova Scotia's Annapolis County.
Joshua Slocum was born in the family's farmhouse inMount Hanley and learned to read and write at the nearbyMount Hanley School. His earliest ventures on the water were made on coastal schooners operating out of the small ports such as Port George and Cottage Cove near Mount Hanley along theBay of Fundy.
When Joshua was eight years old, the Slocomb family (Joshua changed the spelling of his last name later in his life)[4] moved from Mount Hanley toBrier Island inDigby County, at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. Slocum's maternal grandfather was the keeper of thelighthouse at Southwest Point there. His father, a stern man and strict disciplinarian, took up making leather boots for the local fishermen, and Joshua helped in the shop. However, the boy found the scent of salt air much more alluring than the smell of shoe leather. He yearned for a life of adventure at sea, away from his demanding father and his increasingly chaotic life at home among so many brothers and sisters.
He made several attempts to run away from home, finally succeeding, at age fourteen, by hiring on as acabin boy and cook on a fishingschooner, but he soon returned home. In 1860, after the birth of the eleventh Slocombe child and the subsequent death of his kindly mother, Joshua, then sixteen, left home for good. He and a friend signed on atHalifax as ordinary seamen on a merchant ship bound forDublin, Ireland.
From Dublin, he crossed toLiverpool to become an ordinary seaman on the Britishmerchant shipTangier (also recorded asTanjore), bound for China. During two years as a seaman he roundedCape Horn twice, landed atBatavia (now Jakarta) in theDutch East Indies, and visited theMaluku Islands,Manila, Hong Kong,Saigon, Singapore, and San Francisco. While at sea, he studied for theBoard of Trade examination, and, at the age of eighteen, he received his certificate as a fully qualifiedSecond Mate. Slocum quickly rose through the ranks to become aChief Mate on British ships transporting coal and grain between the British Isles and San Francisco.
In 1865, he settled in San Francisco, became an American citizen, and, after a period spentsalmon fishing andfur trading in theOregon Territory of the northwest, he returned to the sea to pilot a schooner in the coastal trade between San Francisco andSeattle. His first blue-water command, in 1869, was thebarqueWashington, which he took across the Pacific, from San Francisco to Australia, and home viaAlaska.
He sailed for thirteen years out of the port of San Francisco, transporting mixed cargo to China, Australia, theSpice Islands, and Japan. Between 1869 and 1889 he was the master of eight vessels, the first four of which (theWashington, theConstitution, theBenjamin Aymar and theAmethyst) he commanded in the employ of others. Later, there would be four others that he himself owned, in whole or in part.
On 9 January 1871, Slocum and theConstitution put in at Sydney.[5] There he met, courted, and married Virginia Albertina Walker. They were married on January 31, 1871 and the couple left Sydney on theConstitution the following day.[6][7] Miss Walker, quite coincidentally, was an American whose New York family had migrated west to California at the time of the1849 gold rush and eventually continued on, by ship, to settle in Australia. She sailed with Slocum, and, over the next thirteen years, the couple had seven children, all born at sea or foreign ports. Four children, sons Victor, Benjamin Aymar, and James Garfield, and daughter Jessie, survived to adulthood.
In Alaska, theWashington waswrecked when she dragged her anchor during a gale, ran ashore, and broke up. Slocum, however, at considerable risk to himself, managed to save his wife, the crew, and much of the cargo, bringing all back to port safely in the ship's open boats. The owners of the shipping company that had employed Slocum were so impressed by this feat of ingenuity and leadership, they gave him the command of theConstitution which he sailed to Hawaii and the west coast ofMexico.
His next command was theBenjamin Aymar, a merchant vessel in theSouth Seas trade. However, the owner, strapped for cash, sold the vessel out from under Slocum, and he and Virginia found themselves stranded in thePhilippines without a ship.
While in the Philippines, in 1874, under a commission from a British architect, Slocum organized native workers to build a 150-tonsteamer in the shipyard atSubic Bay. In partial payment for the work, he was given the ninety-ton schooner,Pato (Spanish for "Duck"), the first ship he could call his own.
Ownership of thePato afforded Slocum the kind of freedom and autonomy he had never previously experienced. Hiring a crew, he contracted to deliver a cargo toVancouver in British Columbia. Thereafter, he used thePato as a general freight carrier along the west coast of North America and in voyages back and forth between San Francisco and Hawaii. During this period, Slocum also fulfilled a long-held ambition to become a writer, and became a temporary correspondent for theSan Francisco Bee.
The Slocums sold thePato in Honolulu in the spring of 1878. Returning to San Francisco, they purchased theAmethyst. He worked this ship until June 23, 1881.[8]
The Slocums next bought a third share in theNorthern Light 2. This large clipper was 233 feet in length, 44 feet beam, 28 feet in the hold. It was capable of carrying 2000 tons on three decks. Although Joshua Slocum called this ship "my best command", it was a command plagued with mutinies and mechanical problems. Under troubling legal circumstances (caused by his alleged treatment of the chief mutineer) he sold his share in theNorthern Light 2 in 1883.[9]
The Slocum family continued on their next ship, the 326-tonAquidneck. In 1884, Slocum's wife Virginia became ill aboard theAquidneck inBuenos Aires and died. After sailing to Massachusetts, Slocum left his three youngest children, Benjamin Aymar, Jessie, and Garfield in the care of his sisters; his oldest son Victor continued as his first mate.[10]
In 1886, at age 42, Slocum married his 24-year-old cousin, Henrietta "Hettie" Elliott. The Slocum family, with the exception of Jessie and Benjamin Aymar, again took to the sea aboard theAquidneck, bound forMontevideo, Uruguay. Slocum's second wife would find life at sea much less appealing than his first. A few days into Henrietta's first voyage, theAquidneck sailed through a hurricane. By the end of this first year, the crew had contractedcholera, and they were quarantined for six months.[11] Later, Slocum was forced to defend his ship from pirates, one of whom he shot and killed; following which he was tried and acquitted of murder. Next, theAquidneck was infected withsmallpox, leading to the death of three of the crew. Disinfecting of the ship was performed at considerable cost. Shortly afterward, near the end of 1887, theAquidneck was wrecked in southern Brazil.[11][12]
After being stranded in Brazil with his wife and sons Garfield and Victor, he started building a boat that could sail them home. He used local materials, salvaged materials from theAquidneck, and worked with local workers. The boat was launched on May 13, 1888, the very day slavery wasabolished in Brazil, and therefore the ship was given the nameLiberdade, the Portuguese word for freedom.It was an unusual 35-foot (11 m)junk-rigged design which he described as "halfCape Ann dory and half Japanesesampan".[12] He and his family began their voyage back to the United States, his son Victor (15) being the mate.
After fifty-five days at sea and 5510 miles,[13] the Slocums reached Cape Roman,South Carolina[14] and continued inland to Washington D.C. for the winter and finally reaching Boston via New York in 1889.[12] This was the last time Henrietta sailed with the family. In 1890, Slocum published his accounts of these adventures inVoyage of the Liberdade.[12][15]
In the northern winter of 1893–94, Slocum undertook what he described as, at that time, being "the hardest voyage that I have ever made, without any exception at all."[16] It involved delivering the steam-powered torpedo boatDestroyer from the east coast of the United States toBrazil.
Destroyer was a ship 130 feet (40 m) in length, conceived by the Swedish-American inventor and mechanical engineerJohn Ericsson, and intended for the defence of harbours and coastal waters. Equipped in the early 1880s, with sloping armour plate and a bow-mounted submarine gun, it was an evolution of theMonitor warship type of the American Civil War.Destroyer was intended to fire an early form of torpedo at an opposing ship from a range of 300 feet (91 m), and was a "vessel of war partially armored to attack bows-on at short range."[17]
Despite the loss of theAquidneck, and the privations of his family's voyage in the self-builtLiberdade, Slocum retained a fondness for Brazil. During 1893, Brazil was faced with a political crisis inRio Grande do Sul, and an attempt at civil war that was intensified by therevolt of the country's navy in September.[18]
Slocum agreed to a request by the Brazilian government to deliver theDestroyer toPernambuco, Brazil, with financial and vindictive motives. As Slocum describes, his contract with the commander of government forces at Pernambuco was, "to go against the rebel fleet, and sink them all, if we could find them – big and little – for a handsome sum of gold ..." Slocum also saw the possibility of getting even with the "arch rebel" Admiral Melo (of whom he writes as "Mello"): "Confidentially: I was burning to get a rake at Mello and hisAquideban. He it was, who in that ship expelled my bark, theAquidneck, fromIlha Grande some years ago, under the cowardly pretext that we might have sickness on board. But that story has been told. I was burning to let him know and palpably feel that this time I had in dynamite instead of hay".
Towed by theSantuit, Slocum and a small crew aboard theDestroyer leftSandy Hook,New Jersey, on 7 December 1893. The following day the ship was already taking on water: "A calamity has overtaken us. The ship's top seams are opening and one of the new sponsons, the starboard one, is already waterlogged." Despite all hands pumping and bailing, by midnight the seas were extinguishing the fires in the boilers which were kept alight only by throwing on rounds of pork fat and tables and chairs from the vessel.
With a storm continuing to blow on the 9th, the crew was able to lower the level of water in the hold and plug some of the holes and leaks. The bailing out of water, using a large improvised canvas bag, continued from the 9th to the 13th and succeeded in maintaining the level of water in the hold below 3 feet (1 m). On the 13th they were again hit by a storm and cross seas and had to bail all night. On the 14th, heavy seas disabled the rudder. By the afternoon of 15 December, theDestroyer was to the south-west ofPuerto Rico, heading for Martinique, and still weathering storms.
By that time, with the fires in the boilers extinguished, all hands were bailing for their lives: "The main hull of theDestroyer is already a foot (30cm) under water, and going on down". The crew had no other option than to keep bailing and try to keep the ship afloat, as the vessel "could not be insured for the voyage; nor would any company insure a life on board". By the morning of the 16th the storm had abated, allowing theDestroyer to anchor to the south of Puerto Rico.
Although the ship's best steam pump had been put out of action on 19 December, more favourable seas allowed the crew to reachMartinique, where repairs were made before again setting sail on 5 January 1894. On 18 January, theDestroyer arrived atFernando de Noronha, an island some 175 miles (280 km) from the coast of Brazil, before finally reachingRecife, Pernambuco, on the 20th. Slocum wrote: "My voyage home from Brazil in the canoeLiberdade, with my family for crew and companions, some years ago, although a much longer voyage was not of the same irksome nature."
At Pernambuco, theDestroyer joined up with the Brazilian navy and the crew was again engaged in repairs as the long tow in heavy seaways had severed rivets at the bow, resulting in leaks. Wet powder led to a failed test-firing of the submarine gun and the ship was grounded to remove the projectile. But the strain of the swell led to a further leak. Following further repairs, theDestroyer made for Bahia with replenishments of powder for the Brazilian fleet, arriving on 13 February. Once there, however, Admiral Gonçalves of the Brazilian navy seized the ship. At the Arsenal at Bahia, an apparently incompetent alternative crew grounded theDestroyer on a rock in the basin. The vessel was holed and subsequently abandoned.
Slocum rebuilt the 36 ft 9 in (11.2 m)gaff riggedsloop oyster boat namedSpray inFairhaven, Massachusetts, during 1891 and 1892. On June 21, 1892, he launched the painstakingly rebuilt vessel.
On April 24, 1895, he set sail fromBoston, Massachusetts. In his famous book,Sailing Alone Around the World,[19] now considered a classic oftravel literature, he described his departure in the following manner:
I had resolved on a voyage around the world, and as the wind on the morning of April 24, 1895 was fair, at noon I weighed anchor, set sail, and filled away from Boston, where theSpray had been moored snugly all winter. The twelve o'clock whistles were blowing just as the sloop shot ahead under full sail. A short board was made up the harbor on the port tack, then coming about she stood to seaward, with her boom well off to port, and swung past the ferries with lively heels. A photographer on the outer pier of East Boston got a picture of her as she swept by, her flag at the peak throwing her folds clear. 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.
After an extended visit to his boyhood home atBrier Island and visiting old haunts on the coast of Nova Scotia, Slocum departed North America atSambro Island Lighthouse near Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July 3, 1895.
Slocum intended sailing eastward around the world, using theSuez Canal, but when he got nearGibraltar he realized that sailing through the southern Mediterranean would be too dangerous for a lone sailor because piracy was still prevalent there at the time. So he decided to sail westward, in the southern hemisphere. He headed toBrazil, and then to theStraits of Magellan. At that point he was unable to start across thePacific for forty days because of a storm. Eventually, he made his way toAustralia, sailed north along its east coast, crossed theIndian Ocean, rounded theCape of Good Hope, and then headed back to North America.
Slocum navigated without achronometer, instead relying on the traditional method ofdead reckoning to establishlongitude, which required only a cheap tin clock for approximate time, and used noon-sun sights forlatitude. On one long passage in the Pacific, he also famously shot alunar distance observation, decades after those observations had ceased to be commonly employed, which allowed him to check his longitude independently. However, Slocum's primary method for finding longitude was still dead reckoning, and he recorded only one lunar observation during the entire circumnavigation.
Slocum normally sailed theSpray without touching the helm. Due to the length of the sail plan relative to the hull, and the long keel, theSpray was capable of self-steering (unlike faster modern craft), and he balanced it stably on any course relative to the wind by adjusting or reefing the sails and by lashing thehelm fast. He sailed 2,000 miles (3,200 km) west across the Indian Ocean without once touching the helm.[19]
More than three years later, on June 27, 1898, he returned toNewport, Rhode Island, havingcircumnavigated the world and sailing a distance of more than 46,000 miles (74,000 km). Slocum's return went almost unnoticed. TheSpanish–American War, which had begun two months earlier, dominated the headlines but, after the end of major hostilities, many American newspapers published articles describing Slocum's adventure.
In 1899, he published his account of the voyage inSailing Alone Around the World, first serialized inThe Century Magazine and then in several book-length editions. Reviewers received the slightly anachronisticage-of-sail adventure story enthusiastically.Arthur Ransome went so far as to declare: "Boys who do not like this book ought to be drowned at once."[20] In his review, SirEdwin Arnold wrote, "I do not hesitate to call it the most extraordinary book ever published."
Slocum's book deal was an integral part of his journey. His publisher had provided Slocum with an extensive on-board library, and Slocum wrote several letters to his editor from distant points around the globe. HisSailing Alone won him widespread fame in the English-speaking world, and he was one of eight invited speakers at a dinner in honor ofMark Twain in December 1900. Slocum hauled theSpray up the Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York, for thePan-American Exposition in the summer of 1901, and he was well compensated for participating in the fair.
In 1901, Slocum's book revenues and income from public lectures provided him enough financial security to purchase a small farm inWest Tisbury, on the island ofMartha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts. After a year and a half, he found he could not adapt to a settled life and he sailed theSpray from port to port in the northeastern US during the summer and in theWest Indies during the winter, lecturing and selling books wherever he could. Slocum spent little time with his wife on Martha's Vineyard and preferred life aboard theSpray, usually wintering in the Caribbean.[21] In 1902 he was arrested in Riverton, New Jersey, on a charge of raping a twelve-year-old girl who had taken a public tour of the Spray. It emerged that the girl had not been assaulted but that Slocum may have exposed himself to her, though he said that he had no memory of the incident. He pleaded no contest to the reduced charge of indecent exposure and spent over a month in jail.[22]
Slocum and theSpray visitedSagamore Hill, the estate of US PresidentTheodore Roosevelt on the north shore of Long Island, New York. Roosevelt and his family were interested in the tales of Slocum's solocircumnavigation. The President's young son,Archie, along with a guardian, spent the next few days sailing with Slocum up to Newport aboard theSpray, which, by then, was a decrepit, weather-worn vessel. Slocum again met with President Roosevelt in May 1907, this time at theWhite House in Washington. Supposedly, Roosevelt said to him, "Captain, our adventures have been a little different." Slocum answered, "That is true, Mr. President, but I see you got here first."[23]
By 1909, Slocum's funds were running low; book revenues had tailed off. He prepared to sell his farm on Martha's Vineyard and began to make plans for a new adventure in South America. He had hopes of another book deal.[23]
On November 14, 1909,[24] Slocum set sail in theSpray fromVineyard Haven, Massachusetts, for the West Indies on one of his usual winter voyages. He had also expressed interest in starting his next adventure, exploring theOrinoco,Rio Negro andAmazon Rivers.[19] Slocum was never heard from again. In July 1910, his wife informed the newspapers that she believed he was lost at sea.
Despite being an experienced mariner, Slocum never learned to swim[25] and considered learning to swim to be useless. Many mariners shared this thought, as swimming would only be useful if land was extremely close by.
In 1924, Joshua Slocum was declared legally dead.[25]
Slocum's achievements have been well publicised and honoured. The nameSpray has become a choice for cruising yachts ever since the publication of Slocum's account of hiscircumnavigation. Over the years, many versions ofSpray have been built from the plans in Slocum's book, more or less reconstructing the sloop with various degrees of success.
Similarly, the French long-distance sailorBernard Moitessier christened his 39-foot (12 m)ketch-rigged boatJoshua in honor of Slocum. It was this boat that Moitessier sailed from Tahiti to France, and he also sailedJoshua in the 1968Sunday Times Golden Globe Race around the world, making good time, only to abandon the race near the end and sail on to the Polynesian Islands.
Ferries named in Slocum's honour (Joshua Slocum andSpray) served the twoDigby Neck runs in Nova Scotia between 1973 and 2004.[26] TheJoshua Slocum was featured in the film version ofDolores Claiborne.[27]
Anunderwater glider – anautonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), designed by theScripps Institute of Oceanography, was named after Slocum's shipSpray. It became the first AUV to cross the Gulf Stream, while operated by theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution.[28] Another AUV has been named after Slocum himself: the Slocum Electric Glider, designed by Douglas Webb of Webb Research (since 2008,Teledyne Webb Research).
In 2009, aSlocum glider, modified by Rutgers University, crossed the Atlantic in 221 days.[29] The RU27 traveled from Tuckerton, New Jersey, toBaiona, Pontevedra, Spain – the port whereChristopher Columbus landed on his return from his first voyage to the New World. Like Slocum himself, the Slocum glider is capable of traveling over thousands of kilometers. These gliders continue to be used by various research institutions, including Texas A&M University's Department of Oceanography and Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG), to explore theGulf of Mexico and otherbodies of water.[30]
A monument to Slocum exists onBrier Island, Nova Scotia, not far from his family's boot shop. He is commemorated in museum exhibits at theNew Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts, theMaritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and theMount Hanley Schoolhouse Museum near his birthplace. Several biographies about Slocum are published.
The Slocum River inDartmouth, Massachusetts, was named for him, as was a newly discovered plant inMauritius while he was there: "Returning to theSpray by way of the great flower conservatory near Moka, the proprietor, having only that morning discovered a new and hardy plant, to my great honor named it 'Slocum'".[31] Slocum himself discovered an island by accident, and named itAlan Erric Island.[32]
DuringWorld War II, aliberty ship was named after Slocum, launched fromSouth Portland, Maine in December 1944 and scrapped in 1965.[33]
Slocum was inducted into theNational Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.[34]
