Today in History

June 27, 1898

First solo circumnavigation

On June 27, 1898, a 37 feet sloop-rigged fishing boat named Spray sailed into Newport, Rhode Island. It was by all accounts an unremarkable boat except for one thing: its captain, Joshua Slocum, had just circumnavigated the world, a distance of more than 46,000 miles, by himself. His book on the journey, published in 1900, Sailing Alone Around the World remains a classic adventure tale. Slocum disappeared at sea in November 1909 during a trip to South America on the Spray.

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