His wonderfully entertaining tale features close calls with pirates off Gibraltar, breakfasting on flying fish in the Pacific, and visiting with explorer Henry Stanley in South Africa.īlack Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail, by W. Setting off from Boston in 1895 in his 36-foot wooden sloop, Spray, Slocum sailed some 46,000 miles over three years. Slocum’s iconic account of his solo trip around the globe-the first person to accomplish such a feat-can be found on almost every sailor’s bookshelf and was a prime inspiration to Graham. Sailing Alone Around the World, by Joshua Slocum, 1900. Here are 10 additional books-the latest installment in our ongoing Around the World in Books series-about adventurous sailors who test their mettle on the high seas. Graham is not the only seafarer with an extraordinary story.

The book not only inspired countless mariners’ dreams but, as Graham also wrote, created “memories landfalls where foreigners seldom set foot.” Gill), expands on his articles and chronicles his love story with his wife, Patti, whom he met and married along the way. Published in 1972, Graham’s best-selling memoir, Dove (co-written with Derek L.T. “I had to turning back against the trade winds was impossible.” “Could I do it? I had no choice,” he wrote. He sailed under a makeshift rig an astonishing 2,300 miles to Mauritius, off the coast of Africa. Graham almost fell overboard-without his safety harness on-in the attempt to haul the trailing mast and sails back aboard. Only 18 hours out of the Cocos Islands, a roaring storm caused Dove’s mast to buckle. The most dramatic event was his second dismasting in the Indian Ocean. ( Related: Discover stunning sailing adventures around the world.) The teen’s quest captured hearts and imaginations, and readers avidly followed his journey and the challenges he experienced. Then Dove labors up the following crest, and down we plunge again, day after day, my boat and I,” he wrote in his first article. “We sleigh-ride down into the deep trough of a trade-wind sea. Graham detailed his adventures in three National Geographic articles published between 19. He attended a memorial for a queen in Tonga, dived for shells in Fiji, safaried in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, hiked on lunar-like Ascension Island, ate piranhas in Suriname, and roamed the islands of the Galápagos.

But there were also moments of unparalleled beauty and long sojourns exploring fascinating destinations. During his 1,739 days at sea traversing 30,600 nautical miles, Graham faced hurricanes, broken masts, crushing loneliness, a near collision with a freighter, and tedious weeks wallowing in the doldrums. The mariner was only 16 years old when he set forth nearly five years earlier, on July 27, 1965. Fifty years ago, Robin Lee Graham cruised into the Los Angeles harbor and made history, becoming at the time the youngest person to sail solo around the world.

Slocum sailing around the world