Sailing Alone Around the World

The most detailed and celebrated autobiographical account of a solo circumnavigation of the globe in the age of sail. Slocum, a naturalized American, designed, built, provisioned, and skippered his small sloop, the Spray, around the world in 1895-1898. The book chronicles every facet of the voyage from technical specifics of the ship and supplies to lively accounts of the people and places Slocum visited along his 46,000-mile journey. Sailing Alone was, in its own time, a very popular book, and it remains so today, having been reprinted many times throughout the 20th century. However, this is the first high-quality facsimile reproduction to date, faithfully reproducing the original text, art, and striking cover of the rare first edition.

CHAPTER I
  A blue-nose ancestry with Yankee proclivities
  Youthful fondness for the sea
  Master of the ship Nothern Light
  Loss of the Aquidneck
  Return home from Brazil in the canoe Liberdade
  "The gift of a "Ship"
  The rebuilding of the Spray
  Conundrums in regard to finance and calking
  The launching of the Spray
CHAPTER II
  Failure as a fisherman
  A voyage around the world projected
  From Boston to Gloucester
  Fitting out for the Ocean voyage
  Half of a dory for a ship's boat
  The run from Gloucester to Nova Scotia
  A shaking up in home waters
  Amoung old friends
CHAPTER III
  Good-by to the American coast
  Off Sable Island in a fog
  In the open sea
  The man in the moon takes an interest in the voyage
  The first fit of loneliness
  The Spray encounters La Vaguisa
  A bottle of wine from the Spaniard
  A bout of words with the captain of the Java
  The steamship Olympia spoken
  Arrival at the Azores
CHAPTER IV
  Squally weather in the Azores
  High living
  Delirious from cheese and plums
  The pilot of the Pinta
  At Gibraltar
  Compliments exchanged with the British navy
  A picnic on the Morocco shore
CHAPTER V
  Sailing from Gibraltar with the assistance of her Majesty's tug
  The Spray's course changed from the Suez Canal to Cape Horn
  Chased by a Moorish pirate
  A Comparison with Columbus
  The Canary Islands
  The Cape Verde Islands
  Sea life
  Arrival at Pernambuco
  A bill against the Brazilian Government
  Preparing for the stormy weather of the cape
CHAPTER VI
  Departure from Rio de Janeiro
  The Spray ashore on the sands of Uruguay
  A narrow escape from shipwreck
  The boy who found a sloop
  The Spray floated but somewhat damaged
  Courtesies from the British consul at Maldonado
  A warm greeting at Montevideo
  An excursion to Buenos Aires
  Shortening the Mast and bowsprit
CHAPTER VII
  Weighing anchor at Buenos Aires
  An outburst of emotion at the mouth of the Plate
  Submerged by a great wave
  A stormy entrance to the strait
  Captain Samblich's happy gift of a bag of carpet-tacks
  Off Cape Froward
  Chased by Indians from Fortescue Bay
  "A miss-shot for "Black Pedro"
  Taking in supplies of wood and water at Three Island Cove
  Animal life
CHAPTER VIII
  From Cape Pillar to the Pacific
  Driven by a tempest toward Cape Horn
  Captain Slocum's greatest sea adventure
  Reaching the strait again by way of Cockburn Channel
  Some savages find the carpet-tacks
  Danger from firebrands
  A series of fierce williwaws
  Again sailing westward
CHAPTER IX
  Repairing the Spray's sails
  Savages and an obstreperous anchor
  A spider flight
  An encounter with Black Pedro
  A visit to the steamship Colombia
  On the defensive against a fleet of canoes
  A record of voyages through the strait
  A chance cargo of tallow
CHAPTER X
  Running to Port Angosto in a snow-storm
  A defective sheet-rope places the Spray in peril
  The Spray as a target for a Fuegian arrow
  The island of Alan Erric
  Again in the open Pacific
  The run to the island of Juan Fernandez
  An absentee king
  At Robinson Crusoe's achorage
CHAPTER XI
  The islanders of Juan Fernandez entertained with Yankee doughnuts
  The beauties of Robinson Crusoe's realm
  The mountain monument to Alexander Selkirk
  Robinson Crusoe's cave
  A stroll with the children of the island
  Westward ho! with a friendly gale
  A month's free sailing with the Southern Cross and the sun for guides
  Sighting the Marquesas
  Experience in reckoning
CHAPTER XII
  Seventy-two days without a port
  Whales and birds
  A peep into the Spray's galley
  Flying-fish for breakfast
  A welcome at Apia
  A visit from Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson
  At Vailma
  Samoan hospitality
  Arrested for fast riding
  An amusing merry-go-round
  Teachers and pupils of Papauta College
  At the mercy of sea-nymphs
CHAPTER XIII
  Samoan royalty
  King Malietoa
  Good-by to friends at Vailima
  Leaving Fiji to the south
  "Arrival at Newcastle, Australia"
  The yachts of Sydney
  A ducking on the Spray
  Commodore Foy presents the sloop with a new suit of sails
  On to Melbourne
  A shark that proved to be valuable
  A change of course
  "The "Rain of Blood"
  In Tasmania
CHAPTER XIV
  A testimonial from a lady
  Cruising round Tasmania
  The skipper delivers his first lecture on the voyage
  Abundant provisions
  An inspection of the Spray for safety at Devonport
  Again at sydney
  Northward bound for Torres Strait
  An amateur shipwreck
  Friends on the Australian coast
  Perils of a coral sea
CHAPTER XV
  "Arrival at Port Denison, Queensland"
  A lecture
  Reminiscences of Captain Cook
  Lecturing for charity at Cooktown
  A happy escape from a coral reef
  "Home Island, Sunday Island, Bird Island"
  An American pearl-fisherman
  Jubilee at Thursday Island
  A new ensign for the Spray
  Booby Island
  Across the Indian Ocean
  Christmas Island
CHAPTER XVI
  A call for careful navigation
  Three hours' steering in twenty-three days
  Arrival at the Kelling Cocos Islands
  A curious chapter of social history
  A welcome from the children of the islands
  Cleaning and painting the Spray on the beach
  A Mohammedan blessing for a pot of jam
  Keeling as a paradise
  A risky adventure in a small boat
  Away to Rodiguez
  Taken for Antichrist
  The govener calms the fears of the people
  A lecture
  A convent in the hills
CHAPTER XVII
  A clean bill of health at Mauritus
  Sailing the voyage over again in the opera-house
  A newly discovered plant named in honor of the Spray's skipper
  A party of young ladies out for a sail
  A bivouac on deck
  A warm reception at Durban
  A friendly cross-examination by Henry M. Stanley
  Three wise Boers seek proof of the flatness of the earth
  Leaving South Africa
CHAPTER XVIII
  "Rounding the "Cape of Storms" in olden time"
  A rough Christmas
  The Spray ties up for three months' rest at Cape Town
  A railway trip to the Transvaal
  President Kruger's odd definition of the Spray's voyage
  His terse sayings
  Distinguished guests on the Spray
  Cocoanut fiber as a padlock
  Courtesies from the admiral of the Queen's navy
  Off for St. Helena
  Land in sight
CHAPTER XIX
  In the isle of Napoleon's exile
  Two lectures
  A guest in the ghost-room at Plantation House
  An excursion to historic Longwood
  "Coffee in the husk, and a goat to shell it"
  The Spray's ill luck with animals
  A prejudice against small dogs
  "A rat, the Boston spider, and the cannibal cricket"
  Ascension Island
CHAPTER XX
  "In the favoring current off Cape St. Roque,Brazil"
  All at sea regarding the Spanish-American war<
  The light on Trinidad
  A charming introduction to Grenada
  Talks to friendly auditors
CHAPTER XXI
  Clearing for home
  In the calm belt
  A sea covered with sargasso
  The jibstay parts in a gale
  Welcomed by a tornado off Fire Island
  A change of plan
  Arrival at Newport
  End of a cruise of over forty-six thousand miles
  The Spray again at Fairhaven
APPENDIX
  "LINES AND SAIL-PLAN OF THE "SPRAY"
    Her pedigree so far as known
    The lines of the Spray
    Her self-steering qualities
    Sail-plan and steering-gear
    An unprecedented feat
    A final word of cheer to would-be navigators