Canadian navigator Joshua Slocum made the first solo circumnavigation of the globe in a small boat on June 27, 1898. The adventurer landed in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, after more than 74,000 kilometers of travel across the seas. In his opinion, it was hard work but safe enough. An experienced sailor, Joshua started sailing as an apprentice when he was just 12 years old. At 16, he left Canada and went to live in England, working in the transport of goods to the United States. In 1887 his ship sank off Paraná and Joshua had a passage through Brazilian soil, leaving the country on the date slavery ended.

The decision to sail around the world was born out of the challenge of accomplishing something no one had ever done before. In 1894, the navigator began to devote himself to the renovation of a fishing boat about eleven meters long. The sailboat was called Spray. On April 24, 1895, Joshua left Boston, USA, for a long solo adventure.

About the departure, Joshua writes in his book that he felt there was no turning back and that he embarked on an adventure whose meaning he fully understood. It was more than three years aboard the Spray without radio and without financial support. // The navigator passed through Nova Scotia, the Azores, Gibraltar, South America, Australia, South Africa and the West Indies.

The adventure became a book under the title in Portuguese “Alone around the world”.

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The story today

Essay: Beatrice Evaristo

Presentation: Dilson Santa Fe

sound design: Jailton Sodre

Editing:Sheily Noleto

Web publishing: Patricia Serrao

Unified date:
Tuesday, June 27, 2023 – 06:00