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If you like being on the water give this one a read. A good adventure story that I will most likely read again.
I first read Joshua Slocum's book as a young boy and it still gives me the thrill of his voyage, even after many years. I am now 78 years old. The story is remarkable with Slocum building 'Spray' from a wreck and sailing it single handed around the world. Michael Brooker.
It is anything else but that, from today's perspective. Newspapers followed his progress, and in port after port he made new friends and learned new things. I first read this book about 30 years ago, I think. With his family grown, he accepted a friend's gift of a sloop that lay decaying in a field. But cliches come into being because they're true enough to invite over-use, and in this book's case the words fit perfectly. First published in 1900, Slocum's prose reads fresh and crisp; and his sense of humor pleases me with its dryness. Then he set out in her alone, to circumnavigate the globe.He spent nearly three years in that successful effort.
He'd been busy looking after his ship, its cargo, and his family (who sailed with him). I vaguely remember thinking it was dry, and now I'm amazed at myself. Seasoned world traveler though he was, I got the feeling as I read that he hadn't had time for much of that learning on earlier voyages. No wonder it's still around, over a century later.Slocum, who worked his way up to shipmaster and owner after starting before the mast in the days when sailing ships still ruled international commerce, reached middle age in a different era. Slocum rebuilt the SPRAY completely. Now, off on his own with a freedom he hadn't known before, he savored each new experience and then recorded it for eventual publication."The author made me feel that I was there, too," is a cliche. A classic for good reason.
This is a book that's easy to get lost in and holds your attention until the very last page. This book is a wonderful find. I read it while on the beach. Very readable and compelling, the author unwittingliy tells the tale of his adventures around the world on a small boat that he built with his own two hands in New England near the turn of the century. The book is without pretense, at times is hard to imagine, yet the language is so simple and straightforward how can we do anything but believe his stories written in a down home style. I recommend that you do the same. The sound of the lapping waves makes the book that much more enjoyable.
I just this past friday saw a replica of the Spray, the vessel on which he made this unprecedented voyage, owned by an old sailor. This story is the greatest sailing story I have ever heard of. The replica is named Joshua, and sails from Alameda California. Joshua Slocum is so far out and such an indomitable human being that it is difficult to fathom without reading the story. This book is truly an exercise in understatement.A large society of Slocum afficianados exists now, largely in response to this one book. I saw it because it was at the annual wooden boat festival in Port Townsend, Washington. Spectacular.
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