SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD

[Illustration: The "Spray" from a photograph taken in Australian waters.]

SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD

By Captain Joshua Slocum

Illustrated by THOMAS FOGARTY AND GEORGE VARIAN

[Illustration]

TO THE ONE WHO SAID: "THE 'SPRAY' WILL COME BACK."

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

A blue-nose ancestry with Yankee proclivities--Youthful fondness for the sea--Master of the ship _Northern 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--Among 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 into 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-fight--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 anchorage.

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 Vailima--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 Keeling 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 Rodriguez--Taken for Antichrist--The governor calms the fears of the people--A lecture--A convent in the hills.

CHAPTER XVII

A clean bill of health at Mauritius--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

Bounding the "Cape of Storms" in olden time--A rough Christmas--The _Spray_ ties up for a 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