Editing Joshua Slocum (section)

==The ''Spray'': First solo circumnavigation of the earth==
[[Image:Spray.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Spray (sailing vessel)|''Spray'']]]]

Slocum rebuilt the {{convert|36|ft|9|in|1|abbr=on}} [[gaff rig]]ged [[sloop]] oyster boat named ''[[Spray (sailing vessel)|Spray]]'' in [[Fairhaven, Massachusetts]], during 1891 and 1892. On June 21, 1892, he launched the painstakingly rebuilt vessel.

On April 24, 1895, he set sail from [[Boston, Massachusetts]]. In his famous book, ''[[Sailing Alone Around the World]]'',<ref name=SailingAlone>Slocum (1899), ''Sailing Alone Around the World''</ref> now considered a classic of [[travel literature]], he described his departure in the following manner:

{{quote|text=I had resolved on a voyage around the world, and as the wind on the morning of April 24, 1895 was fair, at noon I weighed anchor, set sail, and filled away from Boston, where the ''Spray'' had been moored snugly all winter. The twelve o'clock whistles were blowing just as the sloop shot ahead under full sail. A short board was made up the harbor on the port tack, then coming about she stood to seaward, with her boom well off to port, and swung past the ferries with lively heels. A photographer on the outer pier of East Boston got a picture of her as she swept by, her flag at the peak throwing her folds clear. A thrilling pulse beat high in me. My step was light on deck in the crisp air. I felt there could be no turning back, and that I was engaging in an adventure the meaning of which I thoroughly understood.}}

After an extended visit to his boyhood home at [[Brier Island, Nova Scotia|Brier Island]] and visiting old haunts on the coast of Nova Scotia, Slocum departed North America at [[Sambro Island Lighthouse]] near Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July 3, 1895.

Slocum intended sailing eastward around the world, using the [[Suez Canal]], but when he got near [[Gibraltar]] he realized that sailing through the southern Mediterranean would be too dangerous for a lone sailor because piracy was still prevalent there at the time. So he decided to sail westward, in the southern hemisphere. He headed to [[Brazil]], and then to the [[Straits of Magellan]]. At that point he was unable to start across the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] for forty days because of a storm. Eventually, he made his way to [[Australia]], sailed north along its east coast, crossed the [[Indian Ocean]], rounded the [[Cape of Good Hope]], and then headed back to North America.

Slocum navigated without a [[marine chronometer|chronometer]], instead relying on the traditional method of [[dead reckoning]] to establish [[longitude]], which required only a cheap tin clock for approximate time, and used noon-sun sights for [[latitude]]. On one long passage in the Pacific, he also famously shot a [[lunar distance (navigation)|lunar distance]] observation, decades after those observations had ceased to be commonly employed, which allowed him to check his longitude independently. However, Slocum's primary method for finding longitude was still dead reckoning, and he recorded only one lunar observation during the entire circumnavigation.

Slocum normally sailed the ''Spray'' without touching the helm. Due to the length of the sail plan relative to the hull, and the long keel, the ''Spray'' was capable of self-steering (unlike faster modern craft), and he balanced it stably on any course relative to the wind by adjusting or reefing the sails and by lashing the [[steering wheel (ship)|helm]] fast. He sailed {{convert|2000|mi|km}} west across the Indian Ocean without once touching the helm.<ref name=SailingAlone/>

More than three years later, on June 27, 1898, he returned to [[Newport, Rhode Island]], having [[circumnavigation|circumnavigated]] the world and sailing a distance of more than 46,000 miles (74,000&nbsp;km). Slocum's return went almost unnoticed. The [[Spanish–American War]], which had begun two months earlier, dominated the headlines but, after the end of major hostilities, many American newspapers published articles describing Slocum's adventure.

===''Sailing Alone Around the World''===
[[Image:Sailing-Alone-Around-the-World-cover.jpg|thumb|left|Original cover 1900.]]
[[File:Spray1901ErieCanal.jpg|thumb|right|Spray being hauled up the Erie Canal to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo 1901.]]

In 1899, he published his account of the voyage in ''[[Sailing Alone Around the World]]'', first serialized in ''The Century Magazine'' and then in several book-length editions. Reviewers received the slightly anachronistic [[Age of Sail|age-of-sail]] adventure story enthusiastically. [[Arthur Ransome]] went so far as to declare: "Boys who do not like this book ought to be drowned at once."<ref>[http://www.mywire.com/a/Oxford-Companion-World-Exploration/Slocum-Joshua/9516558 Arthur Ransome on ''Sailing Alone Around the World'']</ref> In his review, Sir [[Edwin Arnold]] wrote, "I do not hesitate to call it the most extraordinary book ever published."

Slocum's book deal was an integral part of his journey. His publisher had provided Slocum with an extensive on-board library, and Slocum wrote several letters to his editor from distant points around the globe. His ''Sailing Alone'' won him widespread fame in the English-speaking world, and he was one of eight invited speakers at a dinner in honor of [[Mark Twain]] in December 1900. Slocum hauled the ''Spray'' up the Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York, for the [[Pan-American Exposition]] in the summer of 1901, and he was well compensated for participating in the fair.