Adversity for him was not something to complain about, it was something to overcome.
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fi shing boats that improved upon the popular design of the day. Years later, while coasting cargo around the South China Sea, Slocum took a year off in the Philippines to build a steam ship hull on commi ss ion . Ironicall y, in return for hi s labors he received ownership of a schooner. The rebuilding of the Spray mi ght be looked upon as a sign of desperation: desperation to return to the sea under sail no matter how small the boat and no matter what the reason; or desperation to escape the depress ing aspects of financial failure and personal unhappiness . Captain Slocum never verbalized many of these sentiments and one could hardl y have expected him to. Adversity for him was not something to complain about, it was something to overcome. Modern day voyagers can look back and speculate what it meant to Slocum to be the first man to sail around the world alone. Surely he understood the significance of hi s achievement and rightfully took pride in accomplishing something so unique. But somewhere out there in the middle of the voyage the fame mu st have become secondary-while sing ing to the porpoi ses, whil e frantica ll y rac ing pirates off Gibraltar, whil e visiting with Mrs. Robert Loui s Stevenson in the Pac ifi c, whil e climbing the mas t to escape a rogue wave off Patagonia, while lazil y reading in the calm Sargasso Sea, or while do ing a thousand other pleasurable and not so pleasurable things in the environment that provided him hi s greatest triumphs and hi s greatest challenges. The sloop was now drawing near the limits of the tradewind, and the strong breeze that had carried her with free sheets the many thousands of miles from Sandy Cape, Australia,fe /l lighter each day until October 30, when it was altogether calm , and a motionless sea held her in a hushed world. I fu rled the sails at evening, sat do wn on deck, and enjoyed the vast stillness of the night.
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New Bedford Exhibit a Close Look at Slocum's Voyage What must it have been like to travel 45 ,000 miles around the world on avessel the size of the Spray? Readers of Joshua Slocum' s Sailing Alone Around th e Wo rld have glimpsed the practicalities of such a voyage, but three years is a long time to be aboard a mere 36-ft vessel. A new centennial exhibit opening at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on 24 April will take this perspective on the legendary voyage. As an inside-out look at Slocum's circumnavigation, the exhibit will attempt to convey life aboard the Spray as well as detailing the route of the voyage. The museum, located across the river from Fairhaven, where Slocum rebuilt the Spray, has drawn heavily on a unique resource: the collection of Slocum biographer Walter Magnes Teller, which was given to the museum by the Joshua SEA HISTORY 73, SPRING 1995
After Sailing Alone Around the World was publi shed, and the unheard-of feat became an establi shed fac t, Sloc um drew earnings from ex hibiting and lecturing, and fro m royalti es and bookse lling. Thi s was enough to allow him in 1902 to buy a small property on Martha's Vineyard, where he tried fa rming. He is kno wn to have called the property, which today stands near to the vill age of West Ti sbury, "Rudder Ranch" on occas ion, but hi s wife Hettie c laimed he usuall y referred to it as " Fag End ." The term refers to an unl aid end of ro pe, and it was a common term in sailing circles to denote a worthless bit of nothing. It is no surpri se then that Slocum tired of life as hore a little more than two years later and, leav ing Hettie to the hou se, moved back aboard the Spray. In the earl y 1900s he could generall y be fo und aboard the sloop often moored in nearby Menemsha Cove or anc hored in one of the many harbors and anchorages in Buzzards Bay and Nantucket Sound . Three winters Sl oc um sail ed the Spray south to the Caribbean, often headquartering in the Cayman Islands. Hi s departure for warmer waters fo r a fo urth time in November 1909 was hi s last. He di sappeared at sea and was neve r heard of aga in . Theori es abo und as to his fate, but, as Walter Tell er, hi s biographer writes: "Wherever he went or how, he rema in s kni g ht and squire of the spi rit of sea-go in g Yankee ism .... A courageou s and te nac io us co nfro nte r of li fe ... he had led, not a comfortabl e life , pe rh aps, but o ne l fro m whi c h he demanded meanin g."
Writer and artist David Johnston has produced a series of seven prints for the Joshua Slocum Society dep icting moments of Slocum's voyage. These are availablefrom Turnstone Gallery, 105 Turnstone Ct., Huntsville AL 35824, 1 800 461-6599.
* Slocum Society in 199 1. Teller began his inquiries in 1952 while living in Martha's Vineyard, and visited Slocum ' s second wife Hettie living in nearby West Tisbury , then in her ninetieth year. Photographs, letters, consular di spatches and newspaper articles collected by Teller from throughout the world are arrayed in the exhibit. To show the ship 's cramped quarters, curator Judy Lund has installed a mockup of the Spray's cabin bunk and a hull model crafted by shipbuilder Peter Duff. Other items include a model of Spray made by Slocum 's son , Benjamin Aymar Slocum, and donated to the museum in 1953 , and an oil study painted by Fairhaven artist Charles Henry Gifford that shows Spray as a derelict in 1889. The exhibit will also include recent paintings by David Johnston depicting seven scenes from Sailing Alone Around the World. The Whaling Muse um is located at 18 Johnny Cake Hill , New Bedford MA 02740; 508 997-0046.
Slocum Societies On 22 April , the Joshua Slocum Society¡ (US) held a reception at the USS Consti tution Mu seum as part of its Slocum commemoration. The fo llowing day a re-enactment of Slocum 's departure from Boston was he ld and furth er activ ities are planned. The Society, fo unded in 1955 by Richard Gordon McCloskey, records, encourages and supports longdi stance passages in small boats. Famil y membership is $30. Contact Ted Jones , 15 Codfi sh Hill Road Ex t. , Bethe l CT 0680 I; 203 790-66 16. The Sloc um Soci ety (Europe) is planning a rendezvous in England, Portugal , the Azores and Gibraltarduring the summer of 1995, fo llowed by a round-theworld crui se. Membership in the recently organi zed soc iety is open to all those interested in Slocum or the Spray. Annual overseas family membership is£25. Contact Andrew Bishop, 24 Kingsley Road , Wimbl edon , London SW 19 8HF; 011 44 8 1 543-7245 . 23