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Joshua Slocum - Sailing Alone Around The World
On the 26th of April, while I was ashore, rollers came in which rendered launching a boat impossible.
However, the sloop being securely moored to a buoy in deep water outside of all breakers, she was safe,
while I, in the best of quarters, listened to well-told stories among the officers of the Stone Frigate. On
the evening of the 29th, the sea having gone down, I went on board and made preparations to start again
on my voyage early next day, the boatswain of the island and his crew giving me a hearty handshake as I
embarked at the jetty.
For reasons of scientific interest, I invited in mid-ocean the most thorough investigation concerning the
crew-list of the Spray. Very few had challenged it, and perhaps few ever will do so henceforth;
but for the benefit of the few that may, I wished to clench beyond doubt the fact that it was not at all
necessary in the expedition of a sloop around the world to have more than one man for the crew, all told,
and that the Spray sailed with only one person on board. And so, by appointment, Lieutenant
Eagles, the executive officer, in the morning, just as I was ready to sail, fumigated the sloop, rendering it
impossible for a person to live concealed below, and proving that only one person was on board when
she arrived. A certificate to this effect, besides the official documents from the many consulates, health
offices, and customhouses, will seem to many superfluous; but this story of the voyage may find its way
into hands unfamiliar with the business of these offices and of their ways of seeing that a vessel's papers,
and, above all, her bills of health, are in order.
The lieutenant's certificate being made out, the Spray, nothing loath, now filled away clear of the
sea-beaten rocks, and the trade-winds, comfortably cool and bracing, sent her flying along on her course.
On May 8, 1898, she crossed the track, homeward bound, that she had made October 2, 1895, on the
voyage out. She passed Fernando de Noronha at night, going some miles south of it, and so I did not see
the island. I felt a contentment in knowing that the Spray had encircled the globe, and even as an
adventure alone I was in no way discouraged as to its utility, and said to myself, "Let what will happen,
the voyage is now on record." A period was made.
CHAPTER XX
In the favoring current off Cape St. Roque, Brazil - All at sea regarding the Spanish-American war - An
exchange of signals with the battle-ship Oregon - Off Dreyfus's prison on Devil's Island -
Reappearance to the Spray of the north star - The light on Trinidad - A charming introduction to
Grenada - Talks to friendly auditors.
On May 10 there was a great change in the condition of the sea; there could be no doubt of my longitude
now, if any had before existed in my mind. Strange and long-forgotten current ripples pattered against
the sloop's sides in grateful music; the tune arrested the oar, and I sat quietly listening to it while the
Spray kept on her course. By these current ripples I was assured that she was now off St. Roque and
had struck the current which sweeps around that cape. The trade-winds, we old sailors say, produce this
current, which, in its course from this point forward, is governed by the coastline of Brazil, Guiana,
Venezuela, and, as some would say, by the Monroe Doctrine.
The trades had been blowing fresh for some time, and the current, now at its height, amounted to forty
miles a day. This, added to the sloop's run by the log, made the handsome day's work of one hundred and
eighty miles on several consecutive days, I saw nothing of the coast of Brazil, though I was not many
leagues off and was always in the Brazil current.
I did not know that war with Spain had been declared, and that I might be liable, right there, to meet the
enemy and be captured. Many had told me at Cape Town that, in their opinion, war was inevitable, and
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