Mysteries Marvels and Miracles at Sea Joshua Slocum The Vanishing Man For many people who know anything about sailing he is the greatest sailor who ever lived. Simple as that. It’s hard to argue with them because what he His name is Joshua Slocum. Born in a place called Nova Scotia, now achieved is truly remarkable. And what Canada’s second smallest province. happened to him is still one of the great Joshua’s first inspiration came from mysteries of the sea. his grandfather who had, what seemed to an eight-year-old Joshua, an unbelievably exciting job as the lighthouse keeper at South Point. No doubt he told Joshua more than one or two tales of adventure at sea. At home, too, Joshua loved to look at passing ships whilst he was forced to work in his father’s boot shop instead of going to school. Joshua took great pride in his own ship’s model that he carved out of wood. 40 Sir Thomas Lipton Foundation What could Joshua do now? He loved the adventure and travel books of Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain – books like Treasure Island and Huckleberry Finn – so he thought he would try writing about his own exotic sailing travels and make some money that way. The Call Of The Sea When his cruel father found the The Big Decision model he smashed it on the ground What could Joshua do now? He What could Joshua and punished Joshua for not loved the adventure and travel do now? He loved working. Joshua loved his mum books of Robert Louis Stevenson but when she died he lost the only and Mark Twain – books like the adventure person he loved at home. Having Treasure Island and Huckleberry and travel books reached the grown-up age of 16 it Finn - so he thought he would try of Robert Louis was time, he decided, to escape writing about his own exotic sailing Stevenson and Mark from his father and go to sea. travels and make some money that way. It didn’t work. His books didn’t Twain – books like Joshua left home and got his first job sell. Try again. That’s when he made Treasure Island and as a cook on a type of sailing ship the decision that would make him Huckleberry Finn with two masts called a schooner. one of the greatest sailors of all – so he thought he Happy to be at sea, but not wanting time if not the greatest. In 1892, he would try writing to remain a cook, he learned all he started to build his own boat with could about the skills of seamanship, the idea of sailing her around the about his own exotic especially navigation. world entirely on his own. sailing travels and make some money Continued on the next page > Within ten years, Joshua had that way. worked his way up to the top job. Not only that, he was so admired for his seamanship that he became captain of some of the finest sailing ships in the world at that time. It Joshua’s boat – Spray was the 1880s. These ships carried goods from America all around the world, from South America to China to Australia. All the while, Joshua built his knowledge of the sea and kept up what was, even then, an old- fashioned skill of being able to navigate by the moon. In spite of his achievements and everything he knew about sailing, Joshua was a sad man because sailing ships were no longer as important. They had literally been overtaken by faster and more efficient steamships. Buoyed Up Log Book 2019 41 Mysteries Marvels and Miracles at Sea Joshua’s boat – Spray The Vanishing Man > Continued from the previous page On his return he wrote a book that Sailing Into History did sell and it is still Three years later, as captain, first Surviving all of that, Joshua Slocum considered a classic officer, navigator, cook, ship’s did not go mad. He coped with the carpenter and look-out, Joshua loneliness and the solitude. On his of travel writing Slocum, at the age of 51, set sail return he wrote a book that did sell today: Sailing Alone alone from Boston, Massachusetts, and it is still considered a classic of Around The World. on his 37 foot (11 metre) boat, Spray. travel writing today: Sailing Alone Just by doing that, he invented single Around The World. handed sailing. A Strange Disappearance What happened next on his You would think that by then extraordinary 46,000 mile three Joshua would have had enough, if year epic voyage is astonishing not of sailing, then at least of long, by any standards, past or present. dangerous voyages. Not Joshua. One man alone on a small wooden sailing boat with none of the special He sailed again, heading for the clothing, or long-life dried food, Bahamas, Jamaica and the Cayman or satnav that we take for granted Islands. In 1908 he told his friend today. He was just one man; one President Roosevelt of the United man who ran aground, who endured States of America that he planned to the fiercest storms, the highest sail to Venezuela in South America. waves, and a goat who ate his only Joshua set off, but neither he nor his chart of the Caribbean. beloved Spray were ever seen again. 42 Sir Thomas Lipton Foundation The Bermuda Triangle covers a sea area of one and a half million miles, from Bermuda down to Miami in Florida and across to Puerto Rico. Was he sunk in a storm? Or possibly The most famous mystery struck by a huge passing steamship? concerns five United States Navy Joshua Slocum simply vanished. To Avenger planes, called Flight 19, this day nobody knows how, why, on a routine training flight from Fort where, or exactly when. He had Lauderdale in Florida in 1945. A In 1909 for a 65 planned to sail to South America as few hours into the flight they sent year-old man alone he told the President, up the Orinoco radio messages to say that their in battered, weather- River, all the way to the Amazon River. instruments and compasses must beaten wooden He then intended to sail down the be wrong and that they were lost. Amazon. Then silence. They were never seen boat it was a very again and no wreckage was found. ambitious trip, no In 1909 for a 65 year-old man alone matter how good in battered, weather-beaten wooden Stranger still, the US Navy Mariner a sailor he was. boat it was a very ambitious trip, no seaplane that was sent to find matter how good a sailor he was. them also disappeared and has What happened to What happened to Joshua Slocum is never been found. Scientists Joshua Slocum is a a mystery. What we do know, though, are still trying to grasp what is mystery. What we is that just before he disappeared happening in the Bermuda Triangle. do know, though, he sailed into an area known as the The explanation may be a unique Bermuda Triangle. natural phenomenon that occurs is that just before in that area, but nobody is one he disappeared The Bermuda Triangle covers a sea hundred per cent certain yet. he sailed into an area of one and a half million miles, area known as the As for Joshua Slocum, the from Bermuda down to Miami in Bermuda Triangle. Florida and across to Puerto Rico. man who sailed alone around Over the last century more than a the world, we will never know thousand boats, yachts and ships how or why he vanished in the sailing in the triangle have been Bermuda Triangle. reported lost. Light aircraft go missing in the same airspace too. Written by Laurence Brady Buoyed Up Log Book 2019 43.