The Voyage of the Liberdade

Joshua Slocum was the first man to sail single-handedly around the world. Before this famous journey, he stranded in Brazil with his wife and sons Garfield and Victor, where he started building a boat that could sail them home. He used local materials, salvaged materials from the Aquidneck and local workers. The boat was launched on May 13, 1888, the very day slavery was abolished in Brazil, and therefore the ship was given the Portuguese name Liberdade. It was an unusual 35-foot junk-rigged design which he described as "half Cape Ann dory and half Japanese sampan". He and his family began their voyage back to the United States, his son Victor being the mate. After fifty-five days at sea and 5510 miles, the Slocums reached Cape Roman, South Carolina and continued inland to Washington D.C. for winter and finally reaching Boston via New York in 1889. In 1890, Slocum published the accounts of these adventures in this book.