A Fairhaven man was first to sail solo around the world. What happened next is a mystery

FAIRHAVEN — He’s the first man to have sailed around the world solo, but sadly, never returned from his final voyage.

It’s what you do while you are alive that leaves a mark on the world, and Capt. Joshua Slocum certainly did that aboard the renovated sloop Spray.

Slocum documents his groundbreaking, three-year voyage in great detail in his book “Sailing Alone Around the World."

A chance meeting in Boston a few years earlier with an old acquaintance, Capt. Eben Pierce, had resulted in Slocum landing in Fairhaven for the first time. When he arrived expecting to find a ship that was in need of repairs, as Pierce had described it, he found an antiquated sloop propped up in a field.

Slocum truly committed to making Spray seaworthy during his rebuilding project in Fairhaven. Slocum first stayed with Pierce on Main Street and then lived aboard the Spray after it was launched, according to Chris Richard, director of the Fairhaven Office of Tourism.

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Richard researched Slocum for a story he wrote for the tourist office’s website and points out that the date Slocum actually arrived in Fairhaven was different than the date in his book.

“He was absolutely in Fairhaven in 1891 even though he changed the story to place his arrival to 1892, which coincided with the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage,” Richard said.

How the trip came about

Born in 1844, Slocum grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada, and was in Fairhaven just three years, from 1891 through 1893, before moving the Spray to Boston in 1894, Richard said.

With his plan to sail around the world in motion, Slocum left Boston April 24, 1895, where the Spray was moored for the winter, and returned to Fairhaven July 3, 1898, having landed in Newport, Rhode Island, on June 27, 1898. He wrote about his decision in his chapter, "Arrival at Newport."

“The Spray was not quite satisfied till I sailed her around to her birthplace, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, farther along. I had myself a desire to return to the place of the very beginning whence I had, as I have said, renewed my age,” he wrote.

Slocum's disappearance

In November 1909, Slocum boarded Spray and sailed for parts unknown when he disappeared, never to return. According to Richard, it seems that Slocum would head south each fall. He said the Fairhaven Star article from September 1909 mentions he had directed his mail to be sent to a “foreign port.”

Slocum was later declared legally dead by petition of his wife in 1924, believed to be lost at sea. There are many theories, including one that he may have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle, and one interesting fact. Slocum always acknowledged that he could not swim.

The monument to Slocum sits on Pilgrim Avenue, off Main Street, in Fairhaven and faces out toward Fairhaven, New Bedford and out to sea.

Two separate centennial celebrations

There were two separate centennial celebrations in Fairhaven, one in 1995 commemorating the beginning of the voyage and another in 1998 commemorating the end. The first one was held the year before Richard was hired as Fairhaven’s tourism director, but he was the caretaker of the Coggeshall Memorial House across the street from Cooke/Slocum Park.

“The events were held both in the park and on the lawn of the Coggeshall Memorial,” he said. “Both were large-scale celebrations, organized by the late Henry Hotchkiss and his committee, including the late Albert Benac and the late Myra Lopes.”

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On the day of the 1998 celebration, a French family sailed into the harbor to conclude their own three-year recreation of Slocum’s voyage. They docked within view of the celebration at what is now called the Marina at Slocum Cove, and the public was invited aboard to see their boat.

In 1955, the Joshua Slocum Society International was founded for cruising sailors, writers and people interested in Slocum and his legacy while celebrating his accomplishments before it was disbanded in 2011.

“Sailing Alone Around the World” is available in both print and as an eBook. There’s also a copy at the Millicent Library with an introduction by David P. Wallis that marks the centennial of his history voyage.

The book first published in 1900 is described in a review by Sports Illustrated as “one of the most readable books in the whole library of adventure.”

The plaque on the monument was given by the citizens of Fairhaven in 1958 in honor of Slocum and the 37-foot, 9-ton ship that he loved.

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Capt. Joshua Slocum of Fairhaven: Solo sail around the world, mystery