Sailing Alone Around the World

“The sea was confused and treacherous. In such a time as this the old fisherman prayed, ‘Remember Lord, my ship is small and thy sea is so wide.'”

It's books like these that make me wish I had a boat. I do not have a boat, and I know that boat ownership is exponentially expensive, and yet this book made me want to hop in one and go sail for the horizon.

This is a travel memoir of a guy with a boat, the Spray, where he gets it into his head to sail around the world in 1895. He encounters standard seafaring things: pirates, storms, fishing, and nonstandard seafaring things, such as his mental encounter with the ghost of the captain of the Nina, who saved his ship while he was sick abed. His tongue-in-cheek humor in these encounters is really what makes this book shine, though. He makes repeated jokes about his “crew” (of only him), makes astute and humorous observations about lands and people he comes across, and all-in-all maintains high spirits throughout his journey. I appreciated being along for his historic voyage.

My only (minor) gripe about the book was its nautical terminology – which is to be expected in a book about, y'know, maritime adventure. There's enough ship terminology to maybe make you Google a word or two, but I felt like I got enough of the jist just from larger context in most places.

All in all, a pleasant, easy-to-read adventure classic.