Sailing Alone Around the World is Joshua Slocum's memoir about sailing alone around the world aboard his sloop Spray. The book was an immediate success when it was first published in 1900 and was highly influential in inspiring later travelers to do the same.
Slocum was a highly experienced navigator and ship owner. He rebuilt and refitted the derelict sloop Spray in a seaside pasture in Fairhaven Massachusetts. Between April 24 1895 and June 27 1898 Slocum aboard Spray crossed the Atlantic twice (to Gibraltar and back to South America) negotiated the Strait of Magellan and crossed the Pacific. He also visited Australia and South Africa before crossing the Atlantic (for the third time) to return to Massachusetts after a journey of 46000 miles.