Sailing Alone Around the World - Slocum

In the spring of 1895 a man named Joshua Slocum decided to sail all the way around the world by himself. He was a man in his early fifties who had worked as a sailor for most of his life. While looking for a job on a ship a captain offered him the remains of a small boat that he could fix up if he wanted to. Over the next thirteen months or so he worked on it until it was was seaworthy. He named it 'the Spray'. After a season of fishing he decided that he would try the longer voyage. Most everyone thought he was crazy but he trusted the ship and decided to go any way.
This book is the memoir that he wrote of the entire voyage. He stopped often for supplies and the story of his voyage began to precede him, giving him social connections and allowing him to lecture for money. He writes about each stop and the long sailing legs between them. The entire book is very entertaining.
One of my favorite episodes of the book takes place early, just after sailing from the Azores. Slocum ate some bad plums and became feverish. In the middle of his fever he was surprised to wake up and find someone at the wheel of 'the Spray'. The man introduced himself as the pilot of 'the Pinta', one of Columbus's ships. The pilot asked him if he could journey with him and in his fever he agreed.
In fact, Slocum writes of very long stretches where he just let the ship sail without adjusting the wheel. This included some 2000 miles of the Pacific where he simply trusted the trade winds to keep him on course. In later ports he allowed the officials to inspect his entire ship to prove that no one else was on board with him.
This was a great book and I wish I'd read it years ago. Thanks to Project Gutenberg, it's now completely available online here. The book was a best seller when it came out and Slocum became something of a celebrity. He was the first to sail solo around the world and history should be thankful that he was such an able to writer to record the whole trip.