Joshua Slocum was the first man to sail around the world alone. Born April 20th 1844, he first went to sea in 1860. He sailed from Boston on April 24th, 1895 (at the age of 51), and by the time he dropped anchor in Rhode Island over three years later he had circumnavigated the world, a distance of 46,000 miles entirely by sail and entirely alone. He was lost at sea November 1909. His course was into an Atlantic gale, and neither he nor his boat Spray was seen or heard of later.

Joshua Slocum's solo voyage around the world stands as one of the greatest sea adventures of all time. Starting from Boston in 1895, by the time he dropped anchor in Rhode Island over three years later, he had cruised some 46,000 miles entirely by sail and entirely alone.

Slocum's boat the Spray, which he used for his around the world voyage had previously been an oysterman on Chesapeake Bay, and was completely rebuilt by Slocum. Although in keeping with tradition the name of the boat was preserved, the boat was deliberately rebuilt with different characteristics by Slocum. For example, he increased the freeboard particularly at the bow and stern in preparation for his ocean-going venture. The Spray was thirty-six feet nine inches long, had a beam of fourteen feet and a draft of four feet two inches, and weighed nine tons. She had a full-length wooden keel which was about one foot deep at the bow and about three feet deep at the stern. Slocum tells of the Spray's ability to sail a constant course with the wheel lashed when about two points off the wind for days on end.