Cruising_World_2016-06-07

june/july 2016

cruisingworld.com

55

F

rom 1903 to 1908, Joshua Slocum spent much of his time on

Spray, the 36 -foot wooden sloop he had successfully guided

around the globe. In the winter months he often sailed south

to avoid the cold. During the warmer months he sailed along

the New England coast, mainly around Martha’s Vineyard. He

gave the odd talk and sold the shells he collected down south. In

November of 1905, Slocum left Martha’s Vineyard for his annual

respite in southern waters, which included stops in Cuba and

Jamaica. In early April 1906, after a leisurely two months spent

collecting shells at Grand Cayman, Slocum headed north again.

His cargo included about a thousand shells, as well as a dozen ra-

re orchids, which the captain was asked to deliver to none other

than the president, Theodore Roosevelt. That important deliv-

ery was delayed, however, when Slocum drifted into some seri-

ous legal trouble.

By Thursday, May 24, Spray was tied up at Riverton, New

Jersey. That night, Slocum gave a lecture at the Riverton Yacht

Club. The following day he welcomed visitors aboard Spray,

including 12-year-old Elsie Wright, who toured the sloop in the

afternoon with a friend. On Friday evening, after his visitors had

gone, Slocum called on Leslie Miller, a friend who summered at

Martha’s Vineyard. “Slocum was lean, hungry looking and gaunt,”

recalled Miller’s son, Percy. “There was no mistaking he was an

old sea dog.” The captain listened to Percy play the piano before

heading back to Spray. At 9 o’clock, while stepping off a trolley

car, Slocum was arrested and charged with raping Elsie Wright.

The allegations against Slocum were outlined in a number of

newspaper reports. “Capt. Slocum in Trouble,” stated a head-

line in the Riverton New Era. The article said the alleged incident

took place while Wright and her young male friend were visiting

Spray Friday afternoon. “It is said that while the boy was on deck

the skipper showed the little girl through the cabin, and then the

assault is alleged to have occurred,” the paper stated.

“His arrest came as a startling surprise after a round of enter-

tainments in his honor,” another paper noted. “The old sailor was

indignant at his arrest. He ridiculed the charge against him, and

when being taken to the jail said he would be vindicated.” Added

another report: “Capt. Slocum said he had no recollection of the

misdemeanor with which he is charged, and if it occurred it must

have been during one of the mental lapses to which he was sub-

ject.” Bail was set at $1,000. Unable to aff ord such a sum, Slocum

sat in jail for 42 days. On July 6, the matter was put before a judge,

and the captain did not contest a lesser charge of indecent assault.

“I am very sorry to be obliged to administer reproof to a man of

0n the

Outgoing

tide

Joshua Slocum became an international celebrity in the late 1890s after he was

the first person to successfully sail around the world solo. Yet by the early years

of the 1900s, roughly a decade after his famous circumnavigation, Slocum found

his fame diminished, his accomplishments old news, and his money largely gone.

This excerpt from a new biography of the iconic singlehander, Joshua Slocum: The

Captain Who Sailed Around the World, details the final, sad years of Slocum’s life.

by quentin casey

Capt. Joshua Slocum, seen here in 1902 at the bow of his 36-
foot wooden sloop, Spray, was the fi rst person to complete a
solo circumnavigation of the globe, in 1898.
COURTESY OF THE NEW BEDFORD WHALING MUSEUM (OPPOSITE)