Lone Voyager is a fascinating story of sailing and adventure and a heart-felt celebration of a man who remains an iconic figure among all sailors who take to the sea alone. Howard Blackburn set sail from Gloucester Harbor in 1883 and, following the routine of legions of fishermen in the area, he and another man fished from a dory. But when a sudden squall erupted, they confronted a situation that was anything but routine. Alone in a small boat on the empty Atlantic, the two men battled freezing wind and rain. When his companion died, Blackburn rowed for 100 miles, finally reaching the Newfoundland coast. The horrific journey cost Blackburn all of his fingers, but could not kill his spirit. Despite his disability, he went on to break the record for the fastest lone voyage across the Atlantic. From the story of his epic survival to tales of his later adventures, Lone Voyager captures a man of rare courage and determination.
Like countless Gloucester fishermen before and since, Howard Blackburn and Tom Welch were trawling for halibut on the Newfoundland banks in an open dory in 1883 when a sudden blizzard separated them from their mother ship. Alone on the empty North Atlantic, they battled towering waves and frozen spray to stay afloat. Welch soon succumbed to exposure, and Blackburn did the only thing he could: He rowed for shore. He rowed five days without food or water, with his hands frozen to the oars, to reach the coast of Newfoundland. Yet his tests had only
So begins Joe Garland's extraordinary account of the hero fisherman of Gloucester. Incredibly, though Blackburn lost his fingers to his icy misadventure, he went on to set a record for swiftest solo sailing voyage across the Atlantic that stood for decades. Lone Voyager is a Homeric saga of survival at sea and a thrilling portrait of the world's most fabled fishing port in the age of sail.
Howard Blackburn is legendary even today among North Atlantic fishermen, and Joe Garland's lyrical book reveals the even more astonishing man behind the legend. A terrific read: brisk, poetic, and full of the sea.
