Joseph E. Garland

Lone Voyager, The Extraordinary Adventures of Howard Blackburn, Hero Fisherman of Gloucester, by Joseph E. Garland (pp 309). Howard Blackburn was a Gloucester dory man in 1883 when he and a dorymate were blown away from their schooner in a winter storm. Within two days of raging seas, no fresh water, no food, and icy weather Blackburn’s mate died. Blackburn, despite literally frozen fingers and toes, rowed for Newfoundland, bailed, and smashed accumulating ice off his dory. On day four he landed and was rescued by impoverished residents of a small seaside village, who cut off dead flesh from his hands and toes, and slowly nursed him back from near death. He ultimately lost all his fingers and most of this thumbs, and all his toes. After a hero’s welcome home and years after establishing himself as a successful businessman, he sailed with a crew to California in an aborted attempt to take part in the Klondike gold rush. Having regained his sea legs, in 1899 and 1901 he sailed single-handed to Europe in modified dories, adding to his legendary status. He did this without hands! In 1902 and 1903 he sailed solo up the Hudson River, across the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi, and on to Florida before returning home by rail. This trip burnished his already gleaming legend. Lastly, in 1903 he made a third attempt to sail single-handed across the Atlantic in yet another custom made dory, but abandoned the trip after battling horrendous sea conditions and deteriorating health. This book is the story of his voyages, his life ashore, and more generally the adventurous and dangerous life of 19th century fisherman. Blackburn truly was an incredibly skilled and lucky sailor, who overcame near overwhelming odds in surviving solo trips, any one of which was a lifetime achievement. This is a wonderful read, and absent meal and bathroom breaks, I read straight through in a day.… (mere)