Ship's captain, explorer and author born in Wilmot, N.S., on Feb. 20, 1844
Brought up at Westport, N.S., he ran away to sea at 12 to work as a cabin boy on fishing boat on the Bay of Fundy. At 16, he signed on as a hand aboard a merchant sailing ship bound for Europe. It was the first of a series of vessels he sailed on, working his way through the ranks until, at 25, he was given command of a schooner. Twenty-five years later, he decided to attempt the first single-handed circumnavigation of the globe. In April of 1895, he set out in an 11-metre sloop he had found near Boston and refurbished. The voyage took three years and became the basis for his classic book, Sailing Alone Around the World. In November of 1909, he left for South America and was never seen again. It is assumed he was victim of a collision.
Dates may not exactly coincide