During a recent podcast we mentioned Jerome Rand’s recent return to Gloucester after an almost 9 month voyage during which he circumnavigated the globe. Joey wondered if there had been other such voyages with Gloucester ties. Of course, this set me off to research.
The simple answer is yes, there have been other such voyages. The most prominent I could find are Captain Irving Johnson’s voyages in the pre-war 1930s on the schooner Yankee from his home port in Gloucester. Yes, that was plural…voyages. He and his crew made seven total trips around the world, the first three on the 92 foot wooden schooner Yankee from Gloucester. Here is a link to an article you might find as interesting as I did.
As I noted, these were 18 month trips with a good size crew. I found a ship manifest at Ancestry listing some of the crew from the 1939 voyage listing actor Sterling Hayden as a member of the crew.
His wife Electa (Exy) usually accompanied him as a crew member, though I do not see her on this list. These trips are well documented if you are interested including this book available at Amazon.
Mr. Rand’s voyage, however, was a much different experience. He traveled solo on the Mighty Sparrow and without any additional technology to assist. He also traveled non-stop making the journey in about half the time of the Yankee’s trips. Wow. Kudos to all with that innate urge to sail and challenge themselves.
Good Morning Gloucester 