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Author explores sea captain Slocum
By Jack Stewardson, Standard-Times staff writer
FAIRHAVEN -- Myra A. Lopes says there's a lot more to Joshua Slocum than the common image of the lean and flinty man in the big, straw hat at the tiller of his famed sloop, the Spray.
"He was a very accomplished person, self-taught and well-read, and well-respected as a sea captain in the merchant marine," she noted. "He knew how to handle the best and worst in life."
That's the portrait the Fairhaven author tries to paint of the world-renowned solo sailor in her latest book, "Captain Slocum's Life Before and After the Spray."
The book is a follow-up to her centennial homage to the famed navigator, "Captain Slocum: A Centennial Salute," which she wrote two years ago.
Capt. Slocum's ties to Fairhaven were strong, for it was here that he refurbished the old Chesapeake Bay oyster boat that would become the Spray and take him on his 45,000-mile worldwide quest to become the first solo navigator of the globe.
"It's a labor of love," said the retired school teacher, who lists her latest book as her eighth.
Once proceeds have covered printing costs, Mrs. Lopes provides copies of her books to Fairhaven schools, the Millicent Library and other civic groups.
Mrs. Lopes got the idea for a sequel to her first Slocum book while participating in ceremonies in Boston in 1995 to mark the commencement of the centennial celebration of Capt. Slocum's remarkable sail. Several Slocum descendants encouraged her to expand her original book after hearing her speak.
"They felt it should be told before the centennial celebration is over," she said.
While she had to put the project on hold for a while due to the death of her son, Curtis, she has completed the book well in advance of the June 28, 1998, date marking the centennial of Capt. Slocum's return to the Untied States at the conclusion of his sail.
Mrs. Lopes notes Capt. Slocum would have been a fascinating person in his own right, even if he had never made his solo sail.
Capt. Slocum left his home in Brier Island, Nova Scotia, at the age of 14 to go to sea in a fishing schooner and within two years had become a seamen out of Liverpool, England, on ocean-trekking merchantmen that plied the seas to China, California, Australia, Malaysia and other exotic foreign ports.
By the age of 18 he had become a second mate and by the age of 25 had earned the rank of captain after becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Before the Spray, as a merchant captain Mr. Slocum would circumnavigate the globe five separate times and command some of the fastest ships in the merchant service, as well as building two 35-foot boats himself.
What many don't know, said Mrs. Lopes, is that Capt. Slocum's first wife, Virginia Walker, accompanied him on his merchant voyages and bore him seven children at sea, four of whom, sons Victor, B. Aymar and Garfield and daughter Jessie, survived to adulthood.
"His first wife was originally from New York, whose family had come to California in the Gold Rush, and later settled in Australia," Mrs. Lopes said.
She said it was a whirlwind courtship, lasting just a few weeks but laying the groundwork for lasting love.
"Virginia was teacher, disciplinarian, playmate, loving mother and devoted wife," she says.
She died at the age of 34 off Buenos Aires while on one of Capt. Slocum's voyages.
"I don't think he ever got over Virginia's loss," Mrs. Lopes said.
Two years later Capt. Slocum married a second cousin, Hettie Elliott, but Mrs. Lopes said it does not appear it was a love-filled marriage.
"He was 42 and she was 24," she said. "I think it was a marriage of convenience."
Hettie, she said, also accompanied Capt. Slocum on one cruise but it was marred by mishap when their ship ran aground and was wrecked. Capt. Slocum built a 35-foot boat, the Libertad, to sail home in.
After that Hettie had no desire to sail the seas.
"By the time he was 40 years old," she said, "he had reached his peak.
The shipping business was changing. sails were disappearing and coal-powered vessels were taking over.
Capt. Slocum was out of work and down on his luck when Capt. Eben Pierce, a Fairhaven whaling captain who knew Capt. Slocum, invited him to come down to Fairhaven and rebuild a battered wreck of an oyster boat.
Some say Capt. Pierce offered Joshua Slocum the oyster boat on a lark, never thinking the mariner would follow through with a round-the-world sail. Mrs. Lopes believes otherwise.
"He (Pierce) already knew about Joshua Slocum's capabilities," she said. "I don't think the Spray was a joke."
After completing the round-the-world sail in the Spray, Capt. Slocum and his family settled in Martha's Vineyard.
"He tried to adjust to the land but he was always drawn back to the sea," Mrs. Lopes said.
Capt. Slocum sailed away from Martha's Vineyard on one last sail on Nov. 12, 1908, bound for the headwaters of the Orinoco River in South America, which he planned to explore.
He was never heard from again.
"Victor Slocum thought he was probably run down in one of the shipping lanes," she said. "Nothing was ever found."
The 50-page paperback, published by RPI Graphics of New Bedford, includes 20 black-and-white photographs and is now available for $9.95 at Baker Books, Davoll's Store, Euro Ship Store, Millicent Library, New Bedford Whaling Museum, Saltmarsh's, The Tin Rabbit, Wood Escape Antiques and West Marine.
Several pictures come through the courtesy of Carol Jimerson, the great-granddaughter of Capt. Slocum, and Phil Shea, director of the International Joshua Slocum Society.
Standard-Times library photo by Jack Iddon Myra A. Lopes' latest book, "Captain Slocum's Life Before and After the Spray," is her eighth. "It's a labor of love," says the retired school teacher. Colorful sea captain Joshua Slocum is the subject of the latest book. |  |
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