Voyage Of The Liberdade

by Joshua Slocum

Overview

Voyage of the Liberdade is a captivating maritime adventure by Joshua Slocum, this book chronicles another of Slocum's voyages, this time aboard his ship. The narrative follows Slocum and his crew as they embark on a challenging journey across unfamiliar seas, encountering both the beauty and dangers of the ocean. In true Slocum style, the book blends adventure with introspective observations on the life of a sailor. The crew faces a variety of challenges, including navigating treacherous waters, dealing with the unpredictability of nature, and managing the daily demands of life at sea. Slocum's vivid descriptions of the ocean, the lands they visit, and the people they meet along the way paint a rich picture of life on a ship Themes of self-reliance, exploration, and adventure permeate the narrative, much like in his more famous works. Voyage of the Liberdade showcases Slocum's unshakeable belief in independence and his deep connection to the sea. This book is a must-read for fans of maritime literature and those fascinated by the spirit of exploration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789368094081
Publisher:	Double 9 Books
Publication date:	11/01/2024
Pages:	90
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.22(d)

About the Author

Joshua Slocum (1844 -1909) was a Nova Scotia-born, naturalized American sailor and adventurer, best known for being the first person to sail solo around the world. His iconic journey, which began in 1895 and lasted over three years, brought him global fame. Slocum's maritime career spanned years of transporting cargo out of San Francisco to ports in China, Australia, Japan, and the Spice Islands. Between 1869 and 1889, he captained eight vessels. In 1900, Slocum published his most famous work, Sailing Alone Around the World, a best-selling memoir detailing his solo circumnavigation of the globe. The book became a classic of maritime literature, offering a vivid account of his adventures and the challenges of single-handed sailing. Earlier in his career, Slocum also wrote about another of his voyages in The Voyage of the Liberdade, recounting his time aboard a different ship. This work, though less famous, provides further insight into his life and experiences at sea.

Read an Excerpt

Joshua Slocum is widely known for his Sailing Around the World Alone, the story of his solo circumnavigation. The Voyage of the Liberdade, his first book, is equally compelling. In it he recounts his journey to Brazil and back - he sailed down on the Aquidneck, his own ship, and returned on the Liberdade, which he built there. What happened?

Slocum describes sailing from port to port in Brazil, trying to take in and deliver enough cargo on the Aquidneck to make her voyage profitable. Through a series of mishaps he is saddled with a crew which turns out to be composed of brigands, not sailors:

"My pirates thought their opportunity had surely come to capture the Aquidneck, and this they undertook to do. The ringleader of the gang was a burly scoundrel, whose boast was that he had "licked both the mate and second mate of the last vessel he had sailed in, and had "busted the captain in the jaw"...Near midnight, my wife, who had heard the first footstep on deck, quietly wakened me, saying, "We must get up, and look out for ourselves! Something is going wrong on deck; the boat tackle has been let go with a great deal of noise..." My first impulse was to step on deck in the usual way, but the earnest entreaties of my wife awoke me, like, to a danger that should be investigated with caution. Arming myself therefore, with a stout carbine repeater, and eight ball cartridges in the magazine, I stepped on deck abaft instead of forward, where evidently I had been expected..."

Slocum, who landed in jail for shooting a one of the mutineers, eventually lost the Aquidneck on the reefs. Not wanting to remain a castaway in Brazil, he and his family build the Liberdade, the ship that would bring them home:

"Her dimensions being - 35 feet in length over all, 7-1/2 feet breadth of beam, and 3 feet depth of hold, who shall say that she was not large enough? Her model I got from my recollections of Cape Ann dories and from a photo of a very elegant Japanese sampan which I had before me on the spot, so, as it might be expected, when finished, she resembled both types of vessel in some degree. Her rig was the Chinese sampan style, which is, I consider, the most convenient boat rig in the whole world. This was the boat, or canoe I prefer to call it, in which we purposed to sail for North America and home. Each one had been busy during the construction and past misfortunes had all been forgotten. Madam had made the sails - and very good sails they were, too!"

Join the self-reliant and intrepid Slocum on his voyage and gain a glimpse into the romantic era that vanished when steam took over. And perhaps his book will inspire you to follow in his footsteps in your own Liberdade!

Table of Contents

	Greeting	1
Chapter I2
	The ship
	The crew
	A hurricane
	Cape Verde Islands
	Frio
	A pampeiro
Chapter II9
	Montevideo
	Beggars
	Antonina for mate
	Antonina to Buenos Aires
	The bombelia
Chapter III12
	Salvage of a cargo of wine
	Sailors happy
	Cholera in the Argentine
	Death in the land
	Dutch Harry
	Pete the Greek
	Noted crimps
	Boat lost
	Sail for Ilha Grande
	Expelled from the port
	Serious hardships
Chapter IV22
	Ilha Grande decree
	Return to Rosario
	Waiting opening of the Brazilian ports
	Scarcity of sailors
	Buccaneers turned pilots
	Sail down the river
	Arrive at Ilha Grande the second time
	Quarantined and fumigated
	Admitted to pratique
	Sail for Rio
	Again challenged
	Rio at last
Chapter V30
	At Rio
	Sail for Antonina with mixed cargo
	A pampeiro
	Ship on beam-ends
	Cargo still more mixed
	Topgallant-masts carried away
	Arrive safely at Antonina
Chapter VI33
	Mutiny
	Attempt at robbery and murder
	Four against one
	Two go down before a rifle
	Order restored
Chapter VII41
	Join the bark at Montevideo
	A good crew
	Small-pox breaks out
	Bear up for Maldonado and Flores
	No aid
	Death of sailors
	To Montevideo in distress
	Quarantine
Chapter VIII51
	A new crew
	Sail for Antonina
	Load timber
	Native canoes
	Loss of the Aquidneck
Chapter IX57
	The Building of the Liberdade
Chapter X70
	Across the bar
	The run to Santos
	Tow to Rio by the steamship
	At Rio
Chapter XI77
	Sail from Rio
	Anchor at Cape Frio
	Encounter with a whale
	Sunken treasure
	The schoolmaster
	The merchant
	The good people at the village
	A pleasant visit
Chapter XII84
	Sail from Frio
	Round Cape St. Thome
	High seas and swift currents
	In the "trades"
	Dangerous reefs
	Run into harbour unawares, on a dark and stormy night
	At Caravellas
	Fine weather
	A gale
	Port St. Paulo
	Treacherous natives
	Sail for Bahia
Chapter XIII90
	At Bahia
	Meditations on the discoverers
	The Caribbees
Chapter XIV94
	Bahia to Pernambuco
	The meeting of the Finance at sea
	At Pernambuco
	Round Cape St. Roque
	A gale
	Breakers
	The stretch to Barbadoes
	Flying fish alighting on deck
	Dismasted
	Arrive at Carlysle Bay
Chapter XV106
	At Barbadoes
	Mayaguez
	Crossing the Bahama Banks
	The Gulf Stream
	Arrival on the coast of South Carolina
Chapter XVI119
	Ocean currents
	Visit to South Santee
	At the Typee River
	Quarantined
	South Port and Wilmington, N.C.
	Inland sailing to Beaufort, Norfolk, and Washington, D.C.
	Voyage ended
	Disposal of the Liberdade	131