CHAPTER XXI.
Clearing for home--In the calm belt--A sea covered with sargasso--The jibstay parts in a gale--Welcomed by a tornado off Fire Island--A change of plan--Arrival at Newport--End of a cruise of over forty-six thousand miles--The _Spray_ again at Fairhaven.
APPENDIX LINES AND SAIL-PLAN OF THE "SPRAY" Her pedigree so far as known--The lines of the _Spray_--Her self-steering qualities--Sail-plan and steering-gear--An unprecedented feat--A final word of cheer to would-be navigators.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS THE "Spray" Frontispiece FROM a photograph taken in Australian waters.
THE "Northern Light," CAPTAIN JOSHUA SLOCUM, BOUND FOR LIVERPOOL, 1885 CROSS-SECTION OF THE "SPRAY" "IT'LL CRAWL" "NO DORG NOR NO CAT" THE DEACON'S DREAM CAPTAIN SLOCUM'S CHRONOMETER "GOOD EVENING, SIR" HE ALSO SENT HIS CARD CHART OF THE "SPRAY'S" COURSE AROUND THE WORLD--APRIL 24, 1895, TO JULY 3, 1898 THE ISLAND OF PICO CHART OF THE "SPRAY'S" ATLANTIC VOYAGES FROM BOSTON TO GIBRALTAR, THENCE TO THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN, IN 1895, AND FINALLY HOMEWARD BOUND FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE IN 1898 THE APPARITION AT THE WHEEL COMING TO ANCHOR AT GIBRALTAR THE "SPRAY" AT ANCHOR OFF GIBRALTAR CHASED BY PIRATES I SUDDENLY REMEMBERED THAT I COULD NOT SWIM A DOUBLE SURPRISE AT THE SIGN OF THE COMET A GREAT WAVE OFF THE PATAGONIAN COAST ENTRANCE TO THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN THE COURSE OF THE "SPRAY" THROUGH THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN THE MAN WHO WOULDN'T SHIP WITHOUT ANOTHER "MON AND A DOOG" A FUEGIAN GIRL LOOKING WEST FROM FORTESCUE BAY, WHERE THE "SPRAY" WAS CHASED BY INDIANS A BRUSH WITH FUEGIANS A BIT OF FRIENDLY ASSISTANCE CAPE PILLAR THEY HOWLED LIKE A PACK OF HOUNDS A GLIMPSE OF SANDY POINT (PUNTA ARENAS) IN THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN "YAMMERSCHOONER!" A CONTRAST IN LIGHTING--THE ELECTRIC LIGHTS OF THE "COLOMBIA" AND THE CANOE FIRES OF THE FORTESCUE INDIANS RECORDS OF PASSAGES THROUGH THE STRAIT AT THE HEAD OF BORGIA BAY SALVING WRECKAGE THE FIRST SHOT UNCOVERED THREE FUEGIANS THE "SPRAY" APPROACHING JUAN FERNANDEZ, ROBINSON CRUSOE'S ISLAND THE HOUSE OF THE KING ROBINSON CRUSOE'S CAVE THE MAN WHO CALLED A CABRA A GOAT MEETING WITH THE WHALE FIRST EXCHANGE OF COURTESIES IN SAMOA VAILIMA, THE HOME OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE "SPRAY'S" COURSE FROM AUSTRALIA TO SOUTH AFRICA THE ACCIDENT AT SYDNEY CAPTAIN SLOCUM WORKING THE "SPRAY" OUT OF THE YARROW RIVER, A PART OF MELBOURNE HARBOR THE SHARK ON THE DECK OF THE "SPRAY" ON BOARD AT ST.KILDA.RETRACING ON THE CHART THE COURSE OF THE "SPRAY" FROM BOSTON THE "SPRAY" IN HER PORT DUSTER AT DEVONPORT, TASMANIA, FEBRUARY 22, 1897 "IS IT A-GOIN' TO BLOW ?" THE "SPRAY" LEAVING SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, IN THE NEW SUIT OF SAILS GIVEN BY COMMODORE FOY OF AUSTRALIA THE "SPRAY" ASHORE FOR "BOOT-TOPPING" AT THE KEELING ISLANDS CAPTAIN SLOCUM DRIFTING OUT TO SEA THE "SPRAY" AT MAURITIUS CAPTAIN JOSHUA SLOCUM CARTOON PRINTED IN THE CAPE TOWN "OWL" OF MARCH 5, 1898, IN CONNECTION WITH AN ITEM ABOUT CAPTAIN SLOCUM'S TRIP TO PRETORIA CAPTAIN SLOCUM, SIR ALFRED MILNER (WITH THE TALL HAT), AND COLONEL SAUNDERSON, M.P., ON THE BOW OF THE "SPRAY" AT CAPE TOWN THE SPRAY IN THE STORM OF NEW YORK.
READING DAY AND NIGHT THE "SPRAY" PASSED BY THE "OREGON" AGAIN TIED TO THE OLD STAKE AT FAIRHAVEN PLAN OF THE AFTER CABIN OF THE "SPRAY" DECK-PLAN OF THE "SPRAY" SAIL-PLAN OF THE "SPRAY" STEERING-GEAR OF THE "SPRAY" BODY-PLAN OF THE "SPRAY" LINES OF THE "SPRAY" [Illustration:] SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD CHAPTER I A blue-nose ancestry with Yankee proclivities--Youthful fondness for the sea--Master of the ship _Northern Light_--Loss of the _Aquidneck_--Return home from Brazil in the canoe _Liberdade_--The gift of a "ship"-- The rebuilding of the _Spray_-Conundrums in regard to finance and calking--The launching of the _Spray_.
In the fair land of Nova Scotia, a maritime province, there is a ridge called North Mountain, overlooking the Bay of Fundy on one side and the fertile Annapolis valley on the other.

On the northern slope of the range grows the hardy spruce-tree, well adapted for ship-timbers, of which many vessels of all classes have been built.

The people of this coast, hardy, robust, and strong, are disposed to compete in the world's commerce, and it is nothing against the master mariner if the birthplace mentioned on his certificate be Nova Scotia.

I was born in a cold spot, on coldest North Mountain, on a cold February 20, though I am a citizen of the United States--a naturalized Yankee, if it may be said that Nova Scotians are not Yankees in the truest sense of the word.

On both sides my family were sailors; and if any Slocum should be found not seafaring, he will show at least an inclination to whittle models of boats and contemplate voyages.