Lone Voyager: The Extraordinary Adventures of Howard Blackburn Hero Fisherman of Gloucester

by Joseph E. Garland

Book Overview

Like countless Gloucester fishermen before and since, Howard Blackburn and Tom Welch were trawling for halibut on the Newfoundland banks in an open dory in 1883 when a sudden blizzard separated them from their mother ship. Alone on the empty North Atlantic, they battled towering waves and frozen spray to stay afloat. Welch soon succumbed to exposure, and Blackburn did the only thing he could: He rowed for shore. He rowed five days without food or...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684872633
• ISBN13: 9780684872636
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Why didn't I read this years go?

Though I live in Gloucester and have spent a good many evenings in Howard Blackburn's establishment with his pictures and newspaper articles hanging on the walls, I only recently discovered this book. What a wonderful adventure! The first chapter, which tells the story of the fishing trip during which Blackburn lost his fingers and toes, sets the stage well for the rest of the adventure. And what an adventure it is! Here in Gloucester they talk of the days of "iron men in wooden ships" and Blackburn was the toughest and most indomitable of all those iron men. After surviving the trip that opens the book, he goes on to start his famous tavern in Gloucester, cross the Atlantic twice on his own, sail around Cape Horn and up the Pacific Coast bound for the Klondike, and undertake a perfectly fascinating trip up the Hudson River, through the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi. Because I wrote a book based in the seafaring history of Lake Erie I was particularly gratified to read that Blackburn wrote that of all the waters he ever crossed he considered Lake Erie to have been the worst --- even worse than the Grand Banks in the Atlantic. Author Joe Garland is well known both as a historian and a sailor and both those skills are well used in the telling of this tale. This is an extraordinary story of an extraordinary man told by an extraordinary writer. What more does a reader want?

Wonderful book about life at the turn of the century (1900)

Howard Blackburn was one cool dude! I mean the guy gets caught away from the mother ship and rows for 5 days to live but it costs him all his fingers and that's just the first two chapters! You've got him going off to the Yukon on a gold rush jaunt, a couple of single handed trips across the Atlantic. A circumnavigation of the Eastern US via the Great Lakes and the Misissippi River and around Florida. He just won't quit.Anyway I bought the book because of the stories about dories, and was hooked by all the other adventures as well.BTW there is a rowing race of 22 miles in open Atlantic called the "Blackburn Challange" The folks of Glouster loved him.

Lone Voyager

I found an old copy of this book and read it a year ago. An incredible true story. I`m glad to see that it is available in paperpback again.

Remarkable adventure

After having read The Perfect Storm, I was interested in other stories about the fishermen of the Gloucester area. This book fit the bill perfectly--just as harrowing as The Perfect Storm, but with a happier ending.

An outstanding story of an adventurer par excellence!

This is without a doubt the best seafaring story I have read since reading Joshua Slocum's account of his sailing adventures. Would make a wonderful film if produced by someone careful enough to make the details realistic.