[.ca] Lone Voyager: The Extraordinary Adventures Of Howard ... (ISBN 0684872633)

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.

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.

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.

A Hero You Just Might Have Missed:
It would be too easy to simply say that Howard Blackburn rose above his adversity. I should like to have known more about, or even known him - fisherman, retailer, sailor and philanthropist - here is a man of legend among men of iron. Howard's tale is marvelous; a testament to the pioneers and explorers who follow their restless dreams without compromise. Lone Voyager is a fascinating and enlightening look into the industry of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the men who fought long odds and the compelling draw of a man possessed of his visions.