Joshua

Among the remarkable wooden boats you’ll see at this year’s Festival, Joshua carries one of sailing’s greatest stories.

Joshua is a faithful replica of Spray, the boat Joshua Slocum sailed alone around the world from 1895 to 1898, becoming the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation.

This Joshua was launched in San Francisco Bay in 1980, with her maiden voyage in 1982. Owner William Harpster helped build the hull and deck, then spent the next two years completing the rigging, deckhouses, and hand-finishing the sails. The plans came from a book documenting Slocum’s Spray, along with measurements taken from another Spray replica in San Francisco.

Slocum’s book, Sailing Alone Around the World, has inspired generations of sailors and is considered one of the most influential sailing memoirs ever written.

If the story leaves you wanting to learn more, stop by the McCurdy Library in the admin offices of Northwest Maritime. It holds several copies of Sailing Alone Around the World, including a first edition. The library is also home to an extraordinary collection of rare and historic maritime books. Many are kept in the archives, so just ask if you’d like to see them. Librarian Carol is always happy to share some of the collection’s treasures.

Then head out to the docks and find Joshua. Standing aboard her is about as close as you can come to the vessel that launched one of history’s greatest sailing adventures.