Sailing Magazine
By Richard Crockett
Following on from yesterdays Slocum Centennial, there is more in this part about the man, his yacht and the places he visited.
He stopped in Durban and Cape Town where he spoke about celestial navigation, and interestingly how to obtain longitude without an accurate time piece. As a result he was given a free rail pass to tour the country and tell people about celestial navigation.
In Pretoria he met President Kruger. The president, who believed the world was flat, greeted the Captain cordially, but when told by Captain Slocum that he was sailing round the world, the president glared at him and sharply replied,” It’s impossible You don’t mean round the world. You mean in the world.”
All present were deeply embarrassed, but the bizarre exchange amused the Captain immensely.
READ MORE HERE: Pages from 1997 08 – SAILING Magazine – OCR
