Around the World in Seventy-Two Days
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Game board illustrating journalist Nellie Bly's circumnavigation of the globe (1889-1890), in the '' New York World'', 26 January 1890. ''Around the World in Seventy-Two Days'' is an 1890 book by journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, writing under her pseudonym, Nellie Bly. The chronicle details her 72-day trip around the world, which was inspired by the 1873 book ''
Around the World in Eighty Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...
'' by
Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
. She carried out the journey for Joseph Pulitzer's tabloid newspaper, the '' New York World''.


Journey

In 1888, Bly suggested to her editor at the ''New York World'' that she take a trip around the world, attempting to turn the fictional ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' into fact for the first time. A year later, at 9:40 a.m. on November 14, 1889, she boarded the ''
Augusta Victoria , house = Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg , father = Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein , mother = Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Dolzig Palace ...
'', a steamer of the Hamburg America Line,Kroeger, Brooke. ''Nellie Bly – Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist''. Times Books Random House, 1994, p. 146 and began her journey with the goal of finishing in 75 days. She brought with her the dress she was wearing, a sturdy overcoat, several changes of underwear and a small travel bag carrying her toiletry essentials. She carried most of her money (£200 in English bank notes and gold in total as well as some American currency) in a bag tied around her neck.Ruddick, Nicholas. "Nellie Bly, Jules Verne, and the World on the Threshold of the American Age." ''Canadian Review of American Studies'', Volume 29, Number 1, 1999, p. 5 The New York newspaper ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...
'' sponsored its own reporter,
Elizabeth Bisland Elizabeth Bisland Wetmore (February 11, 1861 – January 6, 1929) was an American journalist and author, perhaps now best known for her 1889–1890 race around the world against Nellie Bly, which drew worldwide attention. The majority of her wri ...
, to beat the time of both Phileas Fogg and Bly. Bisland would travel the opposite way around the world. Bly, however, did not learn of Bisland’s journey until reaching Hong Kong. She dismissed the cheap competition. "I would not race," she said. "If someone else wants to do the trip in less time, that is their concern." To sustain interest in the story, the ''World'' organized a "Bly Guessing Match" in which readers were asked to estimate Bly's arrival time to the second, with the Grand Prize consisting at first of a free trip to Europe and, later on, spending money for the trip.Kroeger, Brooke. ''Nellie Bly – Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist''. Times Books Random House, 1994, p. 150 On her travels around the world, Bly went through England; France, where she met
Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
in Amiens;
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in southern Italy; the
Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
; Colombo in
Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
; the
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(British territories) of
Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...
and Singapore on the
Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
; Hong Kong; and
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The development of efficient submarine cable networks and the electric telegraph allowed Bly to send short progress reports,Ruddick, Nicholas. "Nellie Bly, Jules Verne, and the World on the Threshold of the American Age." ''Canadian Review of American Studies'', Volume 29, Number 1, 1999, p. 8 though longer dispatches had to travel by regular post and were thus often delayed by several weeks. Bly travelled using steamships and the existing railroad systems, which caused occasional setbacks, particularly on the Asian leg of her race.Bear, David. "Around the World With Nellie Bly." ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', November 26, 2006 During these stops, she visited a leper colony in ChinaRuddick, Nicholas. "Nellie Bly, Jules Verne, and the World on the Threshold of the American Age." ''Canadian Review of American Studies'', Volume 29, Number 1, 1999, p. 7 and she bought a monkey in Singapore.


Homecoming

As a result of rough weather on her Pacific crossing, she arrived in San Francisco on the White Star liner '' Oceanic'' on January 21, two days behind schedule. However, ''World'' owner Pulitzer chartered a private train to bring her home, and she arrived back in New Jersey on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 p.m. The Miss Nellie Bly Special was a one-time, record-breaking
passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...
operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from San Francisco, California to Chicago, Illinois for reporter Nellie Bly. The train was chartered by Bly's employer, '' New York World'' owner Joseph Pulitzer. Bly sought to best the fictional record of Phileas Fogg as documented in Jules Verne's novel ''
Around the World in Eighty Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...
''. Bly began her trek eastward from New York City (pausing in Paris long enough to interview Verne) in November 1889, arriving in San Francisco on January 21, 1890. The specially missioned train set new speed records over the line, completing the journey in 69 hours, averaging in the process. Along the way, Bly presented each division superintendent with a quart of Mumm's Extra Dry Champagne. In the end, Bly's trip around the world took just 72 days. Bly arrived back in New York 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes after leaving Hoboken. At the time, Bisland was still going around the world. Like Bly, she had missed a connection and had to board a slow, old ship (the ''Bothina'') in the place of a fast ship (''Etruria'').Ruddick, Nicholas. "Nellie Bly, Jules Verne, and the World on the Threshold of the American Age." ''Canadian Review of American Studies'', Volume 29, Number 1, 1999, p. 4 Bly's journey, at the time, was a world record, though it was bettered a few months later by
George Francis Train George Francis Train (March 24, 1829 – January 18, 1904) was an American entrepreneur who organized the clipper ship line that sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco; he also organized the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier in th ...
, who completed the journey in 67 days. By 1913, Andre Jaeger-Schmidt, Henry Frederick and
John Henry Mears John Henry Mears (May 22, 1878 – July 26, 1956) was an American who made the record for the fastest trip around the world in both 1913 and 1928. He was also a Broadway producer. Biography He was born on May 22, 1878 in Massachusetts. On Ju ...
had improved on the record, the latter completing the journey in less than 36 days.''New York Times'', "A Run Around the World", August 8, 1913


In popular culture

* In season five, episode seven, of ''
Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and ...
'' (set in 1931), the character Gillian Darmody reads aloud from this book, the only one she owns.


See also

*''
A Boy Scout Around the World ''A Boy Scout Around the World'' (Danish: ''Jorden Rundt i 44 dage'', literally: ''Around the World in 44 Days'') is a travel description published in October 1928 and written by Danish Boy Scout and later actor Palle Huld at the age of 15, fo ...
'', a 1928 book based on a similar idea.


References

*Marshall Goldberg, "The New Colossus," Diversion Books, 2014


External links


''Nellie Bly's Book: Around the World in Seventy-Two Days''
by Nellie Bly. London: Bretano's; New York: Pictorial Weeklies, 1890 a
A Celebration of Women Writers
* (Audio Book) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Around The World In Seventy-Two Days 1890 non-fiction books American travel books Works published under a pseudonym Works based on Around the World in Eighty Days