Howard Blackburn (1859–1932) was a Canadian American fisherman. Despite losing his fingers and toes to frostbite while lost at sea in a dory in 1883, he prospered as a

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry and a ...

businessman. Yearning for adventure, he twice sailed single-handed across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, overcoming his disability and setting record times for the crossing.

History

Howard Blackburn was born in Port Medway,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

in 1859. At the age of 18, he moved south to Massachusetts, seeking work as a fisherman, and became part of the

fishing community. Blackburn first rose to fame in 1883. While he was fishing on the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Grace L. Fears'', a sudden winter

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmos ...

caught him and a dorymate unprepared while they were in their

Banks dory The Banks dory, or Grand Banks dory, is a type of dory. They were used as traditional fishing boats from the 1850s on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The Banks dory is a small, open, narrow, flat-bottomed and slab-sided boat with a particularly na ...

, leaving them separated from the schooner. Blackburn began to row for shore, despite the loss of his mittens; he knew his hands would freeze, so he kept them in the hooked position that would allow him to row. He tried to save one hand with a sock and thus worsened his condition by freezing his toes and yet not being able to save his fingers. The crewmate gave up and lay down in the dory and died on the second day. Blackburn carried the body to shore for a proper burial. After five days with virtually no food, water, or sleep, he made it to shore in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. Blackburn's hands were treated for

frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the han ...

, but could not be saved; he lost all of his fingers, and many of his toes, and both thumbs to the first joint. Blackburn returned to Gloucester a hero, and with the help of the town, managed to establish a successful saloon. Not content with this, he organised an expedition to the Klondike to join the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

; rather than go overland, he and his group sailed there, via

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

. Howard, after a disagreement with his partners left the group in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

after a short trip to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

to buy lumber to help finance the trip, and returned home never having panned for gold. After the quest for gold failed, Blackburn turned his attention to a new challenge — to sail single-handed across the

. This had been done before, by

Alfred "Centennial" Johnson Alfred "Centennial" Johnson (1846–1927) was a Danish-born fisherman from Gloucester, Massachusetts. In 1876, in a 20-foot (6.1 m) sailing dory, he made the first recorded single-handed crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, landing at Abercastle ...

in 1876, and

Joshua Slocum Joshua Slocum (February 20, 1844 – on or shortly after November 14, 1909) was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world. He was a Nova Scotian-born, naturalised American seaman and adventurer, and a noted writer. In 1900 he wr ...

had completed a single-handed circumnavigation in 1898; but for a man with no fingers to undertake such a voyage would be quite an accomplishment. He sailed from Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1899, in the modified Gloucester Fishing Sloop, ''Great Western'', and reached the city of

Gloucester, England Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of the ...

after 62 days at sea. Returning to Gloucester, Massachusetts, Blackburn continued to prosper as a businessman; but he still hankered for adventure. In 1901, he sailed to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the twenty-five-foot Gloucester Fishing sloop ''Great Republic'', making the trip in 39 days. In 1903 he again set out alone, this time in the sailing dory ''America'', but was defeated by bad weather. Blackburn also circumnavigated the Eastern United States by going down the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

and back up the Eastern Seaboard. The Sloop "Great Republic" and the Dory "America" may be seen at the Cape Ann Museum, in Gloucester. Blackburn died in 1932; his funeral was attended by many of the people of Gloucester. He was buried in the Fishermen's Rest section of Beechbrook Cemetery.

Memorial race

Today, the Blackburn Challenge is held annually. It is a 20-mile open-water race circumnavigating

Cape Ann Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of ...

open to all human-powered craft. July 25, 2019 was the 33rd running of the Blackburn Challenge.

Blackburn Tavern still stands

The building that was the home of the Blackburn Tavern still stands at 289 Main Street in Gloucester. Vincent Cove that at high tide came to the back door of the tavern has since been filled in but the building is largely unchanged.

References

#
''Howard Blackburn (1859-1932)''
Cape Ann Historical Museum #

Open Book Systems # ''Singlehanded Sailing'', Richard Henderson; pages 10–13. A&C Black, 1988. # ''Lone Voyager: The Extraordinary Adventures Of Howard Blackburn Hero Fisherman Of Gloucester'' Joseph E Garland

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburn, Howard 1859 births 1932 deaths American sailors Canadian emigrants to the United States People from Gloucester, Massachusetts Single-handed sailors Sportspeople from Nova Scotia