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
.
On July 2, 1913, he left
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on the ''
RMS Mauretania'', then traveled by a combination of steamers, yachts, and trains to
circumnavigate
Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magel ...
the Earth and reach New York City again on August 6, 1913. He had an elapsed time of 35 days, 21 hours, 35 minutes, 18 and four-fifths seconds. His
world record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
stood for 13 years.
[Glines, Carroll V]
Round-the-world flights
Ch. 2 (3rd ed. 2003) () In 1928, he set the record again at 23 days 15 hours 21 minutes and 3 seconds.
In the same year he wrote an
autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
called ''
Racing the Moon''.
After the
Graf Zeppelin broke his record in 1929, he made one last attempt in 1930. He had to abandon the trip after the airplane he was on was damaged during takeoff.
He died at
Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital
CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, formerly known as Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, is a private hospital, private hospital located at 1300 North Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. The hospital h ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
on July 26, 1956.
1913 Itinerary
*United States: New York City from the offices of the New York Sun newspaper on July 2, 1913
*Atlantic crossing: via the steamer "Mauretania"
*England: Fishguard, London & Dover via train
*France: Calais via channel steamer, Paris via train
*Germany: Berlin via train
*Russia: St Petersburg & Omsk via train
*China: Harbin, Manchuria & Mukden via train
*Korea: Pusan via train
*Japan: Shimonoseki via steamer & Tokyo via train
*Pacific crossing: via the steamer "Empress of Russia"
*Canada: Victoria, British Columbia where he left steamer en route and boarded a yacht. Left yacht en route and boarded a hydroplane
*United States: Seattle, Washington, St Paul, Minnesota, Chicago Illinois, Cleveland, Ohio & New York City back to the offices of the New York Sun newspaper via train
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mears, John Henry
Circumnavigators of the globe
1878 births
1956 deaths
People from Massachusetts
American theatre managers and producers