Harry Pidgeon

Harry Clifford Pidgeon (August 31, 1869 – November 4, 1954) was an American sailor, a noted photographer, and was the second person to sail single-handedly around the world (1921-1925), 23 years after Joshua Slocum, a professional sea captain. Pidgeon was the first person to do this via the Panama Canal, and the first person to solo circumnavigate the world twice. On both trips, he sailed a 34-foot yawl named the Islander, which Pidgeon constructed by himself. Prior to his first trip, Pidgeon had no prior experience sailing. He accounts for his adventures in his book, Around the World Single-Handed: The Cruise of the "Islander" (1932).

Harry Clifford Pidgeon was born 31 August 1869 on a farm in Iowa. His father, Isaac Marion Pidgeon, was married 3 times and had a total of 12 children. The family were Quakers. At the age of 15, he set out for California where he found work on a ranch. Before long, he traveled north to Alaska, where he took a raft down the Yukon River and spent some time sailing among the small islands of the southeastern Alaskan coast. Later, he returned to California and traveled and worked in the Sierra Nevada mountains, taking up a career in photography.

In 1917, Pidgeon started constructing the Islander from plans he copied from a book in the local library. He built it in the Port of Los Angeles. The Islander cost $1,000 in materials and took a year and a half of hard work. Upon completion, he tested the yawl with trips to Catalina Island and then to Hawaii and back.

After he gained confidence in his boat and his abilities, Pidgeon set out for the Marquesas Islands on November 18, 1921. This began his first four-year circumnavigation. His leisurely trip included stays in the Marquesas, Samoa, Fiji, New Hebrides, New Guinea, the Torres Strait, Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands, Mauritius, Cape Town, St. Helena, Ascension Island, Trinidad Island, Cristobal, the Panama Canal, and his return to Los Angeles on October 31, 1925. This trip is accounted for in his book, Around the World Single-Handed.

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