24 Facts About Alain Gerbault

Alain Jacques Georges Marie Gerbault was a French sailor, writer and tennis champion, who made a circumnavigation of the world as a single-handed sailor.

Alain Gerbault eventually settled in the islands of south Pacific Ocean, where he wrote several books about the islanders' way of life.

Alain Gerbault was born on November 17,1893, in Laval, Mayenne, to an upper-middle-class family.

Alain Gerbault spent much of his youth in Dinard, near the ancient port of St Malo; he spent his summers playing tennis and football, as well as hunting and fishing.

Alain Gerbault had a brother with whom they owned a lime factory in Laval.

At the age of twenty-one, Gerbault joined in the Flying Corps, serving as an officer; by the end of the war, he was a decorated hero.

Alain Gerbault had already been toying with the idea of long-distance sailing, so he purchased the boat and spent a year or so sailing her around Cannes.

Alain Gerbault was 39 feet overall, 31 feet 6 inches on the waterline, with a beam of 8 feet 6 inches, and displaced 12 tons.

Alain Gerbault was long and narrow, with a deep keel and three and a half tons of lead for ballast.

On June 6,1923, Alain Gerbault set off from Gibraltar in his boat Firecrest to make a single-handed circumnavigation of the world.

The crossing of the Atlantic in a small boat was still considered a major and risky undertaking, and Alain Gerbault was not well prepared for the voyage, either in terms of equipment or experience.

In September, 1923, Alain Gerbault left New York to continue his circumnavigation, heading first for Bermuda.

Alain Gerbault arrived in Colon, Panama, on April 1,1924, and after passing through the Panama Canal he entered and won the tennis championship of Panama.

Alain Gerbault sailed again on May 31,1924, and after stopping in the Galapagos islands he arrived in Mangareva, in French Polynesia, after 49 days at sea.

Alain Gerbault went on to visit the Marquesas Islands, the Tuamotus, and Tahiti.

Alain Gerbault made his way gradually to the Torres Strait, and thence to the Indian Ocean, where he visited the Cocos Islands, Mauritius, and Madagascar, arriving at Durban in time for Christmas, 1927.

Alain Gerbault rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed north, stopping in Saint Helena, Ascension, and the Cape Verde islands, where he spent ten months working on another book.

Alain Gerbault received another hero's welcome for his circumnavigation, the third single-handed circumnavigation of the world, during which he had spent 700 days at sea and covered more than 40,000 miles.

Alain Gerbault had for long time admired the Norwegian rescue and pilot boats designed by Colin Archer and the rescue boat plans was published in Keble Chatterton's book.

Alain Gerbault knew William Atkin's boats of the Colin Archer type and based on these, Gerbault designed his own version.

Alain Gerbault sailed again for the South Pacific, and vanished from the public eye, spending years wandering from island to island.

Alain Gerbault wrote several books about life on the islands, and criticising the modern western way of life.

Alain Gerbault died on December 16,1941, in Dili, East Timor of a tropical fever.

Alain Gerbault's death was not widely reported until August 22,1944, over three years later.