Ever wonder where Slocum Road gets its name? Find out, as Stan Grayson, a writer covering American yachting and small-craft history, has written a new comprehensive biography of Captain Joshua Slocum, the street’s namesake.

The book, titled A Man for All Oceans: Captain Joshua Slocum and the First Solo Voyage Around the World will be released in May 2017. Slocum’s major accomplishment: he was the first person to circumnavigate the globe alone, a voyage he undertook between April 1895 and June 1898.

There are still sponsorship opportunities available. Those who donate at least $500 by February 27 will get their names prominently listed on the benefactor page, a slip-covered edition of the book and an invitation to a VIP launch party. Contact Sarah Budlong at sbudlong@whalingmuseum.org or call (508)717-6850 for more information.

Author Stan Grayson has been researching Slocum’s life for years and has uncovered primary sources that have yielded information to fill significant gaps in our understanding of Slocum’s life and voyages.

Slocum grew up on Brier Island, Nova Scotia and knew early on he was destined for a life at sea. He ran away in his teenage years and by age 25 was a sea captain. At 37, he purchased his first sailing ship, delivering cargo for 14 years until his wife Virginia died in Buenos Aires in 1884. His children said he never fully recovered from that loss. In 1886 Slocum married his 24-year-old first cousin, Henrietta M. Elliot, who chose after a few years, to stay ashore near family.

Slocum did not fare well on land. His sailing skills became obsolete in the face of more efficient steamships. His life was at a standstill until 1892 when he was offered a derelict Cape Cod oyster sloop called Spray. While single-mindedly resurrecting Spray in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, he conceived a new dream – to be the first to sail alone around the world.

Grayson was inspired to write the book when he read Slocum’s Sailing Alone, but it left him with questions about the man and what had led him to his voyage. Finding more information was scarce, however.

After contacting a biographer who confirmed there was more out there, Grayson researched Slocum’s life over many decades, writing more than a dozen titles over those years in between his research on Slocum. By 2014, Grayson was confident he could write a book with new information never before published.

The book includes a close look at Slocum’s troubled seafaring career, and hones in on details on Slocum’s famed voyage from a small boat sailor’s perspective. The book is illustrated with a variety of photographs and new maps of the circumnavigation.

Items of local interest include new research details and maps of Poverty Point, Fairhaven. In addition, Grayson has been able to confirm the date of the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s Charles Henry Gifford (1839-1904) painting Spray (1889).