The Blackburn Challenge

During the winter of 1883, a storm separated fishermen Howard Blackburn and Thomas Welch from their schooner off the coast of Nova Scotia. In a small fishing dory, sixty miles from shore, the two men battled to survive.

Though Welch, tragically, did not survive the journey, Blackburn pressed on. For five horrible days, he rowed their small boat onwards—even as his hands froze to the wooden oars. Miraculously, he made it to Newfoundland. Frostbite claimed all his fingers, earning him the devastating moniker “The Fingerless Navigator.”

He returned home to Massachusetts and was greeted with a hero’s welcome. With the help of the town, he opened a successful saloon. But Blackburn was not a man to settle down, nor would he accept that the elements had the upper hand.

And what does a fingerless sailor with a bold sense of self do next? He plans a solo transatlantic journey in a 30-foot boat, naturally! Few others had successfully completed the journey, and the odds were far from in his favor. But sixty-two days and 3,150 miles after setting sail from Gloucester, Massachusetts, Blackburn triumphantly alighted in Gloucester, England. He went on to sail to Portugal in an even smaller boat, then to tour America’s Great Lakes.

In his honor, the Blackburn Challenge is held annually in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The 20-plusmile circumnavigation of Cape Ann is open to everyone. No matter the weather, regardless of handicap, the water invites all varieties of navigators.

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