Joshua Slocum was a demon sailor. The Nova Scotia-born adventurer was probably one of the few who have ever sailed such ambitious journeys on rough crafts for the simple pleasure and wanderlust of it. No danger seemed to daunt him; whether encountering cannibals, pirates, mutiny, or the South Sea slave trade, this Canadian Robinson Crusoe, the first man to complete a voyage around the world, was entranced by the sea and its adventures. Broadcast journalist Ann Spencer brings Slocum and his voyages to life in her new, meticulously researched biography.

Part adventure story, part mystery, Alone at Sea traces the chronology of Slocum’s life and includes many excerpts from his own writings, plus copies of letters. The stories of the voyages are engrossing. And Slocum didn’t just sail alone, but took his family with him. His first wife and soul mate, Virginia, gave birth to a large family during voyages in the South Pacific. She must have been as brave as her husband, dealing with the death of a child at sea, and an attempted murder of the family by the crew – as well as the curiosity of raising children on a bark with a grand piano bolted to the floor, over 500 books on board, and livestock penned on the boat’s roof.

When Virginia died at the age of 34, Slocum was distraught and never recovered. His second marriage was not as warm or idyllic as the first, and in later life he relished going off on his own. On his last voyage, Slocum, in poor health, sailed on a run-down boat from the coast of Massachusetts. He was never seen or heard from again. Spencer lists various theories that solve the mystery of his disappearance, but they will never be proven. Even the date of his last voyage is uncertain – either 1908 or 1909.

Alone at Sea is a first-rate account of a romantic character you couldn’t invent in fiction. If there isn’t a plaque somewhere to honour Slocum, there ought to be.