Sir Francis Chichester (Sep 17, 1901 – Aug 26, 1972)
Sir Francis Chichester
On his around-the-world voyage, he left Plymouth August 27, 1966, sailing the 14,100 miles to Sydney in 107 days. Embarking again on Jan. 29, 1967, he returned to Plymouth around Cape Horn in 119 days, the 15,517 miles being the longest passage made by a small sailing vessel without a port of call. He was knighted in May 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II. His last solo voyage in January–February 1971, from Portuguese Guinea to Nicaragua, covered 4,000 miles in 22 days. He died shortly after illness in 1972 prevented him from making the solo transatlantic race. His books include the autobiography The Lonely Sea and the Sky (1964) and The Gipsy Moth Circles the World (1967).