Voyage of the SNARK 

On April 23, 1907 reporters, well-wishers and curious strangers crowded a wharf on the Oakland estuary to watch Charmian and Jack London sail toward the narrow Golden Gate straits. The couple waved from the two-masted “Snark,” the ketch Jack designed for a planned seven-year trek around the world. The crew included a Stanford athlete, a Japanese valet, a magazine editor and Martin Johnson from Kansas. Journalists called the plan “London’s Folly.” Close friends feared they would never again see the couple, while naval officers bet over their likelihood to reach Hawaii.

For Charmian and Jack, the venture promised a rare opportunity to circle a rapidly changing world and report on colonialism. For Martin it was a dream come true to be on such an adventure with his personal here, Jack.

 

By 1908, illness afflicted everyone on the “Snark.” Infections and puzzling ailments forced a cancellation of the London's 2 year plan. They recovered in Australia, and left Martin to manage the selling of the ship.  The Londons then returned to California while Martin was hired by a French film crew and continued exploring Oceania. He returned with the film crew to Paris, then back to Kansas in 1909 officially making him the only "Snarkite" to encircle the globe.

 

To learn more about this trip, you can read Martin Johnson's book "Through the South Seas with Jack London," Jack's book “The Cruise of the Snark,” or Charmian's two books, “Log of the Snark” and “Our Hawaii.”

​