Interesting Historical Events: Nellie Bly’s Trip Around The World
Wikimedia CommonsNellie Bly
In 1873, a French author named Jules Verne published a novel titled Around The World In 80 Days. The journey was by no means impossible, as all means of travel mentioned in the book were very real, but until the book came out, no one ever anticipated that the journey could be made.
However, in 1889, an investigative reporter attempted to prove that it could be done. She even managed to shave eight days off the journey, and meet Jules Verne himself.
Nellie Bly had already become famous for her investigative reporting, and her undercover reporting, when she pitched the idea of the trip to her editors. With the book’s success, Bly wanted to prove that the journey could be done in reality. And, not just that, but that she herself, a woman, could do it alone, and in less time.
Backed by her paper, the New York World, Bly set off on her adventure at 9:40 a.m. on Nov. 14, 1889. Contrary to her editor’s beliefs, she packed light. Extremely light, in fact, bringing along one pack, the size of a modern-day carry-on.
She traveled from New York to London, met Verne himself in Paris, bounced to Egypt and then went to Suez Canal and Japan and everywhere in between.
Wikimedia CommonsThe photo of Nellie Bly released by the New York World in conjunction with her departure.
Much to her surprise, Cosmopolitan magazine had sent another reporter to race Bly, a woman headed around the world but in the opposite direction.
When confronted by the other woman while in Japan on Christmas Eve, Bly was shocked to learn of her existence. In one of her dispatches to her paper, she recalled the encounter with a Japanese reporter.
“Aren’t you having a race around the world?” he asked as if he thought I was not Nellie Bly.
“Yes; quite right. I am running a race with Time,” I replied.
“Time? I don’t think that’s her name.”
“Her! Her!!” I repeated, thinking, “Poor fellow, he is quite unbalanced,” and wondering if I dared wink at the doctor to suggest to him the advisability of our making good our escape.
“Yes, the other woman; she is going to win. She left here three days ago.”
In the end, the other reporter ended up getting stuck on her way back to America from England, putting Nellie in the lead. She arrived back in the states before her competitor and became the first woman to make a solo trip around the world.
Though her original goal was 75 days, she arrived back in Jersey City 72 days, six hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds after she’d left.
