In 1965, 16-year-old Robin Lee Graham set out from California in his 24-foot sloop to circumnavigate the globe with just two cats for company — and he successfully completed his journey five years and more than 30,000 miles later.
Through the darkness off the coast of Madagascar, Robin Lee Graham could make out waves the size of a three-story house crashing in the middle of the ocean. He fixed a portlight that had been knocked out by the storm, curled up below deck, and prayed for salvation.
DOVE by Robin Lee Graham/FacebookRobin Lee Graham aboard the Dove with one of his cats.
When he awoke, the sea had calmed, and he was still alive — and still alone. But he was almost halfway to his goal.
At the age of 16, Robin Lee Graham had set sail from southern California on his 24-foot sloop, the Dove. He planned to circumnavigate the world solo, becoming the youngest person to do so. Five years and 30,600 miles later, he landed in Long Beach, successfully completing his journey.
However, raging seas weren’t the only obstacle the young man faced during his voyage. Isolation, depression, family and economic pressure, and the fallout of fame all haunted Graham on his journey into the sunset.
Robin Lee Graham Sets Sail For History
Robin Lee Graham was no stranger to the sea. His father had instilled in him a love for the open ocean and sailing skills, like celestial navigation and boat maintenance, during trips through the Pacific on the family vessel.
Graham’s family moved to Hawaii in the early 1960s, and he soon made friends who shared his passion for sailing. In January 1965, 15-year-old Graham and two other teens decided to sail from Honolulu to Lanai in a tiny aluminum boat they’d pooled their money to purchase.
The boys, who had left behind a note to inform their parents of their plans, were caught in a storm, and everyone back home assumed they were dead. The U.S. Coast Guard launched a search for them, but Graham and his friends somehow made it to Lanai, where they went to the police after hearing about the panic on their boat’s radio.
DOVE by Robin Lee Graham/FacebookRobin Lee Graham’s 24-foot sloop, Dove.
Instead of punishing his son, Graham’s father decided to buy him a bigger boat — because he knew he would try to sail again in “some other damn silly thing,” Graham told Flathead Living in 2019.
This new 24-foot sloop, called the Dove, was in California, and Graham’s parents agreed to let him sail it back from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii by himself. Graham had greater ambitions, though: Why not keep going once he reached Hawaii?
How A Teenage Boy Circumnavigated The Globe Alone
Robin Lee Graham set sail from San Pedro, California, on July 27, 1965, with just two cats for company. He stopped in Hawaii for a bit before continuing on that September.
His difficulties began early on. His first stop after leaving Hawaii was Fanning Island, and from there he set his sights on Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, nearly 1,500 miles away. En route, a squall broke the mast of the Dove, and Graham had to change his plans. He patched up his rigging as best he could and instead headed to Apia, Samoa’s largest city, to have his boat fixed.
Between the repairs and hurricane season, Graham didn’t set off again until May 1966. He sailed to Tonga and then to Fiji, where he met a young woman named Patti Ratterree. She was a fellow American who was traveling the world, and the two of them quickly fell in love. Ratterree began following Graham on his journey, meeting up with him at various ports along the route so they could spend time together.
DOVE by Robin Lee Graham/FacebookRobin Lee Graham and his wife, Patti, at their home on Flathead Lake in Montana.
Robin Lee Graham spent the next year navigating through the South Pacific, stopping for weeks at a time in the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands, and New Guinea. He landed in Darwin, Australia, on May 4, 1967, and stayed there for two months. Two-and-a-half weeks after departing, he reached the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean. Then, just after leaving the islands, Graham ran into yet another storm. The Dove was dismasted once more, and Graham had to sail over 2,600 miles under jury rig to Mauritius.
Repairs were completed that fall, and Graham traveled to South Africa, where he met up with Ratterree in October. The couple spent the next nine months exploring the country, and before Graham set sail across the Atlantic, they got married.
“I was still a minor, and I had to have my parents’ written permission before we could be married,” Graham wrote for National Geographic in 1969. “But it was on its way. Patti would become Mrs. Robin Lee Graham before I left for South America.”
After a honeymoon at Kruger National Park, Graham left Cape Town on July 13, 1968, to make his last major ocean crossing.
The Final Leg Of The ‘Dove’
After the happy interlude in Africa, loneliness was Graham’s constant companion.
“When I left Cape Town, I’d be heading out on the longest leg of my voyage so far,” Graham wrote for National Geographic. “I would stop at Ascension Island, in mid-ocean, for supplies. Counting the Ascension stop, the journey could take as long as two months, even if nothing went wrong with Dove or me.”
“But each day was like the next,” Graham continued. “Loneliness began to take hold of me like a pain that wouldn’t go away. I fought it every way I could. You have to, or it will drive you crazy.”
After his stop at Ascension Island, Graham made landfall in Suriname on the mainland of South America in late August, six weeks after leaving Cape Town. He stayed until October and then set sail to Barbados, where he picked up his new sailboat, Return of Dove.
Camilo Molina/Wikimedia CommonsAfter exiting the Panama Canal on the Pacific side, Robin Lee Graham was almost to his final destination.
In January, Graham sailed through the Panama Canal. Since he was required to have a Panama Canal Company pilot on board, Patti joined him as well. On the other side, his goal was finally in sight.
Robin Lee Graham Becomes The Youngest Person To Sail Around The World Alone
After stopping to explore the Galapagos Islands, Graham set his sights on Long Beach, California. On April 30, 1970 — 1,739 days after he’d begun his voyage — he anchored Return of Dove. Robin Lee Graham had officially become the youngest person in the world to circumnavigate the globe on a boat solo, a record he held for 17 years.
As he set foot again on dry land, Graham was world famous. He’d been featured in three cover stories in National Geographic and received major sponsorships. Books and movies would be made celebrating his achievement. Patti was seven months pregnant, and he was about to become a father.
But he was miserable.
Wikimedia CommonsA poster for the 1974 film The Dove, which was based on Robin Lee Graham’s journey around the world.
Leaving the loneliness of the sea was a different kind of unmooring. A year after Graham returned, Patti found him with a gun in his hand. She knocked it into the water, and the couple vowed to find their final safe harbor together.
The Grahams took to a van to find home. Miles from the ocean, they found it in Montana.
As of 2025, they still live there, in a house scattered with mementos of the sea: photos of tropical beaches, boat-shaped beds, even stained glass depictions of the Dove. Their home overlooks Flathead Lake, a landlocked substitute for the oceans and seas Robin Lee Graham called home for five years.
After reading about the journey of Robin Lee Graham, go inside Donald Crowhurst’s doomed attempt to sail around the world. Then, learn about Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.
