Following in the footsteps of the fictional Phileas Fogg, American journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran (better known by her pen name Nellie Bly) completed a trip around the world in a record 72 days. Fifteen years after the release of the Jules Verne classic ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ Elizabeth Cochran walked into the office of her editor at the New York World and suggested the trip. One year later in November of 1889, she embarked on the trip of a lifetime, leaving New Jersey on a trans-Atlantic ocean liner with the goal of returning to New York in 75 days.
The Route
Cochran departed from New Jersey and headed for London via steamship and endured a 7-day journey where she suffered from seasickness the entire time. Once in the UK she took a ferry across the English Channel and made her way to Paris where she met with Jules Verne to tell him of her trip.
“If you do it in seventy-nine days, I shall applaud with both hands.” – Jules Verne
She moved across Europe by train and eventually made her way to Italy where she took several steamships across the Mediterranean to Egypt and then on to cross the Suez Canal. When she arrived in Yemen she took another steamship to Colombo, Sri Lanka which was known then as Ceylon while under British rule. From Sri Lanka, she traveled to Penang, Malaysia and on to Singapore. She even bought a monkey to accompany her for the rest of the trip! She then traveled on to Hong Kong, where she took time to travel inland and visit a Chinese Leper colony.
She left Hong Kong on another steamship bound for Yokohama, Japan and while she was enraptured by the people and culture she carried on and boarded a steamship headed to San Francisco. Upon arriving in San Francisco she boarded one last train that took her back to New Jersey and arrived with a total time of 72 days. She beat the record by eight days!
Competition
While in Hong Kong, Elizabeth Cochran learned that another American had left on the same day with the intention of racing her around the world. She had no interest in racing and dismissed any talk of it when she said:
“I would not race if someone else wants to do the trip in less time, that is their concern.” – Elizabeth Jane Cochran
However, her competitor, Elizabeth Bisland had set out the same day but had decided to travel in the opposite direction. Bisland had headed west from New York and had passed Hong Kong just three days prior to Cochran’s arrival. Unfortunately, due to poor weather, Bisland failed to beat Cochran’s record and arrived four and a half days later.
Later Attempts
Obviously, this record has been broken many times over since the advent of new technologies, particularly the commercial airplane. However, the original record holder at 80 days (and likely the inspiration for the book) was a man known as George Francis Train and he went on to break Cochran’s record with one trip in 67 days and another a few years later in 64 days. As steamship technology advanced the record was broken in 1913 by John Henry Mears and then later he broke his own record again. As it stands now the fastest circumnavigation of the globe with aircraft was set by John Henry Mears in 1928 with a time of 23 and a half days!
The current record for circumnavigating the globe was set in 1993 by AirFrance with a time of 32 hours and 50 minutes.
Elizabeth Jane Cochran
While this may be a sensational story of travel, Elizabeth Jane Cochran was known for doing so many other things in her lifetime. She was one of the pioneers of investigative journalism with her expose on asylums across America, she held multiple patents and was a leading woman industrialist, and she took part in the Women’s Suffrage Movement.
Spend some time and read more about this amazing woman’s life. She was a daredevil and an intrepid traveler and for that I hope she is never forgotten.
Thanks for reading!
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