9 h 13 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 13 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can a young traveller learn when the sea becomes his school?
In A Boy's Voyage Round the World, Samuel Smiles follows a young traveller who goes to sea and encounters the wider world. Ships connect Britain with distant lands, carrying goods, letters and people across oceans. For a curious boy, the voyage offers more than new places: it puts habits and character to the test.
Smiles treats travel as a chance to grow through work, patience and curiosity. His plain, kindly, earnest voice invites you into a Victorian view of adventure, where learning about the world also means learning how to live. The journey brings geography, trade and the customs of other peoples into the young reader's view.
What you’ll discover
- The sea as school Follow a young traveller whose long voyage becomes a test of patience and effort.
- A world linked by ships Explore an age when ocean journeys connect distant lands with life in Britain.
- Character shaped by effort Discover Smiles's belief that work and curiosity help a young person grow.
- Curiosity beyond familiar shores Look outward through a journey concerned with geography, trade and other peoples' customs.
- An earnest Victorian voice Meet a kindly storyteller who asks young readers to see travel as a lesson.
Who will love it
Readers who love sea voyages, gold-rush towns and the look of the world in 1870 will enjoy this. It suits anyone who likes a young diarist's lively eye.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A cold start and a Channel gale
- Flying south through the tropics
- The burned ship and its survivors
- Gales, birds and a first landfall
- Melbourne, a young English city
- A bank clerk in a gold town
- Buying gold and neighbours of every kind
- Seasons, floods and the bush
- Law, fun and civic life up country
- Sydney, Auckland and Honolulu
- Across America by rail
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A Boy's Voyage Round the World
by Samuel Smiles · 1871
A young man sails from Gravesend on the Yorkshire, seeking health, and ends up circling the globe.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What would you do if a doctor told you to spend three months at sea for your lungs? In February 1869 a young Englishman climbs aboard the sailing ship Yorkshire at Gravesend, bound for Melbourne, and the cure turns into a trip around the world.
A Boy's Voyage Round the World at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 5 min4 h fast, 6 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 72,700 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1871by Samuel Smiles
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A cold start and a Channel gale
The book opens at Gravesend, where the young traveller says his last goodbyes. The deck of the Yorkshire is a muddle of stores and hen coops. Sleet falls, and a milk cow named Molly is hoisted over the side and lowered to her stall.
Below decks his cabin has a swinging lamp and a shelf of favourite books. Off Brighton the sea is calm, but old hands warn him that this peace is only weather-breeding. They are right.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1871
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Smiles, Samuel. A Boy's Voyage Round the World. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-boys-voyage-round-the-world.
Smiles, S. (2026). A boy's voyage round the world. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-boys-voyage-round-the-world (Original work published 1871)
Smiles, Samuel. A Boy's Voyage Round the World. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-boys-voyage-round-the-world.
@book{smiles2026boys,
author = {Smiles, Samuel},
title = {A Boy's Voyage Round the World},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-boys-voyage-round-the-world},
note = {First published 1871}
}
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What is A Boy's Voyage Round the World about?
It follows a young Englishman who sails to Melbourne for his health in 1869, works in a gold-mining town for eighteen months, then returns home by way of Sydney, Auckland, Honolulu and the American railways.
Is A Boy's Voyage Round the World a true story?
Yes. It is a travel narrative recording the young traveller's experiences from 1869 to 1871, including his sea voyage, Australian stay and journey home. It records real places, ships, towns and events that he saw.
Where does the voyage go?
The route runs from Gravesend and Plymouth to Melbourne, up-country Victoria, Sydney, Auckland, Honolulu and San Francisco. Then it crosses America by train through Omaha, Chicago, Niagara and New York to Liverpool.
The author
Samuel Smiles
1812–1904 · Scottish writer and journalist
Samuel Smiles was a Scottish writer and journalist born in Haddington in 1812. He trained as a doctor and later worked in journalism and railway administration. He published Self-Help in 1859 and A Boy’s Voyage Round the World in 1871. He lived in Leeds and London, where he died in 1904.
More by Samuel Smiles
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