Chapters 18-21 Summary and Analysis

In chapter eighteen, after leaving South Africa, the Cape of Good Hope was the next prominent point which would be seen on Slocum's route. Once past the Cape, Slocum knew he could count on brisk winds and then the trip home would seem short. Slocum recounts some of the history of the region, back to the Portuguese navigators who took almost seventy years to learn how to navigate around the cape and as far as Algoa Bay. It is also explained why the area is known as "Cape of Storms."

The crew of the Portuguese ship mutinied at Table Bay and threatened to cut the throat of the captain should he go on. The captain most likely would not have continued on anyway as just past Table Bay was supposedly the place where the world ended.

Slocum states that...