A Vagabond Journey Around the World

This was great, and surely the only reason Harry Franck is not more widely read is the obscurity of his books? This was his first published book, there are many others. I found an ePub version online and have been reading it on my phone for several months - it is a mammoth 650 pages converted to pdf, although the original book (1910, New York, The Century Co) was 502 pages.

Despite taking me a long time to get though, it was a really easy book to pick up and get back into the narrative. It is pretty simple, yet compelling and interesting!

The foreword explains the premise of his journey:

Some years ago, while still an undergraduate, I chanced to be present at an informal gathering in which the conversation turned to confessions of respective aspirations.

“If only I had a few thousands,” sighed a senior, “I’d make a trip around the world.”

“Modest ambition!” retorted a junior, “But you’d better file it away for future reference, till you have made the money.”

“With all due respect to bank accounts,” I observed, “I believe a man with a bit of energy and good health could start without money and make a journey around the globe.”

Laughter assailed the suggestion; yet as time rolled on I found myself often musing over that hastily conceived notion.

In the end he decided he could not do without his camera, and he took money enough for photographic supplies.

The title is somewhat ironic - vagabond meaning a rogue, conman or beggar, and Franck was none of these. He might have exaggerated his experience (as a sailor most often), and he would accept goodwill gifting of food, transport and the like, but he would not accept a handout no matter what level of desperation he reached. He was in fact quite militant in this regard. On more than one occasion a well-meaning man would take up a collection in a town to pay for a train journey onwards, and Franck would take off running, having to outdistance the man to escape without taking the money. There were times he did play the system, but generally he would not take money from individuals or under false pretenses.

In another review, Franck's writing style is referred to as sardonic, which is accurate - mocking or cynical. There is plenty of that, and the authors youth comes through his writing. At times he shows the philosophical nature of youth, along with his stubbornness and his unwillingness to compromise.

Franck, an American of German descent was gifted at languages, he spoke German and French readily, and Spanish and Italian fluently, as well as his native English he also picked up the local lingo anywhere is dwelled long enough. He was personable when he needed to be, bonded with other people readily, was a hard and mostly reliable worker, and most impressively, he was able to push his body to extreme limits, walking some incredible distances under uncompromising conditions of temperature and lacing food and water. There are some astounding journeys in the book, particularly crossing the Malay Peninsular on foot, also some prodigious journeys in the deserts of the Middle East.

But I have jumped ahead a little.

Franck commences his journey by departing Detroit by ferry for Canada. He falls in with a cattle worker crew loading cattle on a train on its way to an export ship and talks his way aboard, and thus makes his was to Britain.

Without planning his route far in advance, his journey takes him from Britain to the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Japan and back to the USA. In all he spent sixteen months travelling.

His regular lack of funds means Franck continues to travel under his own steam, mostly by walking, but he also jumped trains and did a lot of sailing, mostly under employment, although he was also a stowaway. On ferries and short haul public transport he almost exclusively travelled in the lowest classes, and therefore in his journey mixed with the common people, making his journey a fairly rare glimpse at the lowest classes of society.

I have another of Franck's books, but wanted to read this first book before any others. I will keenly look for others. Highly recommended for those who can separate the era is was written from the current era!

5 stars