Famed Circumnavigator Passes Away

Dodge Morgan, the first American to complete a non-stop circumnavigation and the fourth person ever to accomplish the feat, passed away on September 14 in Boston of complications from surgery for cancer. He was 78.

After selling the marine and car radar company he started in his garage, Morgan found himself in a position to fulfill his dream of sailing non-stop around the world. He commissioned Ted Hood to design his 60-ft American Promise, and set out from Bermuda in November, 1985, determined to break Chay Blyth’s 15-year-old record of 292 days. He did better than that — five months later he sailed back into Bermuda having nearly halved the record!

Following his return, Morgan wrote Voyage of American Promise recounting his adventure, and video taken aboard during the trip was turned into the PBS documentary Around Alone. Sailing continued to be a big part of his life — he maintained six sailboats in his 30-acre compound in Harpswell, Maine — until his death.

He leaves behind a fiancée, two adult children from a previous marriage, and a hoarde of well-deserved admirers.