Edward Allcard, ocean sailing pioneer, dies aged 102

Edward Allcard, the first person to sail solo across the Atlantic in both directions, has died at the age of 102. The yachtsman and adventurer published his last book, Solo around Cape Horn and beyond, in 2016. He wrote numerous books about his adventures, including Single-Handed Passage and Temptess Returns. He was part of a group of sailors who helped inspire small boat owners to journey the world.

Nicholas Gray, who met Allcard as part of his research for his book, Last Voyages, said: ‘Edward was a true gentleman, unfailingly helpful and friendly to everyone he met. He made some amazing voyages, wrote some of the best ocean voyaging books and was an inspiration to us all. He will be sorely missed by all his many friends.’

Born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, on 31 October 1914, Edward Allcard was an apprentice shipbuilder in Scotland before he qualified as a naval architect just before the Second World War.

In 1951, Edward Allcard became the first man to sail the Atlantic singlehanded in both directions. He had crossed initially in 1949 on his 35ft wooden ketch, Temptress. His return journey in 1951 became an international press sensation after he discovered a 23-year-old female stowaway, Otlilia Frayao, who had sneaked on board Temptress in the Azores.

Between 1957 and 1973, Edward Allcard sailed a protracted solo circumnavigation aboard his 36-foot wooden ketch, Sea Wanderer. He wrote about his passage from Antigua to Argentina in Voyage Alone.

He and his wife, Clare, with their daughter Kate, cruised extensively on a 69ft gaff-rigged Baltic trader in the 1970s and 1980s, before settling down in Andorra until his death in July 2017.