The planned route would take them along the coast of North America to Newfoundland, then to England, to a restorative stopover with family in Copenhagen, then through Gibraltar to the Mediterranean, through the new Suez Canal and on to the Indian Ocean.
He said they would leave in July 1879 and would return in November 1881, allowing time to exhibit the remarkable boat in cities along the route.
Their progress, as reported by passing vessels and by the ports-of-call where they stopped, was charted in newspapers all over the United States, making use of the new undersea telegraph cables.
In early July Uncle Sam was badly damaged in a storm and had to make an emergency stop at the tiny French possession of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, just south of Newfoundland.
Mrs. Goldsmith had become seriously ill, diagnosed, according to the Captain's log, with "inflammation of the bowel",[4] so both she and Uncle Sam needed rest and repair.
The ship was the British clipper Queen Of Nations, whose crew threw a rope to the couple in their derelict boat and hauled them aboard.