Slocum departed Boston Harbor in the 36-foot-9-inch (11.20 m) vessel on April 24, 1895 and returned to Newport, Rhode Island on June 27, 1898, becoming the first person known to have sailed around the world alone.

[2] Slocum and the Spray disappeared and were never found after departing Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts on November 14, 1909 bound for the headwaters of the Orinoco River in Venezuela.

"[5] Its days as a fishing boat, probably as a Chesapeake Bay oysterman, had come to an end by 1885, and it was a derelict, slowly deteriorating hulk sitting in a makeshift ship's cradle in a seaside meadow on Poverty Point in Fairhaven, Massachusetts when Captain Pierce of that town offered it to Joshua Slocum as a gift.

[citation needed] An analysis by Howard I. Chapelle, curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian Institution and a noted expert on small sailing craft, demonstrated that Spray was stable under most circumstances but could capsize under some conditions.

"[7]: 280 The time of 2 years and an endless effort made Spray not only a seagoing sailboat but also the first one to cross the high seas of the world including the Atlantic and the Pacific.

Joshua not only replaced the old timber with fresh oak but also increased the freeboard (height of shipside above water) which made Spray more stable than any other fishing boats sailing around the time.