Expedition 360 was a successful attempt by Briton Jason Lewis to be the first person to

circumnavigate Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magellan Exped ...

the globe using only human power – no motors or sails. It was begun by Lewis and Stevie Smith in 1994 and ended at 12:24 pm on 6 October 2007, when Lewis re-crossed the

prime meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrarily chosen meridian (geography), meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. On a spheroid, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian ...

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, London, having travelled .

Underlying definition

''A true circumnavigation of the world must pass through two points antipodean to each other.'' Norris McWhirter, founding editor of Guinness, 1971. '' true circumnavigation of the Earth must: start and finish at the same point, traveling in one general direction, reach two antipodes, cross the equator, cross all longitudes, cover a minimum of 40,000km.'' AdventureStats by Explorersweb

History

In 2006, the ''Adventure'' publication of the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

honored Canadians Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei as Adventurers of the Year for their "journey around the world" by human power. The Society also stated that it does not "act as an official arbiter of geographic issues". Angus' journey did not cross the equator or hit the minimum of two antipodal points as stipulated by the rules of

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

or by Explorersweb. Additionally, in the February 2013 issue of ''

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network * '' ...

'' magazine, Angus's then-traveling partner Tim Harvey went on the record to say the pair "put up an emergency sail, using it for about 95 nautical miles" crossing the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

between

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

and

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. As journalist Nick Heil pointed out, this alone was enough to disqualify a human-powered claim of any description. The only other person to have completed a legitimate human-powered circumnavigation is Turkish-American adventurer

Erden Eruç Erden Eruç (; born 14 July 1961) is a Turkish-American adventurer who became the first person in history to complete an entirely solo and entirely human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth on 21 July 2012 in Bodega Bay, California, United St ...

who completed the first solo circumnavigation between July 2007 and July 2012. Stevie Smith developed the concept of the Expedition 360 global circumnavigation while he was working in an office in Paris. Smith's friend Jason Lewis joined the project and the pair raised money for a pedal boat, which was built by Chris Tipper and Hugo Burnham. The specially-built vessel was named the ''Moksha'', a Sanskrit word that means ''freedom''. To raise cash Stevie bicycled to

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. Neither Smith nor Lewis had received formal training in cycling or in operating pedal boats.

The Expedition

European leg

Smith and Lewis set off on bicycles from

, London at midday on 12 July 1994. They cycled south-east across

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

to the coast at

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

, then pedalled across the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

, and then cycled south again across France through major cities including Paris and

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, across Portugal and through

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, finally arriving at

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

on 29 September 1994. According to Smith, they slept outdoors, taking their sleeping bags into open places and sleeping under the stars.

The Atlantic Ocean

The trip across the Atlantic took 111 days, pedaling in two-hour day and four-hour night shifts. It ended in Miami.

North America

They crossed the North American continent on bicycles and skates. Skating near

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The ...

, Lewis was hit by a drunk driver and broke both of his legs. He spent 9 months in Colorado healing and resting.

Pacific

Lewis completed the journey across the Pacific in the ''Moksha''. Smith quit the project in Hawaii.

Australasia

The next leg to be completed was Australia and Indonesia. The journey north used pedal boats, kayaks and bicycle. This leg of the

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first circumnaviga ...

in Australia was especially noteworthy, as Jason reached the antipode to his Atlantic crossing path.

Final legs

The second half of Jason's human powered

journey continued through Southeast Asia and India before crossing the Arabian Sea to the African shores, from where he aimed north toward the Middle East and Europe, eventually returning to his starting point in England. During his expedition, Lewis twice survived

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

septicaemia Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage of sepsis is followed by suppression of the immune system. Common signs and s ...

, a bout of mild schizophrenia, and a crocodile attack near Australia in 2005.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Expedition 360 home page

The Expedition film

iBooks feature

Angus Adventures
web site of Colin Angus. Circumnavigations