Marvin Charles Creamer (January 24, 1916 – August 12, 2020) was an American college professor and sailor, notable for being the first recorded person to have sailed around the globe without the aid of

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

al instruments. Between December, 21, 1982, and May 17, 1984, Creamer and the crew of his 36-foot boat, ''Globe Star'', circumnavigated the globe without a

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of cel ...

watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...

, or other instrument. The ship spent 511 days at sea. As general guides, Creamer observed the sun and stars, currents, and occasionally the regional biological setting. In honor of his voyage,

Rowan University Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford and medical and academic campuses in Camden. Founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a site donated by 107 residents, the scho ...

created the Marvin Creamer Scholarship Fund.

Personal life

Creamer was born near

Vineland, New Jersey Vineland is a City (New Jersey), city and the most populous municipality in Cumberland County, New Jersey, Cumberland County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey. Bridgeton, New Jersey, Bridgeton and Vineland are the two principal cities of the ...

, about 50 miles south of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He attended

Vineland High School Vineland High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Vineland, in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Vineland Public Schools. The now r ...

, worked odd jobs directly after graduating, but did eventually enroll in college at New Jersey State Teachers College (later called Glassboro State College, and currently known as

), where he earned his degree in 1943. From 1948 to 1977 he taught

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

at Glassboro State College. He had three children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. He was married to Blanche Creamer for 59 years until her death in 2005. Creamer

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

in January 2016, and died on August 12, 2020, in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

, aged 104.Marvin Charles Creamer-obituary
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References

External links

The Globe Star website
*Details of the 1980 Adventure are available from articles in 1981 Cruising World articles that can be viewed by going to www.KeyportYachtClub.com and selecting the Member Spotlight Page.
Obituary for Marvin Creamer
in ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'', August 29 2020 edition. 1916 births 2020 deaths American men centenarians 20th-century American sailors People from Vineland, New Jersey Rowan University alumni Rowan University faculty Single-handed circumnavigating sailors Vineland High School alumni {{explorer-stub