Congratulations to Captain William D. “Bill” Pinkney, who has been inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement Award as an “Enthusiastic Trend Setter.” Captain Pinkney was the first African American to solo-circumnavigate the world via Cape Horn. Born on September 15, 1935, in Chicago, he attended public schools in Chicago and joined the U.S. Navy after graduating from high school in 1954.
Pinkney’s voyage featured the rounding of the five great capes including Cape Horn. The 27,000 mile circumnavigation took 22 months and ended on June 9, 1992. Throughout the trip, Pinkney sent footage back to Globe TV and communicated with some 30,000 school children. The finished production titled, “The Incredible Voyage of Bill Pinkney,” won the George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in children’s television programming. The film has aired on the Disney Channel, National Geographic, and PBS stations and is now available on Youtube.
Bill Pinkney also served as captain of the Amistad, the replica of the schooner known for a revolt of African captives in 1839. In January 1999, Pinkney and his crew on the Amistad set out to retrace the Middle Passage slave trade routes. Pinkney teamed up with PBS and several corporations to create a television special, and to bring teachers from across the country on board en route so that they could experience the trip firsthand.
Good news on a stormy morning with Elsa passing over!