Elizabeth Bisland
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Bisland Wetmore (February 11, 1861 – January 6, 1929) was an American
journalist and author, perhaps best known for her 1889–1890 race around the world against Nellie Bly
, which drew worldwide attention.
, Louisiana
, on February 11, 1861. During the Civil War
, the family fled the homestead prior to the Battle of Fort Bisland
. Life was difficult when they returned, and when she was twelve the family moved to Natchez, Louisiana
, site of her father's family home which he had inherited. She began her writing career as a teenager, sending poetry to the New Orleans Times Democrat using the pen name B.L.R. Dane. Once her writing activity was revealed to her family and the paper's editor, she was paid for the work, and she soon went to New Orleans to work for the paper. Around 1887, Bisland moved to New York City
and got her first work from The Sun newspaper. By 1889 she was doing work for a number of publications, including the New York World
. Among other outlets, she later become an editor at Cosmopolitan
magazine and also contributed to the Altantic Monthly and the North American Review
.
announced that it was sending its reporter Nellie Bly
around the world, in a bid to beat Phileas Fogg
's fictitious 80-day journey in Jules Verne
's novel Around the World in Eighty Days
. Catching wind of this publicity stunt, John Brisben Walker
, who had just purchased the three-year old and still-fledging Cosmopolitan, decided to dispatch Bisland on her own journey. Six hours after being recruited, Bisland departed westward from New York. Meanwhile, Bly left on a steamer headed to Europe, both on the same day—November 14, 1889. The journeys were keenly followed by the public, though Bly, sponsored by the more sensationalistic and popular New York World (which mainly ignored Bisland), appeared to get more attention than Bisland and the genteel Cosmopolitan, which only published monthly.
Bly, racing against the 80-day benchmark, was unaware of her competition until she reached Hong Kong
on December 25. There, an official of the Occidental & Oriental Steamship Company told her that she would be beaten, stating that Bisland had passed through three days prior.
Ultimately, however, Bly triumphed over Bisland. Critically, while in England
, Bisland was told (and apparently believed) she had missed her intended ride, the swift German steamer Ems leaving from Southampton
, even though her publisher had bribed the shipping company to delay its departure. It is unknown whether she was intentionally deceived. She was thus forced to catch the slow-going Bothnia on January 18, departing from Queenstown (Cobh
), Ireland
, ensuring that Bly would prevail. Bly, meanwhile, raced across America on a specially chartered train to complete her journey and arrived at her final destination point in New Jersey
on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 p.m., for a total travel time of 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes (precise time was kept, as the World advertised a contest to guess the exact moment she would arrive). Bisland's ship did not arrive in New York until January 30, so she completed her trip in 76 1/2 days, also ahead of Fogg's fictional record.
Bisland wrote a series of articles for the Cosmopolitan on her journey, subsequently published as a book, A Flying Trip Around The World (1891).
on her trip). Indeed, her 1929 New York Times
obituary failed to even mention the journey, and she focused her writing on more serious topics after the "race". In 1906, she published the well-received The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn; she had first met Hearn
when both were living in New Orleans in the 1880s. Bisland's final book, Three Wise Men of the East (1930), was published posthumously.
Bisland married lawyer Charles Whitman Wetmore in 1891, though she continued to publish books under her maiden name. The couple constructed a noted summer residence called Applegarth (on Long Island
's North Shore
) in 1892.
Bisland died of pneumonia near Charlottesville, Virginia
on January 6, 1929, and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist and author, perhaps best known for her 1889–1890 race around the world against Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly was the pen name of American pioneer female journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran. She remains notable for two feats: a record-breaking trip around the world in emulation of Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from...
, which drew worldwide attention.
Early career
Bisland was born on Fairfax Plantation, St. Mary ParishSt. Mary Parish, Louisiana
St. Mary Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Franklin. As of 2000, the population was 53,500.The Morgan City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of St. Mary Parish.-Geography:...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, on February 11, 1861. During the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the family fled the homestead prior to the Battle of Fort Bisland
Battle of Fort Bisland
-Sources:* Ayres, Thomas, Dark and Bloody Ground : The Battle of Mansfield and the Forgotten Civil War in Louisiana, Cooper Square Press, 2001.* Parrish, T. Michael, Richard Taylor, Soldier Prince of Dixie, University of North Carolina Press, 1992....
. Life was difficult when they returned, and when she was twelve the family moved to Natchez, Louisiana
Natchez, Louisiana
Natchez is a village in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 583 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area....
, site of her father's family home which he had inherited. She began her writing career as a teenager, sending poetry to the New Orleans Times Democrat using the pen name B.L.R. Dane. Once her writing activity was revealed to her family and the paper's editor, she was paid for the work, and she soon went to New Orleans to work for the paper. Around 1887, Bisland moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and got her first work from The Sun newspaper. By 1889 she was doing work for a number of publications, including the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
. Among other outlets, she later become an editor at Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
magazine and also contributed to the Altantic Monthly and the North American Review
North American Review
The North American Review was the first literary magazine in the United States. Founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others, it was published continuously until 1940, when publication was suspended due to J. H. Smyth, who had purchased the magazine, being unmasked as a Japanese...
.
Journey around the world
In November 1889, the New York WorldNew York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
announced that it was sending its reporter Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly was the pen name of American pioneer female journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran. She remains notable for two feats: a record-breaking trip around the world in emulation of Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from...
around the world, in a bid to beat Phileas Fogg
Phileas Fogg
Phileas Fogg is the main fictional character in the 1873 Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days.Fogg attempts to circumnavigate the late Victorian world in eighty days, or less, for a wager of £20,000 with members of London's Reform Club. He takes the wager and leaves with Passepartout,...
's fictitious 80-day journey in Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's novel Around the World in Eighty Days
Around the World in Eighty Days
Around the World in Eighty Days is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager set by his friends at the...
. Catching wind of this publicity stunt, John Brisben Walker
John Brisben Walker
John Brisben Walker was a United States magazine publisher and automobile entrepreneur, in later years a resident of Jefferson County, Colorado.-Biography:...
, who had just purchased the three-year old and still-fledging Cosmopolitan, decided to dispatch Bisland on her own journey. Six hours after being recruited, Bisland departed westward from New York. Meanwhile, Bly left on a steamer headed to Europe, both on the same day—November 14, 1889. The journeys were keenly followed by the public, though Bly, sponsored by the more sensationalistic and popular New York World (which mainly ignored Bisland), appeared to get more attention than Bisland and the genteel Cosmopolitan, which only published monthly.
Bly, racing against the 80-day benchmark, was unaware of her competition until she reached Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
on December 25. There, an official of the Occidental & Oriental Steamship Company told her that she would be beaten, stating that Bisland had passed through three days prior.
Ultimately, however, Bly triumphed over Bisland. Critically, while in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Bisland was told (and apparently believed) she had missed her intended ride, the swift German steamer Ems leaving from Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, even though her publisher had bribed the shipping company to delay its departure. It is unknown whether she was intentionally deceived. She was thus forced to catch the slow-going Bothnia on January 18, departing from Queenstown (Cobh
Cobh
Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...
), Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, ensuring that Bly would prevail. Bly, meanwhile, raced across America on a specially chartered train to complete her journey and arrived at her final destination point in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 p.m., for a total travel time of 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes (precise time was kept, as the World advertised a contest to guess the exact moment she would arrive). Bisland's ship did not arrive in New York until January 30, so she completed her trip in 76 1/2 days, also ahead of Fogg's fictional record.
Bisland wrote a series of articles for the Cosmopolitan on her journey, subsequently published as a book, A Flying Trip Around The World (1891).
Later career and personal life
Bisland's writing was of a more literary nature than her participation in the world race might indicate (and her writings were a clear contrast from the more swashbuckling style of Bly's writingsAround the World in Seventy-Two Days
thumb|Game board illustrating journalist [[Nellie Bly|Nellie Bly's]] [[circumnavigation|circumnavigation of the globe]] , in the [[New York World]], 26 January 1890....
on her trip). Indeed, her 1929 New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
obituary failed to even mention the journey, and she focused her writing on more serious topics after the "race". In 1906, she published the well-received The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn; she had first met Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
when both were living in New Orleans in the 1880s. Bisland's final book, Three Wise Men of the East (1930), was published posthumously.
Bisland married lawyer Charles Whitman Wetmore in 1891, though she continued to publish books under her maiden name. The couple constructed a noted summer residence called Applegarth (on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
's North Shore
North Shore (Long Island)
The North Shore of Long Island is the area along Long Island's northern coast, bordering Long Island Sound. The region has long been the most affluent on Long Island, as well as the most affluent in the New York metropolitan area, which has earned it the nickname "the Gold Coast." Though some...
) in 1892.
Bisland died of pneumonia near Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
on January 6, 1929, and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Selected Bibliography
- In Seven Stages: A Flying Trip Around the World (1891)
- The Secret Life: Being the Book of a Heretic (1906)
- The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn (1906)
- Three Wise Men of the East (1930)
See also
- Marks, Jason. Around the World in 72 Days: The race between Pulitzer's Nellie Bly and Cosmopolitan's Elizabeth Bisland (Gemittarius Press 1993) (ISBN 978-0963369628)
External links
- A Flying Trip Around The World (1891) (only for USA, full text online)