Picture of the Day: November 14

Nellie Bly's Trip Around the World

Nellie Bly, the pen name of journalist Elizabeth Cochran, sailed from New York on November 14, 1889, to begin her record-breaking 24,899-mile trip around the world–a journey that would end on January 25, 1890. Cochran had become a reporter for the Pittsburgh Dispatch at age 18 and adopted the pen name 'Nellie Bly' from a popular song by Stephen Foster. Her six-month series of stories from Mexico attracted the attention of Joseph Pulitzer and, in 1887, she went to work for Pulitzer's New York World. Feigning insanity, Nellie once had herself committed to the Blackwell's Island mental hospital and then wrote an expose that brought about needed reforms. The around-the-world trip originated in an attempt to beat the Jules Verne's fictional hero Phineas Fogg's 80-day journey. Millions of people followed the adventures of the plucky reporter through stories posted back to the World at every stop. Tremendous celebrations greeted Nellie when she arrived in New York. Her trip lasted 72 days, six hours and eleven minutes–a record that would stand until the Graf Zeppelin circled the globe in 20 days, four hours and fourteen minutes in 1929.

Photo: Library of Congress

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