Circumnavigation world record progression

This is a list of the fastest non-orbital circumnavigation made by a person or team.

People or team	Total duration (days)	Departure date	Arrival date	Notes	Reference
Sebastian Elcano and crew	1082	20 September 1519	6 September 1522		[1]
Francis Drake and crew	1018	13 December 1577	26 September 1580		[1]
Thomas Cavendish and crew	781	21 July 1586	9 September 1588		[1]
Crew of the Eendracht (originally led by Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire)	748	14 June 1615	1 July 1617		[2]
John Byron and crew	676	2 July 1764	9 May 1766		[3]
George Simpson	605	March 1841	October 1842		[4]
This period is incomplete
George Francis Train	"80 days" (excluding a month in France)	1870	1870	By ships and trains, from New York City, perhaps inspiring Jules Verne	[5]
Nellie Bly	72	14 November 1889	25 January 1890	Multiple means of transport, inspired by Jules Verne	[6]
George Francis Train	67 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes	18 March 1890	24 May 1890	By ships and trains, from Tacoma, Washington	[5][7]
George Francis Train	64 days	9 May 1891	12 July 1891	By ships and trains, from Fairhaven, Washington	[5]
Andre Jaeger-Schmidt, Henry Frederick, John Henry Mears	36	2 July 1913	6 August 1913	A combination of steamers, yachts, and trains	[8]
John Henry Mears	23 days 15 hours 21 minutes and 3 seconds	1928	1928		[9]
Hugo Eckener	21 days, 5 hours and 31 minutes			First circumnavigation in an airship, aboard LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin	[10]
Pilot Wiley Post and navigator Harold Gatty	8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes		1 July 1931	Lockheed Vega aeroplane
Wiley Post	7 days, 19 hours, 49 minutes			Using an autopilot and radio direction finder
United States Air Force	94 hours and 1 minute	1949	1949	B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II. Four in-air refuelings were required for the flight, which covered 37,743 kilometres (23,452 mi).
This period may be incomplete
Unknown	45 hours and 19 minutes	Unknown	Unknown		[11]
David Springbett	44 hours and 6 minutes	8 January 1980	10 January 1980	Retains record for circumnavigation using only scheduled transportation.	[11]
Air France	32 hours 49 minutes and 3 seconds	1992	1992	Concorde

See also

• List of circumnavigations

References

1. Townsend, George Henry; Martin, Frederick W. (1862). The Manual of Dates: a Dictionary of Reference to All the Most Important Events in the History of Mankind to be Found in Authentic Records. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
2. An Historical Account of the Circumnavigation of the Globe: And of the Progress of Discovery in the Pacific Ocean, from the Voyage of Magellan to the Death of Cook. Harper & brothers. 1837. p. 100.
3. Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook: Miscellaneous (M series). National Library Australia. 1998. p. 29. ISBN 9780642106964. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
4. Simpson, Sir George (1847). An overland journey round the world: during the years 1841 and 1842. Lea and Blanchard.
5. "William Lightfoot Visscher, Journal profile, part one". Skagitriverjournal.com. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
6. Ruddick, Nicholas. “Nellie Bly, Jules Verne, and the World on the Threshold of the American Age.” Canadian Review of American Studies, Volume 29, Number 1, 1999, p. 8
7. George Francis Train Sets the Record as the Fastest Person to Travel Round-The-World
8. The New York Times, "A Run Around the World", August 8, 1913
9. Glines, Carroll V. Round-the-world flights, Ch. 2 (3rd ed. 2003) (ISBN 978-1574884487)
10. Geisenheyer, Max. "Mit 'Graf Zeppelin' Um Die Welt: Ein Bild-Buch". Frankfurter Societäts-Druckerei G.m.b.H., Frankfurt am Mein (Germany), 1929.
11. Bonner, Sara "The fastest man in the atmosphere" in The Times, 12 January 1980, p.3.