Around the World in Less Than 80 Days

To someone who has studied journalism and/or American history, the name Nellie Bly brings to mind many things.

She was a pioneering journalist. It is not uncommon in the 21st century to read a woman's byline or see a woman reporting on the events of the day on the evening newscast. But in the 19th century, it was virtually unheard of. It was so unusual, in fact, that "Nellie Bly" wasn't even her real name. The custom, in those days, was for female journalists to use pen names, and her editor chose the name "Nellie Bly."

(Whether it was intentional or not, the first name was a misspelling of the name of the lead character in a song by Stephen Foster — "Nelly Bly."

(Foster, who wrote such classic tunes as "Oh! Susanna," "Camptown Races" and "My Old Kentucky Home," died a few months before Bly, whose real name was Elizabeth Cochran, was born in 1864.)

A few years before the start of the 20th century, at the age of 31, she married a millionaire manufacturer who was 40 years older than she was, and she became president of the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co., which made steel containers. In that capacity, she invented and patented the 55–gallon oil drum that is still in use more than 100 years later.

But it was on this day 120 years ago that Bly began what may well have been the greatest adventure of her life.

In 1888, she suggested to her editor at the New York World that she should embark on a journey that mimicked the trip around the globe described in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days." The following year, on Nov. 14, 1889, she did exactly that, leaving New York on a trip that would take her nearly 25,000 miles.

She completed the journey in 72 days, besting Verne's character by better than a week. That was a world record at the time, although businessman George Francis Train improved on it a few months later.

Interestingly, during her voyage, Bly actually met Verne in Amiens, France. In her book about her travels, "Around the World in Seventy–Two Days," Bly described the brief meeting. She said she asked Verne if he had ever been to America. He said he had, but that he had only been to America once "[f]or a few days only, during which time I saw Niagara." He said he had often wished to return, but his health prevented him from doing so.

Bly asked him about his inspiration for "Around the World in Eighty Days." Verne said he was inspired by something he read in a French newspaper that suggested that such a trip was possible.

Before leaving, Bly asked to be shown Verne's study. After that, Verne wished her luck and told her, "If you do it in 79 days, I shall applaud with both hands."

"[T]hen I knew he doubted the possibility of my doing it in seventy-five, as I had promised," she wrote.

In fact, she exceeded both their expectations.