Richard Halliburton
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Richard Halliburton (9 January 1900–c. presumed dead 23 March 1939) was an American explorer, athlete, and author. He disappeared (along with his ship and crew) while attempting to pilot a junk eastward across the Pacific Ocean during a typhoon.
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[edit] Early life and disappearance
Halliburton was born in Brownsville, Tennessee to Wesley and Nelle Halliburton and raised in Memphis. He attended the all-boys college preparatory school Memphis University School. After he graduated from Princeton University, he began to circle the globe, largely by "working his passage" or by hitching rides.
On March 3, 1939, Halliburton began a new journey in which he attempted to pilot a junk eastward across the Pacific. He departed from Hong Kong aboard a custom-built Chinese junk, intending to sail to San Francisco in time for the Golden Gate International Exposition. On March 24, a typhoon struck unexpectedly and Halliburton, his ship, and crew, failed to return (despite an extensive search, no trace was ever found).
After his death, his family donated money to build a bell tower in his honor at what is now Rhodes College in Memphis. Richard Halliburton Memorial Tower was dedicated in 1962.
[edit] Halliburton the writer
While many of Halliburton's stories recount his own irresponsibility and document attitudes which today would almost universally be condemned as racist, his books continue to be of great interest for their romantic recountings of escapades ranging from making the first documented winter ascent of Mount Fuji to swimming the length of the Panama Canal, registering as a ship and paying a toll of 36 cents, based on his weight of 140 pounds. In his Second Book of Marvels, he stated, "Astronomers say that the Great Wall is the only man-made thing on our planet visible to the human eye from the moon." Although untrue, this statement was possibly source for the urban legend that the Great Wall of China could be seen from space. [1]
In The Royal Road to Romance, he recounted being arrested for taking photos of the guns at Gibraltar. Enamored of seeing a sunset from the Taj Mahal, he hid himself on the grounds and swam in a pool by moonlight.
Although he was a writer, Halliburton made more money from his public speaking engagements. He was a popular figure and was renowned in the period between the two World Wars. He never married: it was not commonly known when he was alive, but he was either gay or bisexual. He could not have - and did not - disclose his orientation in his writings, but it is abundantly clear from his correspondence.[1]
[edit] Works
- The Royal Road to Romance (1925)
- The Glorious Adventure (1927)
- New Worlds to Conquer (1929)
- The Flying Carpet (1932)
- Seven League Boots (1935)
- Richard Halliburton's Book of Marvels: the Occident (1937)
- Richard Halliburton's Second Book of Marvels: the Orient (1938)
- Richard Halliburton: His Story of His Life's Adventure, as Told in Letters to His Mother and Father (1940)
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ André Soares, Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro, St. Martin's Press, 2002. ISBN 0-312-28231-1. p.163.
- Townsend, Guy. Richard Halliburton: The Forgotten Myth. Retrieved April 25, 2005.
- Halliburton Tower Turns 40. Retrieved May 27, 2006.
[edit] Further reading
An in-depth article about Richard Halliburton appeared in the March 1989 issue of Smithsonian magazine.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Richard Halliburton Papers at Princeton University Library
- Around the World in The Flying Carpet
