"Lacking corporate sponsors and media coverage, Seymour's 16-month journey was in every bit a solo effort. 'The easy part was sailing around the world,' said the 51-year-old Seymour in a telephone interview with the Banner. 'I've almost lost my life on many occasions.'
'I've been through Vietnam, I've lived in L.A. where the cops hassled me just because I was a black man running down the street in a sweatsuit.'
Born in Yonkers, New York, Seymour attended Central State University in Ohio on a track scholarship. In 1965, Seymour began a seven-year stint in the United States Marine Corps, serving in Vietnam as a captain.
After relocating to the Virgin Islands where he took a job as a primary school teacher, Seymour began planning his journey. It took seven years of paying off $62,000 in bank loans for the purchase and preparation of his 35-foot sailboat before Seymour left Saint Croix, headed for the Panama Canal.
"I worked as a school teacher, a night watchman, a waiter and I chartered my boat," he explained.
Restricted by a $5,200 travel budget, $2,000 of which was on a credit card, Seymour limited his stops to 12 ports including several South Pacific Islands, Australia, South Yemen, Israel and Greece.
Seymour routed his journey through the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal after he was advised by a U.S. Counsel to stay out of Durban, South Africa, where he would have had to stop before passing under the Cape of Good Hope.
Unfortunately, the Mediterranean was in the middle of its worst winter in 42 years. Dogged by gales and a damaged navigation system, Seymour made his longest layover in Pilos, Greece, where he waited over 30 days for the repairs and better weather.
After a two month 2,000 mile (3,200 km) journey, Seymour passed through the Strait of Gibraltar with $38 worth of food and headed for home.
Although he was certified by sailing authorities as being the 161st person to make the circumnavigation solo, he received little mention in the press outside of a few sailing magazines.