Robert Manry

Who was Robert Manry?

Robert Manry was a copy editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer who in 1965 sailed from Falmouth, Massachusetts, to Falmouth, Cornwall, England, in a tiny 13.5-foot sailboat named Tinkerbelle. Beginning on June 1, 1965, and ending on August 17, the voyage lasted 78 days.

At the time, Tinkerbelle was the smallest boat to make a non-stop trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Manry later wrote about the voyage and its preparation in his book Tinkerbelle, in which the sailor expressed shock and surprise at the huge crowds and armada of small boats that greeted his arrival in Cornwall.

Manry died February 21, 1971, from a heart attack in Union City, Pennsylvania.

A small park in Willowick, Ohio—the town where he lived before his journey—is named after him. Tinkerbelle is on display at The Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio.