![]() As one historian points out, “Holman trekked deep into Siberia, sailed to Brazil, rode through Southern Africa, explored unmapped parts of Australia, and survived the bandit-infested Balkans.”Īs interestingly, he tapped his way along the crumbling rim of a Vesuvian volcano, even as clouds of sulphurous gases billowed all around.īorn in 1786, Holman joined the British Navy at the age of 12 and rose to become a lieutenant, before being physically afflicted and eventually losing his sight. In his lifetime, he is said to have covered more than 2,50,000 miles through five continents and 200 distinct cultures. He not only accepted his new condition, but also coped with it with remarkable confidence and unwavering self-belief. This year marks the 155th anniversary of the death of British adventurer and writer James Holman (1786-1857) who became totally and permanently blind at the age of 25. James Holman, who was hailed as one of the ‘greatest wonders of the world he so sagaciously explored’, very soon became a forgotten hero, writes Giridhar Khasnis. ![]()
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