Steamboats, Railroads, and the Real Race Against a Fictional Hero

In ‘This Week in History,’ a young journalist in 1889 sets out to circle the world in 75 days in hopes of beating Phileas Fogg, a Jules Verne’s character.

The 1890 reception for Nellie Bly in Jersey City for the completion of her around the world adventure. Public Domain

In 1872, the Daily Telegraph calculated that, by way of steamboats and railroads, the world could be traversed in 80 days. The idea was tempting enough that Phileas Fogg wagered 20,000 pounds he could do it. Fogg was the protagonist in the Jules Verne novel “Around the World in Eighty Days,” and, although Fogg was fictional, the calculation was not.

A photo portrait of Jules Verne, 1884, by Étienne Carjat. PD-US