Lieutenant Colonel Burnley Campbell, an Englishman, claims the record after completing the circle of the world In forty days and nineteen and one-half hours. When Jules Verne sent his famous hero of romance, Phileas Fogg, on a tour of the world he allowed him only eighty days, but that was in 1872. According lo the two time schedules, both of which were extraordinary for their day, Campbell came out a whole lap ahead of his predecessor, but the lines of fast travel have changed vastly in thirty-five years.
Campbell started westward from England, Phileas Fogg traveled eastward. Campbell crossed continents by rail which Phileas Fogg was compelled to skirt by water. And finally, Campbell's account of his journey is as prosy as a timetable. That of Phileas Fogg’s abounds in hairbreadth escapes and thrilling adventures by land and sea.
Leaving Liverpool May 3 at 7:20 p. m.. Campbell reached Quebec May 10 and sailed from Vancouver May 19. He spent nearly a week too much on this Atlantlc American stage of his Journey, which suggests that his record could be easily beaten. He says he was only seven days crossing the Pacific to Yokohama. From there It took nearly three days to Vladivostok and ten days from Vladivostok to Moscow. He passed through Warsaw June 11, Berlin June 12, Ostend June 13, and arrived at Dover at 2:50 o’clock that afternoon. Of the six-hour trip from Dover to Liverpool he takes no account. His only mishap was when his steamer ran aground in a dense fog in the sea of Japan. Fortunately the ship floated on the tide and so he was saved from missing railroad connection at Vladivostok and so losing four days. On the whole, it looks as if everything being favorable, the trip could be made in thirty-five days.
The Herald Democrat, July 8, 1907