Who was the first person to sail single-handed around the world?

The first person to complete a single handed circumnavigation was a retired Master Mariner, originally from Canada, but subsequently a citizen of the USA, Joshua Slocum. He sailed in 1895 on a route that took him across the Atlantic, down South America and through the Magellan passage, and then on to Australia, South Africa and home. He had rebuilt his 35 foot sloop Spray by himself before he sailed and proved a good and safe seaboat and brought him safely home in 1898.