Skoal: The Adventures of a Pennsylvanian at Sea and Abroad

Skoal presents the real-life adventures of John Albert Shakely (1927–2001) as he sets out from Butler, Pennsylvania to journey across cultures and around the world throughout the 1950s as a sailor and geologist.

In the early 1940s, John A. Shakely was just another small-town Boy Scout with a dream of adventure. Inspired by what he would call the “pioneer spirit of the Alleghenies” and earlier generations of voyagers, Shakely hoped to circle the earth by sail. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II and graduating from The Pennsylvania State College in 1950 with a degree in geology, Shakely purchased Skoal, a modest thirty-foot Tahiti Ketch. Along with fraternity brother Paul Linvill and others, Shakely embarked on exploits that would be covered by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Daily Collegian at Penn State, and other newspapers.

John Shakely’s spirited firsthand narrative conveys a personal odyssey in a surprisingly timeless way, from youthful exploration and Pacific sailing to shipwreck and geological prospecting, which take the reader across land, sea, and air to destinations planned and unplanned, including the Bahamas, Colombia, Galápagos, French Marquesas, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. 

In the early months of his voyage, The Daily Collegian indicated, “You’ve got to know Shakely to realize the significance of the venture.” Faithfully preserved and prepared for print by Shakely’s family, Skoal is a dynamic glimpse into a bygone era lived in full color, permeated with that quintessentially American spirit of adventure.