The Venturesome Voyages of Captain Voss

  Capt. John Voss was an amazing one-of-a-kind Canadian sailor from the early 1900s. His memoirs of small craft navigation in Venturesome Voyages have rightly always had a place in sailing libraries.  He had an extraordinary sailing career but became even more noteworthy at the end of his career by undertaking a series of voyages in tiny sailing craft barely larger than life boats. The Venturesome Voyages tells of three of them.

  The most famous, which also brought him world wide acclaim, was the Tilikum voyage. In 1901 he modified a 38' Indian dugout cedar canoe for blue water service. Then, over 3 years, sailed it around the world.  40,000 miles and 3 oceans,  from British Columbia to Kent England. The remarkable tale is replete with South Seas islands, primitive cultures, gales and typhoons, lost at sea, even the smashing of the Tilikum, Yet Capt. Voss and Tilikum prevailed.

 He also recounts the voyage of the 35' Xora which left from British Columbia and shipped to Coco's Island off Peru. This short tale speaks about the adventures of the voyage as well as treasure hunting on the island.

  The last is the extraordinary voyage of the 25'(!) Sea Queen. The voyage started as a circumnavigation from Yokohama but quickly developed into a head-on ordeal with one of the century's worst typhoons. It is an amazing tale of survival and seacraft.

  Voss' sea skills were second to none and he easily rubs shoulders with his contemporary,  Joshua Slocum, for daring and skill. Maybe more because Slocum eventually was lost at sea while Voss always returned to tell the tale.