tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post1236084719133787559..comments2024-03-13T08:16:23.560-07:00Comments on Indigenous Boats: Captain Voss and TilikumBob Holtzmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05878339327766256094noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post-66676906526192990472020-08-26T08:41:58.953-07:002020-08-26T08:41:58.953-07:00Much of the information contained in this article ...Much of the information contained in this article is false. My family were friends with Norman Luxton and I had access to the actual diary of the Tilikum. First of all Voss is NOT Canadian. He was born in Germany and lived in California for many years. I wrote a book on Norman Luxton based on the diary and letters pulled out of the walls of his home (quite the treasure trove).Baxter Kinshellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09719436759932056572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post-36687402603499683832019-09-21T19:23:24.321-07:002019-09-21T19:23:24.321-07:00The book has been released and is the first indepe...The book has been released and is the first independent account of the voyages of Captain John Voss - particularly his trip to England from British Columbia in a dugout canoe. http://www.harbourpublishing.com/title/TheUntoldStoryofCaptainJohnVossandtheTilikum Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post-18317989159031537722019-08-11T07:03:47.897-07:002019-08-11T07:03:47.897-07:00John MacFarlane is releasing (September 2019) the ...John MacFarlane is releasing (September 2019) the first independent account of the voyage of the Tilikum and teh life of Captain John Voss. See http://www.harbourpublishing.com/title/TheUntoldStoryofCaptainJohnVossandtheTilikum Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post-13790893353974751662015-01-06T15:45:16.999-08:002015-01-06T15:45:16.999-08:00Criticism of Voss?
Eleanor Georgina Luxton, Norma...Criticism of Voss?<br />Eleanor Georgina Luxton, Norman's daughter, edited a book ("Tilikum, Luxton's Pacific Crossing", Key Porter Books) purporting to be Luxton's account of the Pacific crossing.<br />It's a vitriolic denunciation of Voss.<br />I get the feeling that I wouldn't want either of them as friends.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03213217421912405003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post-42307402986328583102013-04-17T12:50:20.586-07:002013-04-17T12:50:20.586-07:00I have many thousands of open ocean sailing in a s...I have many thousands of open ocean sailing in a small catamaran. I Believe that I have seen every sea condition at one time or another. A sea anchor and a drouge are ones best friends outside harbor! (besides a very good masthead light)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post-33553999889619766982011-11-15T14:58:51.825-08:002011-11-15T14:58:51.825-08:00Hi Wolfgang,
Voss's use of the sea anchor is c...Hi Wolfgang,<br />Voss's use of the sea anchor is cited in many modern works on storm tactics. I don't know enough about the subject to comment on how important it is for modern boats, but for Tilikum, being extremely narrow and shallow of draft, it appears to have been a good approach. It would have taken very little to roll that boat over and over on its beam ends.<br />I admit that I'm applying a modern sensitivity to Voss's racial prejudices. His attitudes were fairly mainstream in his time. It's hard to read his narrative today, though, without being appalled. <br />In the introduction to my copy of "Venturesome Voyages" (Gray's Publishing, 1976, Sidney, BC), F.E. Grubb of the Maritime Museum of BC tells how Luxton ended up hating Voss for having published the book counter to their agreement (although Luxton only completed a fraction of the voyage, and made no attempt to publish in the 10 years following it, before Voss's book came out). Grubb says, "Voss appears to have been a very strange man of moods and, except with regard to seamanship, impulses. Those who knew him well seem to have either loved him or abominated him."<br />I seem to recall that, in his introduction to the International Marine (NY, 2000) edition of "40,000 Miles in a Canoe" (which is part of the "Venturesome Voyages"), Jonathan Raban discussed the theory that Voss murdered his crewman who disappeared during a leg of the voyage, and decided that it was impossible to reach a definite conclusion.Bob Holtzmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05878339327766256094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post-55092126212571207332011-11-12T11:34:51.486-08:002011-11-12T11:34:51.486-08:00I picked up Venturesome Voyages a year or two ago ...I picked up Venturesome Voyages a year or two ago and found it an interesting read. What stuck with me more than anything was Voss's descriptions of dealing with rough weather by putting out a sea anchor and heaving to. Voss seemed to be suggesting that his technique of dealing with storms was essential for small craft sailors to survive storms on the open ocean. Now that small sailboats routinely cross oceans, his advice is maybe less needed or improved boat design makes it less relevant, but he was venturing to sea in a craft that was probably considered undersized at the time. <br />As for his various insensitivities to natives, I missed much of that. Not that it isn't there, but perhaps I just brushed over it because his attitude was common in writings of those times. Perhaps we have become more enlightened, at least in what thoughts we put in writing, but I don't know that we necessarily treat people of poor nations any better. <br />But as you point out, Voss may have been a thoroughly unlikeable character in person and more than likely treated everyone poorly, natives and countrymen alike.<br />I am curious whether any criticism of Voss has made it into print and survived.Wolfgang Brinckhttp://wolfgangbrinck.com/boatsnoreply@blogger.com