Around the World in a Dugout Canoe: The Untold Story of Captain John Voss and the Tilikum

The true story of the Tilikum and her captain, for fans of maritime history and tales of adventure on the high seas

Anticipating fame and wealth, Captain John Voss set out from Victoria, BC, in 1901, seeking to claim the world record for the smallest vessel ever to circumnavigate the globe. For the journey, he procured an authentic dugout cedar canoe from an Indigenous village on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

For three years Voss and the Tilikum, aided by a rotating cast of characters, visited Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil and finally England, weathering heavy gales at sea and attracting large crowds of spectators on shore. The austere on-board conditions and simple navigational equipment Voss used throughout the voyage are a testimony to his skill and to the solid construction of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth vessel.

Both Voss and his original mate, newspaperman N.K. Luxton, later wrote about their journey in accounts compromised by poor memories, brazen egos and outright lies. Stories of murder, cannibalism and high-seas terror have been repeated elsewhere without any regard to the truth. Now, over a century later, a full and fair account of the voyage--and the magnitude of Voss's accomplishment--is at last fully detailed.

In this groundbreaking work, marine historians John MacFarlane and Lynn Salmon sift fact from fiction, critically examining the claims of Voss's and Luxton's manuscripts against research from libraries, archives, museums and primary sources around the world. Including unpublished photographs, letters and ephemera from the voyage, Around the World in a Dugout Canoe tells the real story of a little-understood character and his cedar canoe. It is an enduring story of courage, adventure, sheer luck and at times tragedy.

John MacFarlane is the curator emeritus of the Maritime Museum of British Columbia, curator of the Nauticapedia Project and author of a number of books and articles on nautical history. He was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy (Reserve). He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (London), recipient of the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers and the SS Beaver Medal for Maritime Excellence. He lives in Qualicum Beach, BC.

Lynn J. Salmon has written extensively on the marine history of BC and her articles have appeared in publications including Western Mariner and the Times Colonist. She worked as collections manager for eight years at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia and recently concluded a fifteen-year career as a radio officer with the Canadian Coast Guard. She is senior editor of the Nauticapedia Project. She lives in Courtenay, BC.