40,000 Miles in a Canoe

After working his way up from cabin boy to ship's master, Captain John C. Voss drifted ashore in 1895, becoming a hotelkeeper and family man in Victoria, British Columbia. He returned to the sea in 1897 to pursue fortune and adventure in small boats and later as a commander of several sealing schooners. Most details of his life, origins, and even his death are lost in obscurity.

Jonathan Raban is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the editor of The Oxford Book of the Sea, and author of ten critically acclaimed books, including Passage to Juneau. He is the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Heinemann Award for Literature, and received the New York Times Editors' Choice for Book of the Year for Old Glory and Bad Land. He has been called (by The Guardian) "the finest writer afloat since Conrad."

Introduction by Jonathan Raban

40,000 Miles in a Canoe

1. An Adventurous Proposition

2. Vancouver Island

3. With the Indians

4. Into the Wide Pacific--Sea-Going Qualities of the Tilikum

5. The Calm Belt--Land in Sight!

6. Penrhyn Island

7. Manahiki

8. Danger Island--Samoa

9. Niua-Fu--Fiji Islands

10. To the Australian Continent--Disastrous Voyage

11. Sydney

12. A Genuine Fortune-Teller

13. A Lawsuit

14. Repairing a Wreck--An Overland Haul--With an Intoxicated Crew off for Adelaide

15. A Sad Recollection at Hobart--Running Too Long and its Consequence--The Albatross

16. Arrival at New Zealand--Oysters and What They Effected--The City of the 'Mac's'

17. Christchurch--A Practical Demonstration

18. Where is the Light?--My First Lecture--An Amusing Incident--Meeting with Maoris

19. Wanganui--Ladies on Board--A Wet Afternoon

20. A Gale in Cook Strait and an Uncomfortable Night--New Plymouth

21. Nelson--The Tilikum as a Mail-boat--'Pelorus Jack'

22. Historical Reminiscences--Auckland--The Ambitions of Mr Buckridge--Engaging a Fresh Mate

23. Leaving New Zealand--A Sea of Rocks--Crossing My Former Course: Flag Half-Masted--Savage Islands: Missionary and Trader

24. The Great Barrier Reef--The Pearl and Beche-de-Mer Fishing Industries of Thursday Island--A 'Cure or Kill' Remedy--Marine Life Extraordinary

25. In Sight of the Cocos Keeling Islands--A Miscalculation and Its Consequences--Tropical Rains--The New Zealand Fruit Cake Arrives, but at the Wrong Destination

26. Exciting Fishing Experiences--The Devil in the Cockpit!--A Luxurious Breakfast--Rodriguez Island--The Effects of a Cyclone

27. Another Miscalculation and a Meagre Xmas Dinner--Sad News Received at Durban--Unexpected Vindication and Meeting of an Old Friend--The Tilikum as a Mountain Climber

28. Johannesburg--'Mac the Boar-Hunter,' Another Surprise--Success in Life and How It Was Gained

29. What Happened to the Tilikum in Landlocked Pretoria--Engaging a Mate Again--Genuine 'Cape Hopers'--Leaving Cape Town

30. Culinary Presents and Why My Mate Did Not Care for Them--St Helena--Pernambuco--My Contract Fulfilled--Changing the Flag

31. Bound for London--The Atlantic Calm Belt--What the Tilikum Did for My Mate--When Ships Meet on the High Seas--Short of Provisions--Boat and Crew in Quarantine

32. The Azores--A Royal Reception--Two Excursions--A Mule as Disturber of the Peace--Leaving the Hospitable Shores

33. The Colonial Empire--Arrival in England and a Hearty Welcome!

Sea Queen

Chapter One

Chapter Two

In Conclusion

Appendix

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