The Venturesome Voyages Of Capt Voss

Introduction

IT was in 1903 that I first met Voss. I was combing the beaches of Table Bay just then, and one fine day I came across a strange and tiny craft hauled out upon the sands, A little man was busily tacking pieces of kerosene tin on to her ragged bilge, "Morning," said I. "That's a queer-looking boat you've got there, Mister." "Oh, she's all right," said the small man. "Maybe," I replied, "but she won't do for these waters.

It blows hard in this bay at times and our sou'-easters raise a sea that would sink that little thing in two seconds. Where did you get her from?" "Victoria, B.C.," said the small man. "Just sailed her over here via Sydney and Auckland."

As I object to having my leg pulled, I looked knowing and left that place. And as I went away I said to myself, "That's only a very small man; but, by Jove, he's certainly a most monumental liar!" Now that little boat was the Tilikum and the little man was Captain J. C. Voss, F.R.G.S. —the smallest ship (and the smallest man too, I expect) that ever sailed around this world since this world was made.

I mention this incident because it is typical of the sort of thing Voss had to put up with most of his life. He accomplished such extraordinary feats and spoke so disregardfully of them that nobody believed him. In time the evidence and proofs would begin to come in, until you had to believe, But even then it was a struggle.

The next time I saw Voss was in 1912. I was sitting on the verandah of the Yokohama Yacht Club watching the junks and sampans conducting their intriguing businesses in the bay, when presently I noticed a very small, queerly-rigged craft sailing slowly in between the breakwaters. Her rig was so very queer that I got up and took a look at her through the long-glass. "Mast's been fished," said I, "and she seems to have a boomkin but no mizzen. That boat's been in bad trouble." And then it dawned on me that the jury-rigged derelict I was gazing at was the Sea Queen. I had never seen the boat before; but I had heard how two adventurous friends of mine, together with a certain Captain Voss, had set out in a little yawl, some three months previously, on a voyage through the South Sea Islands. It seemed to me that the adventurers had met with disaster.

It did not take me long to commandeer a dinghy and get myself alongside that wreck. And I wish to make it clear she was a wreck. She was so battered and bruised that she looked as if she had been rolled down the shaft of a very deep coal-mine. And the appearance of her crew confirmed this impression, I hardly recognised Vincent, and as for Stone, he was so covered with cuts and sores that he might have been an over-ripe Stilton. And in the cockpit I saw the little man who, eight years before, had lied to me so outrageously on the sands under Table Mountain.

They told me their preposterous story. They asked me to believe that, in their fragile nineteen-foot cockle-shell, they had fought with that most terrible of Nature's manifestations — a typhoon—and won\ They told me how they had passed through the very heart of the cyclone—that dread vortex into which many a tall ship has drifted, never to return— and of how they had come out again on the other side, battered and broken, but alive and floating still they told me how their boat had been capsized and rolled over by those giant seas, and how she had righted herself and struggled up on to her feet again and gone on with the fight. I say, they asked me to believe these things! And I say this also: that, hearing what I heard and seeing what I saw — / did believe.

I know a number of men who have heard the Sea Queen's story, and all of them call it a lie. But they are mistaken. I believe the story is true, and circumstances have placed me in a better position than most people to judge of the truth of it. I saw the terrible state of the boat when she came limping home, and I heard her crew as they told me of their experience and of an escape so narrow and so miraculous that they lowered their voices when they spoke of it, so that I saw they lived, even yet, in the valley of the shadow of death. To me, at any rate, that boat is a Sea Queen indeed, and her captain a King of the Sea.

I wish that you who scoff could have seen the boat and listened to her men; but, failing these manifest proofs, I give you some of the evidence.

(1) A typhoon of exceptional violence was experienced along the eastern coast of Japan on August 31 st, 1912. Its centre passed two hundred miles to the eastward of Yokohama. In spite of the distance of the centre from the city, great damage was done there. Here are a few instances of the power of that typhoon: — (a) A large steamer, moored to a buoy in the harbour, was blown (moorings included) clean up on to the beach, and left there so high and dry that a channel had to be dredged to her before she could be floated, (b) In the middle of the blow I arrived by train at Yokohama Station, As I alighted the roof of the station lifted and flew away into a neighbouring field, which so frightened the train that it ran away with my luggage, (c) When examining my dinghy next day I found a dried and brittle twig sticking through her planking. The stick was about the size of a lead pencil, and it must have been moving down wind with the speed of a rifle bullet to pierce the plank without breaking.

From these things you may judge the strength of the wind at a spot two hundred miles to the westward of the typhoon's centre. On August 31st, 1912, the Sea Queen was as at sea, about two hundred miles to the eastward of Yokohama.

(2) I observed the following facts myself (a) The Sea Queen's mainmast was broken in two places and her mizzen in three places, (b) The rudder was torn in half, (c) On one of the deck beams in the cabin there was a perfect impression of a leg of the ship's embossed and cast-iron stove, (d) The general state of the boat, both inside and out, showed that one of two things had happened to her. She had either been rolled over and over by the seas or else she-had tumbled down a steep and knobbly cliff. Now, as it seems unreasonable to assume that the boat fell over a cliff, I will ask the doubters one question. Did the Sea Queen's crew deliberately manufacture these things as evidence in support of a stupendous and asinine lie, or did the damage occur as a result of the typhoon and the boat having been rolled right over? Putting all else aside, the imprint of that stove on the deck beam is evidence enough for me.

During the years 1912 and 1913 I made it my business and it was my pleasure to sit at Voss's feet and listen to his talk of ships and the sea and to his tales of voyages through the ice of the Bering Straits, after seals and sea-otters. Like most men who have done great things, Voss was not a satisfying talker. He had been much too busy doing things all his life to have time to acquire those qualities which we more leisured, softer and less effectual folk call refinement and culture. A gentle lady snugly wrapped, say, in a sealskin coat would doubtless have considered Voss a rough and vulgar person; forgetting that, but for the work of such men as he, It would be necessary for gentle ladies to walk through this life entirely naked. Be this as it may, a little "culture" is very helpful in enabling one to express one's thoughts, and expressing his thoughts was not, at the time I speak of, one of Voss's strong points.

I fear the influence of that band of hero worshippers which gathered about Voss during those years in Yokohama was not very good for him. In fact I am afraid we rather spoilt Voss. At first he would not talk at all; but eventually the warmth of our worship thawed him and he commenced to summon spirits for us from the vasty deep. However, as I have said, I fear we spoilt him; and, in the end, I have heard it hinted that Voss spoke, perhaps, too much. And I think one day he realised this himself. Suddenly he ceased to talk altogether. Instead, he got to work again. He built another tiny boat, and, in her, sailed away from us, out into the silent sea. And since that day I have neither seen him nor heard of him again.

For myself I can only say that I have found every word of Voss's concerning ships and the sea to be pure gold; and I have treasured them accordingly. The success which, so far, has attended such ocean passages in small craft as I have made, I attribute solely to the fact that I religiously followed Voss's teaching. To this teaching I know I owe, at any rate, my life. Had I not digested all Voss told me regarding the habits and ways of breaking seas, one vicious April gale off the coast of Maine would have proved much too much for me. And had I not most strictly followed Voss's advice concerning the use of sea anchors, the schooner Northern Light and the bones of her crew would now be lying buried in the sands of the Georges bank.

I welcome, therefore, the resuscitation of Voss's book; a book which, for too long, it has been almost impossible to get hold of. I recommend everyone who loves or fears the sea to read this book. If you will dig down amongst Voss's words you will find much raw gold. If you are a seaman, the advice which Voss gives is not to be passed lightly over and forgotten. Remember that the study of the sea and the waves and the way of a ship upon them was this man's lifelong hobby. Remember that, in pursuit of his hobby, he sailed over forty-nine thousand miles of windy ocean and that he successfully weathered twenty-one major gales and one typhoon. And remember the sort of craft in which he did these things. Then, sailor, read this book—and thank the gods that it was written, so that you might learn wisdom.

In the Appendix Voss sums up his knowledge of the ways of the wind and sea; and not only yachtsmen, but those experienced master mariners who conduct great steamships about this world, will do well to study these words of Voss's and take the advice which he gives them. "What!" I can hear those brass-bound skippers cry, "is this captain of a cockle¬ shell to teach us how to handle our great ships at sea?" So I will ask these mariners to remember that it is precisely because of the difference in the size and power of the craft in which they and in which Voss sailed that Voss is in a position to instruct them. If you live closely enough to anything you will come in time to know and understand that thing very perfectly and intimately indeed. And Voss lived so close to the sea, and the ships he sailed in were so very tiny, that he had only to put out his hand to touch the dread face of the mighty deep.

But this book of Voss's is by no means merely a book for seamen. No. The most inveterate landsman may learn something from it too. In these degenerate days the sea means, to only too many of us — nothing. When we go afloat we are most careful to take our shore life with us. We make our voyages nowadays nursed in some luxurious steam hotel, and we have quite forgotten that it is the sea which made our fathers men and our race mighty. We have forgotten. If one should come and strenuously urge us to give up our safe and easy life ashore and make a voyage in a little boat across the oceans we should recoil in horror. We should certainly call the fellow mad. And yet it is not so very long ago that men embarked upon just such voyages as a matter of course, and for, I think, the fun of the thing. We have become, I fear, a bit soft. We need a blast of strong sea air to rouse us to the doing of great deeds.

But, perchance, the inspiring example of a man of our own times may embolden and uplift us. If so; this is most certainly a book which we should read.

Weston Martyr

Captain John Claus Voss, taken in South Africa.

Tilikum at Apia, Samoa with Voss at the tiller.

Tilikum, 1926, general view.

Captain Voss with his daughter Carolyn on his left. Around

1920 in California.

Contents

INTRODUCTION

I. SEVEN MILLION POUNDS STERLING

CHAPTER I. A Chance of a Lifetime CHAPTER II

In a Sloop on the High Seas CHAPTER III.

Encounter with the First Gale CHAPTER IV.

Hunting Experiences-San Bias-Disappointing News

CHAPTER V.

Arrival at Cocos Island

CHAPTER VI

History of the Great Treasure-Where is it Hidden?- Prospecting and its Difficulties

CHAPTER VII.

Short of Provisions-Leaving Without Having Lifted the Veil-The South American Coast

II. FORTY THOUSAND MILES IN A CANOE

CHAPTER I.

An Adventurous Proposition

Appendix

APPENDIX

1. The Speed, Height, and Danger of Breaking Wind Waves

2. In What Size of Vessel is it Safe to Heave To Under Sail in Bad Weather?

3. The Proper Time to Heave To When Running Before a Strong Wind and Sea

4. How to Heave To When Running Under Sail

5. What Storm Sails Should Be Carried in a Gale, and How to Set Them

6. What Signs Assure the Master That his Ship is

Properly Hove To in a Gale, and thus Safe From Shipping Seas

7. The Drift of a Vessel When Hove To Under Storm Sails

8. How to Heave To Small Vessels of About Twenty-five to Fifty Feet in Length, Under Storm Sails in a Moderate Gale

9. Why Small Vessels Should Heave To Under Sea Anchor and Riding Sail in a Heavy Gale

10. The Best Kinds and Dimensions of Sea Anchor suited to Different Sizes of Vessels

11. The Best Kinds of Cable for the Sea Anchor, with Regard to Material and Length, and How to Fasten the Same

12. How to Bring a Small Vessel's Head to Sea Without Shipping Heavy Water

13. How a Small Vessel Should Lie, Under a Sea Anchor and Riding Sail, in a Heavy Gale, so as to Keep Dry and Comfortable

14. How to Secure the Rudder When Hove To Under Sea Anchor and Riding Sail

15. The Drift of a Small Vessel When Hove To Under Sea Anchor and Riding Sail

16. How to Cross Surf Breakers in a Boat or Launch

17. What Gear Should Be Carried in Lifeboats Aboard Ships, for the Safety of Shipwrecked People

18. Various Indications of the Typhoon Which Appeared on August 31st, 1912, its Violence, the Seas Encountered, etc.

19. How to Manage a Small Vessel in a Typhoon

20. The Effect of Oil on Breaking Seas in Heavy Gales, and What Kind may be Expected to Give the Best Result

Some Remarks on Loading and Ballasting

Reflections on Steamship Disasters

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Frontispiece : Tilikum . New Plymouth . NZ

Captain l ohn Claus Voss , taken in South Afr i ca

Tilikum . at Apia . Samoa , with Voss at the tiller

Tilikum . 1926 . g eneral view

Captain Voss with his dau g hter Carol yn

The Departure . Tilikum at Oak Ba y, Victoria . B.C. . Mav 20 . 1901

Tilikum . New Plymouth . New Zealand

Tilikum . at Table Ba y. Capetown . South Africa . 1903

Tilikum . at Mar g ate

Tilikum . 1926 . stern view

Tilikum . 1926 . bow view

Tilikum . at Canvev Island . En g land . 1911

Tilikum . under sail

Tilikum . deck plan and interior arran g ement Tilikum . half-deck plan and dia g onal plan

Tilikum . sheer plan Tilikum . bod y plan Sea Queen under sail The crew of Sea Queen

SEVEN MILLION POUNDS STERLING

A CHANCE OF A LIFETIME

My seafaring life commenced in the year 1877, when I was quite a young man, and was spent, up to the time I sailed in the Xora, in large sailing vessels, during which period I have filled all sorts of positions from deck boy up to master.

Throughout all those years I would certainly not have believed that a vessel so small as the Xora could live through a heavy gale at sea, and, naturally enough, should not have thought of attempting a long sea voyage in any small craft, had it not been for a gentleman, whose name was George Haffner, an American citizen.

In the summer of 1897, when I was sitting comfortably in an easy chair in the Queen's Hotel, Victoria, British Columbia, a gentleman stepped up to me, saying, "Are you Captain Voss?" I replied in the affirmative. He then introduced himself as Mr. Haffner, handing me at the same time a letter, saying that it was from an old friend of mine, whose death had taken place at sea just fourteen days previously, and with whom he had stayed during his last moments.

The letter ran as follows

"Dear friend John,—You will be surprised to learn that I am now lying on my deathbed. Yes, dear friend, we are at present a long way out on the Pacific Ocean, and I shall never be able to see land any more, but shall be buried at sea like a dog, and the Pacific Ocean will be my grave.

"The bearer of this note is Mr. George Haffner, who knows the position where the great treasure lies on Cocos Island. Believe in him, and he will make you a rich man. Excuse my short note, because I am very weak. Kindly remember me to all my old friends and believe me,—Your dying friend, JIM DEMPSTER."

About five months previous to this meeting with Haffner, a Victoria sealing schooner of about seventy-five tons had been chartered by several enterprising men of Victoria, of whom Dempster was one, for the purpose of sailing down to Cocos Island to make a search for the great treasure, supposed to be buried on that island.

Haffner was in possession of a permit, issued by the Costa Rica Government, to secure the treasure if found by him, and he stated that when this sealing schooner, called the Aurora, arrived at Cocos Island, he had already been on the island for nine months, during which time he had vigorously searched for the treasure and had located the same. Surprised at this, I asked him dubiously why he had not taken the treasure back to Victoria in the Aurora. He explained that having arrived at Cocos Island by the Costa Rica supply boat which undertakes a trip every six months to supply the guard on the island with provisions, he met the crew of the Aurora. Not knowing anything of their intentions, besides not liking the captain, he did not feel disposed to disclose his secret as to where the treasure was buried.

He continued:

"Meanwhile the crew of the Aurora worked with all their might and made excavations in many places without, however, having the slightest success. Finally the men got tired and dissatisfied at having come on a wild goose chase. Besides, their provisions ran short, so they were compelled to return to Victoria, giving me a passage at the same time.

"Shortly after our departure from Cocos Island Dempster became ill, and as a passenger on board I volunteered to nurse him. I did all I possibly could for him, but he grew worse and worse, so that it was soon plain to me that he would shortly succumb.

"Not knowing anybody in Victoria and not being a sailor myself, I thought of getting in touch with a responsible person in Victoria who would join me on an expedition to Cocos Island to bring away the treasure. So I decided to confide the news that I had found the treasure to Dempster.

"Greatly surprised at this, he almost gained new life, but realised later that his end was near and that he himself could not profit by my communication.

"I then asked Dempster to give me the name of a reliable man in Victoria, who would be in a position to procure for me a suitable vessel and crew with which to sail to Cocos Island and carry off the treasure. He mentioned your name and wrote the letter which I have just handed to you.

"Because I had found, from the day I first met Dempster on Cocos Island till he died, that he was a straightforward and reliable man I have decided to place confidence in you. I now ask, can you and will you procure for me a vessel and fit her out properly, sail with me to Cocos Island and assist me to put the treasure on board and take it to Victoria? As compensation, I offer you one-third of whatever we may secure of the treasure, which would be the same as my own share, as we have to hand over one-third to the Costa Rica Government."

To my query Haffner then explained that the treasure was valued at over seven million pounds sterling, so that each share would amount to, say, £2,333,000, and as it had been said that the treasure consisted principally of gold ingots, the total quantity of this gold would weigh approximately fifty tons and measure roughly one hundred cubic feet.

Turning these gigantic figures over in my mind, my brain almost became dizzy. At last, at last, I thought to myself, your poor old daddy's words will come true! He often told me in a joking way, "When you grow up, John, I shall make a millionaire of you."

When I was about sixteen years of age, and reminded him of his promise, he thought it would cost too much money, and recommended me to go out into the world and hustle for the million myself. He told me that if I kept on hustling well and hard, I would certainly succeed in becoming a millionaire.

Of course, like a good son, I took my father's advice, went to sea, and from then till the day I met Haffner I had been hustling up and down and all round the world, but never had managed to commence becoming a millionaire, even in Japanese sen, and as I was then already past forty years of age, I had almost lost confidence in my father's prophecy when meeting Haffner.

This gentleman explained to me in detail where the treasure was buried, and showed me a chart of the island, with cross bearings marked on it to give the position.

All that Haffner said appeared to me so simple and straightforward that I certainly arrived at the conclusion that my fortune was made and that I should in reality become a millionaire, not only in cents or dollars, but in pounds sterling, and a double header at that.

What a grand feeling came over me, a poor man, firmly believing that I would be soon the possessor of millions of money, the thought of which was with me day and night.

I dreamt, the first night after meeting Haffner, that we were both standing on Cocos Island near a large cave, out of which glittering gold and sparkling diamonds were shining invitingly.

But to cut a long story short, I really felt the happiest man in the wide world, and did not fail to have a good time in advance at the prospect of becoming a real millionaire.

In the meantime I was looking round for a suitable vessel, and found a hundred-ton schooner. Haffner, however, did not quite approve of it, thinking it was not really fit to carry such a valuable cargo, and one fine day said the vessel was unsuitable, but that he had luckily met Admiral Pal I ister of the North-west British Squadron, who had agreed to make a trip to Cocos Island, and, under the guidance of Haffner to bring the treasure to Victoria in his flagship, the Imperieuse.

This news struck me like a thunderbolt.

"Well, in that case," I said, 11 I suppose I am out of it?"

"Very sorry indeed," he replied, "but I am sure you understand my position. In order to secure the treasure with safety I must have a good ship, and, what is more essential, protection, neither of which you can afford me. And by placing myself in the hands of Admiral Pallister, I shall have both."

I saw that Haffner was right, and probably should have done the same had I been in his position. However, I felt truly miserable. I felt as if I had lost my mental balance. All the castles I had already built in the air had vanished with this sudden blow, but what was worse I had spent quite a little of my savings, so that the tide of my banking account was at a low ebb.

After leaving Haffner I would not at first believe his story that a British man-of-war should undertake such an expedition. But it proved to be true when Admiral Pallister left Esquimalt Harbour in his flagship Imperieuse with Haffner on board, and escorted by a cruiser for the south.

So, I thought to myself, instead of being on the road to fortune I have to hustle again, and harder than ever before,

I solemnly vowed that I would never again build castles in the air or have a good time and spend money in advance on the strength of a promise of good prospects, but would wait until I actually had the cash in hand.

IN A SLOOP ON THE HIGH SEAS

After a lapse of about three months following the departure of the two vessels from Esquimalt Harbour, during which time I had been anxiously waiting for news of their trip, I received, to my great surprise and joy, the following letter from Haffner

"Dear friend Voss,—I have to admit that I feel very sorry indeed at not having accepted your advice with regard to the hundred-ton schooner, and the advantage of your company for a trip to Cocos Island, but you know that at the time I felt confident that it was to my advantage to avail myself of the man-of-war.

"Sorry to say the trip turned out a complete failure inasmuch as I should never have been able to make use of the treasure after having placed it on board the Imperieuse.

"During the voyage down, an officer one day questioned me about the treasure and asked me whether I knew what would be done with it after it was on board, and when I said, 'It will be taken to Victoria,' he replied that a treasure such as that, when shipped on a British man-of-war, would have to be handed over by the Admiral to the British Government, who would in turn hand it back to the rightful owner, i.e., the Peruvian Government.

"After carefully considering the officer's statement I made up my mind that the treasure should not be shipped on board this vessel, in fact, that it should not be found with my help.

"On our arrival at the island work was at once commenced under my leadership, and I kept the men at a safe distance from the correct spot.

"After continually shifting the men about for a fortnight they got tired, and the officers who were watching them also grew weary.

"Of course great excitement prevailed the whole time, and everybody expected to see gold bricks and diamonds flying about by the shovelful. But gradually disappointment set in when nothing came to light after all the hard labour.

"The officer then told me that I must have made a mistake in the location, which I reluctantly admitted, remarking at the same time that I really did not know of any other place where it might be. The good-natured officer looked at me with a smile and said that he would have to report my statement to the commander.

"That night, when I went on board, I expected a severe calling down, but nothing happened.

"However, the next morning we put to sea again and made for Acapulco, where I was put on shore, and where I am staying at the present time.

"I certainly must give the British credit for being good-natured people, as they took it all in good part. If I had played that trick on Americans I am certain they would first have keelhauled me, then hanged me on the mainyard and put twelve bullets through me, after which they would finally have drowned me to make sure I was dead.

"Now, dear friend, I herewith repeat the offer made a short while ago in Victoria. Come down here as quickly as possible with any kind of vessel you consider fit, and we will then sail to Cocos Island, secure the treasure, and put on board as much of it as the vessel will safely carry. If we cannot bring off the whole lot at once we will leave the rest on the island for a second voyage, as it will be quite safe where it lies now.