Customer Reviews

40,000 Miles in a Canoe (The Sailor's Classics #3)

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I am not someone you would normally find reading a book on high sea adventure but for other reasons I purchased this book and I was hooked. It is a wonderful story full of humour, adventure and suspense. The characters become alive, paticularly Captain John C. Voss and you feel you are making the journey with him. The story is compelling and the reader finds it difficult to put the book down. The book actually contains two stories but the one that captured my attention was the journey on the Tilikum with Norman Luxton. The story awoke an interest in me to the point where I continued to research the characters and the vessel and the story of what happened to the Tilikum after she reached Margate, England. The Tilikum just celebrated her 100th anniversary of her departure from Oak Bay (Victoria, B.C.) where they have erected a plaque. She has been fully restored complete with new rigging and is now on display at the Maritime Museum in Victoria. For a book to interest a reader to the point where she will track down the vessel in order to see her means you have a very powerful and well written story.

Voss is more than just an expert sailor. He is cunning and has a genius for understanding the sea in all of its moods. The story is every bit as good as any other sea tale including Slocum's and Chichester's stories. Voss describes, in a matter of fact way, conditions that would frighten even the saltiest of sailors. To imagine being in those situations in a modified canoe is all the more incredible. Yet he survives and describes in great detail his recommendations for small boats in large breaking seas. And swears that a small boat can be comfortable in such conditions if handled properly and if the equipment is up to it. Although obviously dated in many respects his love of the sea and his understanding of how to survive the worst of it are timeless. I have read several of the great sea tales over the years; I don't know how I missed this one. It was a joy to read. He uses some very old nautical terms ("We made a board to shore." I think was one of his statements) but a good dictionary usually put me back on course.

It is good, but not great. If you like sailing stories, it will be a nice addition to your collection. I would recommend Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl, Adrift by Steven Callahan and Tinkerbelle by Robert Manry. Tinkerbelle is one of my favorites, if you can find a copy. Dove by Robin Graham is another sailing book that I would recommend. I enjoyed 40,000 Miles in a Canoe, but I have read better sailing books.