Tilikum: Luxton`s Pacific Crossing

In 1901, Norman Luxton—a young man from the Canadian prairies—met a European sea captain, John Claus Voss, in a Vancouver tavern. Over a bottle, they challenged each other to circumnavigate the globe by canoe. In May, the pair set out from Victoria, British Columbia. They left port in the Tilikum—a 38-foot-long Salish dugout canoe fitted with sails; the smallest craft ever to attempt such a trip. For Luxton, this remarkable voyage ended in a Suva, Fiji, sick bed. The Pacific had been crossed, but he and Voss had nearly killed each other along the way.

With a series of new mates, Voss completed the journey. In elegant, descriptive prose, Luxton provides a vivid portrait of the Pacific and her peoples at the dawn of the twentieth century. In this new edition—which brings this classic back into print—readers will also find a foreword and epilogue by Harvey Locke, a trustee of the Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation.