Venturesome Voyages of Capt. Voss.

VOSS, John Claus.

Item Number: 114370

Yokohama: Japan Herald Press, 1913.

First edition of the author’s account of his most notable voyages, including his attempt to sail around the world in his canoe Tilikum. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated with 13 plates and 2 maps, tissue-guarded engraved frontispiece portrait of Voss. Rebacked. From the library of James Stephen “Steve” Fossett with his bookplate to the pastedown. American businessman and record-setting aviator Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in 2002 in his 10-story high balloon Spirit of Freedom. He completed the 2002 trip in 13 days, 8 hours, and 33 minutes and set records for both the Longest Distance Flown Solo in a Balloon and Fastest Balloon Flight Around the World. Fossett was also one of sailing’s most prolific distance record holders set the Absolute World Speed Record for airships with a Zeppelin NT in 2004. He received numerous awards and honors throughout his career including aviation’s highest award, the Gold Medal of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), which he was awarded in 2002. Fossett disappeared on September 3, 2007 while flying a light aircraft over the Great Basin Desert, between Nevada and California. In very good condition, rebacked.

Initially a carpenter, German-Canadian sailor John Claus Voss apprenticed on a ship voyaging around Cape Horn and thereafter lived primarily as a sailor. In 1901, Voss began his most noteworthy voyage with his friend Norman Luxton: an attempt to sail around the world in an old red cedar Indian dug-out canoe. He chronicled this and other notable voyages in The Venturesome Voyages of Captain Voss.