46 WESTERNMARINER.COM AUGUST 2019 CANADA’S COMMERCIAL MARINE MAGAZINEPurchasing a canoe that had most likely been built near
Ahousat and then found lying on a beach in Cowichan
Bay, he began the process of re-fitting and rigging what
became christened as the tilikum. At Harry Vollmers’
Boatyard on Galiano Island he and a small team of ship-
wrights constructed a cabin and deck on the hull and
rigged it as a three-masted schooner, a very unusual rig for
a small boat. Three masts were erected to carry 38 yards of
sail (Luxton recounts it as 225 square feet). They carried at
least two suits of sails, which were replaced periodicallythroughout the voyage. Mrs. Vollmers sewed the first set
of sails from canvas on a foot-powered sewing machine.
The conversion of the vessel created hold spaces, added
a tiny cabin, and decked over the entire top of the canoe.
The sides were built up 7½ inches and held in place by
one-inch square oak ribs, bent to run from bow to stern 24
inches apart from top to bottom inside the canoe. Inside,
two-by-four joists or floor timbers were fastened, over
which was laid a keelson of the same dimensions. An oak
keel was bolted to the keelson, and 380 pounds of lead was
fastened to the bottom of the keel. All this was to prevent
the canoe from breaking or splitting: the keel and keelson
sandwiched the bottom of the canoe, and the ribs crossed
the natural grain of the long sides and bottom.
With an overall length of 38 ft, a beam of only five feet
and a depth of three feet, the tilikum was narrow and un-
stable, so it needed a sail plan that had a low centre of ef-
fort. Also, when Voss streamed a sea anchor from the bow,
he needed a riding sail that could be set on an after-mast.
The tilikum carried no self-steering gear, so the three
masts allowed different sail plans that made it possible to
balance the boat.A turbulent voyage
The tilikum left Victoria from Oak Bay on May 21, 1901.
Throughout the voyage, from start to finish, everyone who
saw it thought the tilikum was “ridiculous,” “queer looking”
and a “dainty looking little lady ... but a very frail craft to
have buffeted the gales of three oceans.” If opinions on
tilikum’s appearance were mixed, opinions on the vessel’s
chances of survival were not. Armchair sailors and mariners
alike were certain the boat would not weather a heavy sea.
Voss always had unlimited confidence in the boat and
in his own abilities to navigate and handle it under any
conditions. His mates (he always sailed with one) never
lasted long, succumbing to what was they perceived as
unbearable living conditions and constantly terrifying sea
conditions.
After Luxton left the voyage in Fiji, Voss recruited a new
mate, Walter Begent, who was later lost overboard when
a wave swept the vessel. This tragic turn of events wasCapt. John Voss in his merchant marine uniform.COURTESY MARITIME MUSEUM OF BC COLLECTION
Reg Dykhuizen
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