‎"Nothing's lost till it asks where it's going"

Patrick White- from the poem "The Hidden Bliss"

About the Society

"Any wind will take you there... if you don't know where you're going"

Founded in 1909 in memory of Joshua Slocum and others explorers lost without a trace and to commemorate all such ill fated expeditions, the society has many active members around the globe, however we have never seen the need for regular meetings.

Although we accept e-mails, the society encourages electronic liberation, thus priority will be given to messages recieved floating in a bottle or shouted across the transom.

The membership by and large consists of curmudgeons, scoundrels, scalliwags, ruffians or ner'do wells, who continue to boldly explore despite not knowing what they are looking for.

We are the men of which legends are made...primarily because we are very good at creating legends about ourselves. The society seeks to continually improve upon and embellish these legends, and to preserve and promote our ancient nautical traditions.

We are dedicated to the proposition that most of the world's greatest discoveries have been made by sailors who were lost, and lament that in this age of GPS and instant global communication, it is increasingly difficult to actually get lost.

Our members continue to explore, using only dead reckoning and a finger to the wind, sailing the world without fear (or charts).

Society Membership

All members should be experienced and knowledgeable seamen , with enough experience and time at sea to have been totally terrorized, and to have sworn that if they returned safely to land they would never venture out again !!

• Members should demonstrate a complete and utter disregard for any item of yachting attire

• Log book if available is usually wet, or missing entries

• Not a member of any recognized yacht club except for the purposes of a scam, hot shower, free drinks or a free berthing

• Float coats or other floatation devices are worn out, dirty and don't float

• Destinations and courses should be determined only by favourable wind and sea conditions, except when asked to leave anchorages by irrate port authorities

• Can discourse with articulate passion on the perils and evils of boats other than wood, especially power boats and jet skis. Some steel hulled tug boats are exempt

• Usually becomes incoherent when discussing politics, economics, the future of civilization or fiberglass boats (see above)

• Frequents hardware stores, ship chandelries, lumber yards and boat yards (even in the dead of winter)

• Always has an understanding, forgiving and saintly spouse, partner, traveling companion or significant other which entitles the aforementioned partner to the honorary rank of ADMIRABLE IN PERPETUITY

• Although members may under some special circumstances own a boat, must be willing to admit that sailing on another skippers vessel is far less work and more economical

Sites of Interest

Josha Slocum Society International http://www.joshuaslocumsocietyintl.org/

Amelia Earhart
http://www.ninety-nines.org/earhart.html http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/achievements.html

Navigator humor http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/n/navigators.asp

Knots
http://www.frayedknotarts.com/library.html
http://www.wincingdevil.com/marlinspike

Ancient Mariners http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/mariners.html

Sea Stories
http://www.seastories.ca/Stories/Ancient-Ships-And-Navigators.html

The Astrolabe
http://www.beyondthemap.ca/english/ship_astrolabe.html

Accidental Colonization vs Deliberate Navigation in Pacific
http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=27661

Treehead's Maritime Links
http://treehead.tripod.com//world.html#MUS

Steve Fosset Memorial

Adventurer James Stephen Fossett (April 22, 1944 – September 3, 2007) was a confirmed member of the Explorers Club, and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, but it has long been rumoured that he was also a member in good standing of the International Society of Ancient Mariners and Lost Navigators.

For legal reasons, the society can neither confirm or deny these rumours but there is certainly no disputing that after he disappeared on September 3, 2007, Fossett could not be found and thus was eligible for an automatic free membership.

We would also like to point out a few additional pertinent facts.


Best known as the aviator who flew many solo nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth and as the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon, he was also an accomplished sailor and navigator who set many long distance sailing speed records.


His most important accomplishment was something even more impressive; getting lost for more than a year in this age of Google satellites, and GPS... even while having Richard Branson looking for him.

And though his sailing methods were somewhat modern and involved the use of fiberglass, the Society has decided to commemorate Fosset's many accomplishments with a memorial to be constructed near where a hiker found Fossett's crash site in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

An expedition to erect the monument will set off sometime in 2009, led by our sister organization and co-sponsor, the Panamerican Mountaineering and Culinary Association .

Nomination of Honorary Member

“We are dedicated to the proposition that most of the world's greatest discoveries have been made by sailors who were lost”*

The Legend of Saburo Sakai

Zero fighter pilot Saburo Sakai ended WWII with 60+ victories and is considered by many to be the top pilot of WWII. Once, over Guadalcanal, gunners shot up the cockpit of Sakai’s Zero, sending one bullet smack through his brain. Losing consciousness, Sakai rolled into a dive heading for certain death. Sakai describes how during that dive he had a vision of his mother... a vision that somehow shook him to recover his will and focus. Sakai also writes of tears of pain that helped to drain some of the blood from his eyes.

What followed was a classic piece of WWII flying lore. Running as lean as possible, and on fumes by the end of his journey, Sakai managed to fly the shredded Zero FIVE HOURS over open seas back to Rabaul airbase, navigating entirely without instruments based only on whatever directional sense the vision of his mother had initially provided and eventually (since he was only blinded in one eye) his keying visually on cones he recognized from a volcano chain. When he landed a crowd of pilots and crewman gathered around amazed at what they were seeing. Sakai is then said to have filled out a full report before collapsing.

After the war, Sakai became a devout Buddhist and “never killed another living thing, including mosquitoes” as long as he lived. Sakai visited America later in life, even meeting some of his aerial adversaries, including the men who shot him down. He died in September of 2000 at age 84. As Sakai later so fully understood, "any wind will take you there... if you don't know where you're going.”*


NOTES:
[*International Society of Ancient Mariners and Lost Navigators]

—Information taken from Secrets of the Dead - Dogfight Over Guadalcanal DVD ~ and liberally borrowing from Amazon Review by D. Doppes'
http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dead-Dogfight-Over-Guadalcanal/dp/B000NA21X6

Following myself

I am creator of this blog, I am also the first follower of the blog; thus I am following myself.

Following yourself is the surest way to not get lost.