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 .
