Historic Ships and Boats

Current Leadership Position

• Owner, Historic Ships and Boats

Past Leadership Positions

• Logistics Manager, Mayflower Sails 2020
  
• Vessel Operations Director, Seamanship and Leadership Training for Youths
• Port Logistics Manager, Mystic Seaport, 38th Voyage of the 1841 sailing vessel CHARLES W. MORGAN.

• Administrator, Operations Director, and Curator at S.S. AMERICAN VICTORY Mariners Memorial and Museum Ship

• Director, Texas Seaport Museum, a project of Galveston Historical Foundation 

• Assistant Director/Curator, Texas Seaport Museum / Galveston Historical Foundation

• Curator,Frontiers of Flight Museum, Dallas, Texas

Memberships & Associations

Air and Space Associates
American Association for State and Local History
American Professional Captain's Association
American Schooner Association

Artist Boat

Flagship Niagara League
Friendship Sloop Society                                Friends of the GOVERNOR STONE            Galveston Historical Foundation

Herreshoff Marine Museum

Historic Naval Ships Association

Institute of Nautical Archaeology
Island Institute
Maine Maritime Museum
Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, CT)
National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Maritime Historical Society

New Bedford Whaling Museum

New England Museum Association

Old Gaffers Association
Schooner ERNESTINA-MORRISSEY Association Smithsonian Institution

Steamship Historical Society of America

Tall Ships America

Texas Navy Association (Admiral)
Traditional Small Craft Association

USS CONSTITUTION Museum 

Who We Are

Kurt D. Voss, a native of Houston, Texas, was eight years old when his grandfather began taking him fishing on large, old wooden boats in Galveston Bay. Historic and traditional vessels have been a key part of his life ever since. Kurt acquired the first boat of his own when he was fourteen years old; he now owns a 1979 Independence 31 sailboat. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton Near Coastal Master's License for Self-Propelled Vessels, including auxilairy sail. Kurt holds a degree in Historical Studies from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, with a minor in Business Administration.

In the fall of 1980, Kurt became one of the original stateside volunteers for the 1877, 150-foot, square-rigged sailing vessel ELISSA. He was a member of the ship's sailing crew from 1982 to 1986 and vice chairman of the ELISSA Committee during 1986-1987.

Kurt joined the staff of the Texas Seaport Museum (a project ofGalveston Historical Foundation) in 1990, after spending fifteen years as a broadcast technical consultant, specializing in project management and governmental regulation. During 1992-1993, he was curator of Dallas’ Frontiers of Flight Museum, where he worked with several nationally-recognized museum exhibit designers and consultants, including senior curators at the National Air & Space Museum. Kurt returned to the Texas Seaport Museum in 1993 as assistant director. He became the director of the Texas Seaport Museum and 1877 Barque ELISSA in September 1994, a post he held until May 2007.

In 1994, Kurt attended the Winedale Museum Seminar for Managment and Interpretation, an intensive, nationally-renowned, in-residence program conducted by the Texas Historical Commission. 

After moving to Tampa, Florida in 2007, Kurt was  a member of the management team of the S.S. AMERICAN VICTORY, a 450-foot operational World War II merchant ship that is a living museum and which gets underway several times a year.

In 2009, Kurt authored the book Galveston's The ELISSA: The Tall Ship of Texas, part of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series. 

From October 2013 to August 2014, he served as port logistics manager for Mystic Seaport's 38th Voyage of the CHARLES W. MORGAN.

From September 2019 to Septembert 2020  he was the Logistics Manager for the sea trials and voyage home of the replica sailing ship MAYFLOWER II, following her 11.5 million dollar restoration. 

Since 2007, Kurt has been a principal in Historic Ships and Boats, consultants for traditional vessels and maritime museums, based in Warwick, Rhode Island.

In addition to his experience with museums and traditional sailing vessels, Kurt has helped restore and maintain numerous classic aircraft.