Irving Johnson - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Tall ship
Tall ship
A tall ship is a large, traditionally-rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall Ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or festival....

s Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson can be found at Irving Johnson (ship)

Irving McClure Johnson (b. July 4, 1905 in Hadley, Massachusetts

Hadley, Massachusetts

Hadley is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,793 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area around Hampshire Mall and Mountain Farms Mall along Route 9 is a major shopping destination for the surrounding...

- d. January 2, 1991) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, lecturer, adventurer, and sail training

Sail training

From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea , sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on and off the water....

pioneer.

Early home movies show a young Johnson training for a life at sea, climbing a telephone pole in his backyard, and wrestling to prepare for the inevitable fights he believed would occur due to his reading the novels of Jack London

Jack London

John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...

and Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...

Sailing

Johnson became a professional sailor (joining the Merchant Marine

United States Merchant Marine

The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...

in 1926) working summers as crew and captain of various yachts including the "Charmian" for Newcomb Carlton (President of Western Union

Western Union

The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...

.), which led to the opportunity to sail on the Peking
Peking (ship)
The Peking is a steel-hulled four-masted barque — the sister ship to the Passat. A so-called Flying P-Liner of the German company F...

. He was an amateur filmmaker and his footage on the barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

Peking
Peking (ship)
The Peking is a steel-hulled four-masted barque — the sister ship to the Passat. A so-called Flying P-Liner of the German company F...

in 1929 would become the now famous film Around Cape Horn.

While serving as mate

Shipmate

A shipmate is literally a mate on one's own ship .Typically, in the United States and other countries the term 'shipmate' is used amongst sailors as a generic name for those who are not on a name-to-name basis with each other...

on board the Wanderbird, Johnson met (Harriet) Electa "Exy" Search whom he married in 1933. The Johnsons circumnavigated

Circumnavigation

Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...

the world seven times on two vessels, both named Yankee, each trip with a new crew and each taking approximately 18 months. The first Yankee, bought in 1933, was a Dutch North Sea pilot schooner.

The second Yankee
Brigantine Yankee
The brigantine Yankee was a steel hulled schooner, originally constructed by Nordseewerke, Emden, Germany as the Emden, renamed Duhnen, 1919...

, bought in 1947, was a retired German North Sea pilot schooner which the Johnsons rerigged as a brigantine.

They then retired from circumnavigation and, in 1958-9, had the last Yankee built at Westhaven in Zaandam, Holland. She was a steel ketch for sailing the inland waterways of Europe, designed by Irving Johnson and Olin Stephens

Olin Stephens

Olin James Stephens II was an American yacht designer of the 20th century. Stephens was born in New York, but spent his summers with his brother Rod, learning to sail on the New England coast. He also attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a term.Stephens' name had a long history...

of Sparkman & Stephens

Sparkman & Stephens

Sparkman & Stephens is a naval architecture and yacht brokerage firm with main offices on 5th Avenue in New York City, USA and offices in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Newport, Rhode Island, USA. The firm performs design and engineering of new vessels for pleasure, commercial, and military use....

.
Many of the Johnsons' voyages have been documented in their own books and many articles and videos produced by the National Geographic Society

National Geographic Society

The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...

and others throughout their sailing career. With an amateur crew, they traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to the islands of the South Pacific

South West Pacific theatre of World War II

The South West Pacific Theatre, technically the South West Pacific Area, between 1942 and 1945, was one of two designated area commands and war theatres enumerated by the Combined Chiefs of Staff of World War II in the Pacific region....

, ports of call in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

, around the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

and home to Gloucester

Gloucester, Massachusetts

Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...

without incident 18 months later seven times.

World War II

Upon the urging of Bill Donovan

William Joseph Donovan

William Joseph Donovan was a United States soldier, lawyer and intelligence officer, best remembered as the wartime head of the Office of Strategic Services...

, then head of the predecessor to the OSS

Office of Strategic Services

The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...

, Johnson joined the U.S. Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, and was at Pearl Harbor on the day of the attack

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...

. His intimate knowledge of the South Pacific

South West Pacific theatre of World War II

made him a natural choice to advise the Pacific Fleet

United States Pacific Fleet

The United States Pacific Fleet is a Pacific Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources under the operational control of the United States Pacific Command. Its home port is at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii. It is commanded by Admiral Patrick M...

on the tide

Tide

Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....

s, swells, currents

Ocean current

An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis effect, cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun...

, depths and shoal

Shoal

Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...

s around the treacherous reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

s and atoll

Atoll

An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...

s of the South Seas. He was commissioned a Lieutenant Commander, and joined the USS Sumner

USS Sumner (AGS-5)

USS Sumner was a survey ship in the United States Navy. She was named in honor of Thomas Sumner. She was originally commissioned as a submarine tender as USS Bushnell , in honor of David Bushnell, the inventor of the first American submarine.- USS Bushnell :Bushnell was launched 9 February 1915 by...

, finishing the war as her commanding officer. On board they created and printed five color charts, scouted out potential harbours for US Navy vessels, and conducted underwater demolition to improve the suitability of some of the harbours. Johnson also dove on recently sunken Japanese vessels, searching for classified Japanese documents. One success was a chart of the minefields surrounding Japanese harbors.

Ashore

Much as his colleague Alan Villiers

Alan Villiers

Captain Alan John Villiers was an author, adventurer, photographer and Master Mariner.Born in Melbourne, Australia, he first went to sea at age 15 and sailed all the world's oceans on board traditionally rigged vessels, including the full rigged ship Joseph Conrad...

, Johnson would continue to educate the public of the majestic age of sail throughout his life, personally narrating showings of Around Cape Horn on board the Peking

Peking (ship)

The Peking is a steel-hulled four-masted barque — the sister ship to the Passat. A so-called Flying P-Liner of the German company F...

, now docked at South Street Seaport

South Street Seaport

The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District. The Seaport is a designated historic district, distinct from the neighboring Financial District...

in New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

and working with Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport, the Museum of America and the Sea, in Mystic, Connecticut, is notable both for its collection of sailing ships and boats, and for the re-creation of crafts and fabric of an entire 19th century seafaring village...

and the Sea Education Association

Sea Education Association

The Sea Education Association is a private, nonprofit educational organization which offers a hands-on experience to college and high school students in sailing at sea. Founded in 1971 by Corwith Cramer, Jr. SEA operates two sailing ships traveling throughout both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...

, serving as a Trustee of both until his death in 1991.

The Los Angeles Maritime Institute has recently honored Irving and Exy by naming their twin brigantine

Brigantine

In sailing, a brigantine or hermaphrodite brig is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.-Origins of the term:...

s for use in their award winning Topsail Youth program after them.

The doyenne of modern sail training, Exy Johnson would personally oversee the christening ceremonies of the vessels she was instrumental in constructing prior to her death in 2004.

Former crew members of their voyages include actor Sterling Hayden

Sterling Hayden

Sterling Hayden was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as Johnny Guitar, The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing. Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr...

and Dr. Christopher B. Sheldon. Dr. Sheldon's experience on board the ill-fated brigantine Albatross served as the basis for the movie White Squall (1996). Capt. Johnson also mentored yachtsman Jim Stoll, who became one of the directors of the Flint School

Flint School

The Flint School was a preparatory school founded by educators George and Betty Stoll. Based in Sarasota, Florida, United States, it operated aboard first one, then two, school ships from 1969 to 1981...

Books

(reprinted as )

Articles

Irving and Electa Johnson; Westward Bound in the Yankee (National Geographic Magazine, January 1942)
Irving Johnson; Adventures with the Survey Navy (National Geographic Magazine, January 1947)
Irving and Electa Johnson; The Yankee's Wander World (National Geographic Magazine, January 1949)
Irving and Electa Johnson. Yankee Roams the Orient (National Geographic Magazine, March 1951)
Irving and Electa Johnson; South Seas Incredible Land Divers (National Geographic Magazine, January 1955)
Irving and Electa Johnson; The New Yankee (Yachts and Yachting, October 10, 1958)
Irving and Electa Johnson; Lost World of the Galapagos (National Geographic Magazine, May 1959)
Irving and Electa Johnson; New Guinea to Bali in Yankee (National Geographic Magazine, December 1959)
Irving Johnson; The Ketch Yankee (Yachting, August 1960)
Irving and Electa Johnson; Inside Europe Aboard Yankee (National Geographic Magazine, August 1964)
Irving and Electa Johnson; Yankee Cruises the Storied Nile (National Geographic Magazine, May 1965)
Irving and Electa Johnson; Yankee Sails Turkey's History-Haunted Coast (National Geographic Magazine, December 1969)
Electa Johnson; Yankee Cruises Inland Italy: Part I (Yachting, July 1973)
Electa Johnson; Yankee Cruises Inland Italy: Part II (Yachting, August 1973)

Films