Irving McClure Johnson (July 4, 1905 – January 2, 1991) was an American sail training pioneer, adventurer, lecturer and writer.
Early life Johnson was born in Hadley, Massachusetts, the fifth child of the author, illustrator, and photographer Clifton Johnson and Anna Tweed McQueston.
Sailing Johnson became a professional sailor, joining the Merchant Marine in 1926, working summers as crew and captain of various yachts including the "Charmian" for Newcomb Carlton (President of Western Union), which led to the opportunity to sail on the Peking. He was an amateur filmmaker and his footage on the barque Peking in 1929 would become the film Around Cape Horn. While serving as mate on board the Wanderbird, Johnson met (Harriet) Electa "Exy" Search whom he married in 1932. The Johnsons circumnavigated 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. (Before becoming an actor, Sterling Hayden served as mate aboard the first Yankee.) The second Yankee, 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, the Netherlands. She was a steel ketch for sailing the inland waterways of Europe, designed by Irving Johnson and Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens. Many of the Johnsons' voyages have been documented in their own books and many articles and videos produced by the National Geographic Society and others throughout their sailing career. With an amateur crew, they traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to the islands of the South Pacific, ports of call in Southeast Asia, around the Cape of Good Hope and home to Gloucester without incident 18 months later seven times.
World War II Upon the urging of Bill Donovan, soon to be the head of the predecessor to the OSS, Johnson joined the U.S. Navy in 1941, and was at Pearl Harbor on the day of the attack. His knowledge of the South Pacific made him a natural choice to advise the Pacific Fleet on the tides, swells, currents, depths and shoals around the treacherous reefs and atolls of the South Seas. He was commissioned a Lieutenant Commander, and joined the USS Sumner, 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 Johnson educated the public about the age of sail throughout his life, personally narrating showings of Around Cape Horn on board the Peking (docked at South Street Seaport in New York City from 1974 to 2016) and working with Mystic Seaport and the Sea Education Association, serving as a trustee of both until his death in 1991. The Los Angeles Maritime Institute has honored the Johnsons by naming their twin brigantines for use in their Topsail Youth program after them, Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson. Exy Johnson oversaw the christening ceremonies of the vessels whose construction she was instrumental in until her death in 2004. Chris Sheldon and his wife Alice met on the Yankee, and sailed on the seventh world cruise where she served as the ship's doctor. Dr. Sheldon's experience on board the ill-fated brigantine Albatross served as the basis for the film White Squall (1996). Capt. Johnson also mentored yachtsman Jim Stoll, who became one of the directors of the Flint School. In 1983, Commander Irving Johnson became an Honorary Member of the Explorers Club. His nephew, Alan Kay, is an American computer scientist.
See also Irving Johnson (ship) Los Angeles Maritime Institute Mystic Seaport Obituary of Exy Johnson in the Boston Globe Obituary of Irving Johnson in the New York Times
References
Books Johnson, Irving (1932). Round the Horn in a square-rigger. M. Bradley. Retrieved October 10, 2010. (reprinted as Johnson, Irving (1995). The Peking Battles Cape Horn. Ingram Pub Services. ISBN 978-0-930248-07-9. Retrieved October 10, 2010.) Johnson, Irving (1933). Shamrock V's wild voyage home: and other sea-going adventures. Milton Bradley. Retrieved October 10, 2010. Johnson, Irving; Johnson, Harriet Electa Search (1936). Westward bound in the schooner Yankee. W. W. Norton. Retrieved October 10, 2010. Johnson, Irving; Johnson, Electa (1939). Sailing to see: picture cruise in the schooner Yankee. W. W. Norton. Retrieved October 10, 2010. Johnson, Irving; Johnson, Electa (1949). Yankee's wander world: circling the globe in the brigantine 'Yankee'. W. W. Norton. Retrieved October 10, 2010. Johnson, Irving; Johnson, Electa; Edes, Lydia (1955). Yankee's people and places. Norton. Retrieved October 10, 2010. Johnson, Irving; Johnson, Harriet Eleca Search (1962). Yankee sails across Europe. Norton. Retrieved October 10, 2010. Johnson, Irving; Johnson, Electa (1966). Yankee sails the Nile. Norton. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
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