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Irving McClure Johnson (July 4, 1905 – January 2, 1991) was an Americansail training pioneer, adventurer, lecturer and writer.
Johnson was born inHadley, Massachusetts, the fifth child of the writerClifton Johnson and Anna Tweed McQueston.[citation needed]
Johnson became a professional sailor, joining theMerchant Marine in 1926, working summers as crew and captain of various yachts including the "Charmian" forNewcomb Carlton (President ofWestern Union), which led to the opportunity to sail on thePeking. He was an amateur filmmaker and his footage on thebarquePeking in 1929 would become the filmAround Cape Horn.[citation needed]
While serving asmate on board theWanderbird, Johnson met (Harriet)Electa "Exy" Search whom he married in 1932. The Johnsonscircumnavigated the world seven times on two vessels, both namedYankee, each trip with a new crew and each taking approximately 18 months. The firstYankee, bought in 1933, was a Dutch North Sea pilot schooner.[1](Before becoming an actor,Sterling Hayden served as mate aboard the firstYankee.)[2]The secondYankee, bought in 1947, was a retired German North Sea pilot schooner which the Johnsons rerigged as a brigantine.[3]They then retired from circumnavigation and, in 1958-9, had the lastYankee built at Westhaven in Zaandam, the Netherlands. She was a steel ketch for sailing the inland waterways of Europe, designed by Irving Johnson andOlin Stephens ofSparkman & Stephens.[4]
Many of the Johnsons' voyages have been documented in their own books and many articles and videos produced by theNational Geographic Society and others throughout their sailing career. With an amateur crew, they traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to the islands of theSouth Pacific, ports of call in Southeast Asia, around theCape of Good Hope and home toGloucester without incident 18 months later seven times.
Upon the urging ofBill Donovan, soon to be the head of the predecessor to theOSS, Johnson joined theU.S. Navy in 1941, and was at Pearl Harbor on the day of theattack.[citation needed] His knowledge of theSouth Pacific made him a natural choice to advise thePacific Fleet on thetides, swells,currents, depths andshoals around the treacherousreefs andatolls of the South Seas. He was commissioned a Lieutenant Commander, and joined theUSSSumner, 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.[citation needed]
Johnson educated the public about the age of sail throughout his life, personally narrating showings ofAround Cape Horn on board thePeking (docked atSouth Street Seaport in New York City from 1974-2016) and working withMystic Seaport and theSea Education Association, serving as a trustee of both until his death in 1991.[citation needed]
The Los Angeles Maritime Institute has honored the Johnsons by naming their twinbrigantines for use in their Topsail Youth program after them,Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson.
Exy Johnson oversaw thechristening ceremonies of the vessels whose construction she was instrumental in until her death in 2004.[citation needed]
Dr. Sheldon's experience on board the ill-fated brigantineAlbatross served as the basis for the filmWhite Squall (1996).[citation needed] Capt. Johnson also mentored yachtsman Jim Stoll, who became one of the directors of theFlint School.
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