TWELVE HUNDRED MILES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 238, 13 November 1909, Page 3

TWELVE HUNDRED MILES

IN A PAPER BOAT. i To voyage 1200 miles in a paper boat 1 may sound somewhat incredible, but, i nevertheless, that unique and hazardous l feat has been accomplished by a veteran member of the Harlem' Rowing Club, Li.S.C, Captain G. Johnson. 1 In a frail racing shell a little under 21ft in length, ingeniously made by himself from newspapers from all parts of the world, he rowed from St. Augustine, in Florida, to New York, the t ntirc journey being for the most part on salt water, and several hundred miles of it on the open ocean. Captain Johnson cannot say precisely what prompted him to construct a boat of newspapers, unless it is the fact that newspaper is made from wood-pulp, and that he has been associated with newspaper work for many years. His initial intention was t» utilise the sheets of one paper exclusively, but liu ally, to give his odd craft a cosmopolitan interest, he adopted the expedient of j using the sheets of as many prominent newspapers from the principal cities of the world as he could possibly procur;\ | To collect the newspapers itself was an ononis undertaking. Th.- method of' procuring them was as follows: ! Johnson tent out a postcard expressing his intention to iiuout 500 newspapers in all parts, and no fewer than 3UU of them complied with llis request . for copies oi their paper. All th; European countries were represented, also '■' many of the British colonies, Egypt, Japan and the Philippine islands. In the case of the American papers, every State '' was represented by one or more jour- I' uals.

With this immense pile of papers an 1 a quantity of shellac, Captain Johnson commenced his tedious task, which extended over live months. The keel, gunwales and bulkheads were, of course, of I wood—the two former of yellow pine and the latter of white pine, on account ■of its extreme lightness. Temporary ' slats between the bulkheads constituted the mould. The foundation work completed, Captain Johnson turned his intention to the newspapers themselves. The first sheets were laid over the slender mould with •gnat care and liberally coated with shellac. This process was repeated no fewer that 30 times iu building the hull, and 11) times iu making up the deck. The hrst laye r consisted of the headings of as many papers as it was possible to lay on. These latter were clearly visible beneath the last coating of shellac, which was no less than a quarter of an inch in thickness.

In all, possibly 3000 sheets of newspaper were used in building the boat. It measured 21 feet in length, the /same number of inches in beam, and din in depth. It had a number of air-tight compartments at either end, which rendered it practically misinkable. When the time came for launching, it might have been July 4th in St. Augustine, everybody turned out to see whether this remarkable "paper boat" would lloat. Success crowned the captain's efforts from the outset, and he signalled his intention of starting on his trip iO New York there and then. Needless to add, the voyage was condemned by ail. However, in spite of hie three score years, Johnson had the confidence of his convictions, and, stocking his craft with a suit of clothes, sonic food, a demijonu of water, and some odd tools, he pulled away from the little harbor of St. Augustine amid a storm of cheers. The initial stages of the voyage were anything but encouraging. He had not been out more than an hour when » fierce thunder-storm broke over him. completely filling the cock-pit of the boat with water, and forcing him to land until the tempest abated. Putting off again, he finished his first day's run at North Kiver, about 27 miles from the start. As may be well imagined, Johnson kept close to the, mainland, so that a great part of the journey was on inland waters, the Atlantic seaboard being studded with numerous islands ai>d reefs, which are not shown on the map. About 200 miles was rowed on the ope.> ocean, but he hugged the land pretty closely. In crossing some of the sounds however, he was frequently miles fro'li the coast. Crossing St. Andrew's Sound, an open stretch of seven miles had to be encountered. Local seamen did their utmost to dissuade him from crossing it. owing to the strong tides and the lightnc>s of his craft, but he was not to be denied. After having been out abojt seven days he fell ill owing to drinking polluted water on a deserted Georgian island. Tiiis compelled him to rest fo.Iwo weeks at Savannah to rccuperaU. From Savannah he was persuaded to take train to Norfolk, in Virginia, in order to avoid long stretches of i,pen sea and dangers of Cape Hatteras-a point which all seafarers avoid if pojsilile. From Norfolk Johnson put ouc l»r Annapolis, and, keeping to the Virginian shore of Chesapeake Uav, continued until he reached lialtimoie. From the latter place he passed through th» Delaware river, then through the Karitan Canal, terminating at Perth Amboy, on the suutheni extremity of Staten, whi<-h placed him in sight of his goal. L Thus, will, the exception of the short listance between Savannah and Norfoln he successfully accomplished the feat of rowing his paper boat from St, Augustine t" New York.

the journey from start to finish occupied about ten weeks, and was a remarkable test of strength and endurance in .view of Johnson's advanced n.v. He is a man of line physical development, or lie would never have been abli to sit in his cramped position for hours at a time day after day. At first he experienced cramp in the back and arms but soon became used to the work au.l afterwards suffered little inconvenience. He did not carry much food with him—just sufficient to last the day-aiul he always landed to take meals whenever possible.

At tile places stopped at overnight the boat was usually on exhibition, creatin« a good deal of interest. "