Biography of Irving Johnson:

The voyages of Irving and Electa Johnson aboard YANKEE are well known by everyone familiar with the sea.

Irving McClure Johnson was born on July 4, 1905 on the family farm in Hadley, Massachusetts and began training for a sailor’s life as a teenager. Irving Johnson began his early career as a mariner, both in the Merchant Marine and as a private yacht captain during the summer.

Johnson worked as Captain on board the SQUAW, a New York 40, for two years and then in 1926 on the CHARMIAN, a seventy foot Seawanhaka, for the next four summers. In order to fulfill his quest for adventure, Johnson joined the Merchant Marine in 1926 when he signed on as quartermaster on board the Grace Lines’ 360 passenger steamer, S.S. SANTA TERESA, for a three month voyage. In November of 1927 he shipped out on the S.S. STANLEY DOLLAR, a 401 foot freighter. After this voyage he signed on with the Dollar Steamship Line on their flagship the U.S.S. PRESIDENT WILSON as a cadet. On board he made his first voyage around the world from January 6, 1928- April 26, 1928. The following year he sailed with the Cunard Line on the R.M.S. AQUITANIA. This passage left him in Europe where he would set sail for his famous trip around the Horn on board the 345 foot barque PEKING in late November 1929, a voyage documented in a film entitled “Around Cape Horn.” In 1930 he made another exciting voyage across the Atlantic as First Mate on board SHAMROCK V. His last job as mate came when he signed on the WANDERBIRD.

While aboard the WANDER BIRD, he met Electa. After their marriage in 1933 they began a unique way of life. Sailing around the world in their own vessel the Johnsons shared their skill and knowledge of the sea with a hand-picked crew of interested and enthusiastic amateurs. With Gloucester, MA as their home port the YANKEE alternated between 18 month circumnavigations and 18 months of sailing trips on the Eastern Seaboard. With a crew generally composed of 4 girls, 16 men, 1 doctor, and a mate, the Johnsons sailed around the world seven times.

Their first vessel, the schooner YANKEE, made the voyage three times and was sold in 1941 prior to WWII. During the war Capt. Irving Johnson was called into the Navy when Admiral Kimmel insisted on having the foremost expert on the South Seas areas. Johnson’s sailing experience among the numerous atolls and treacherous coral reefs made him a natural choice in identifying and planning bases in the South Pacific. Captain Johnson was in Pearl Harbor on that fateful day, December 7, 1941. He was later assigned to the naval survey ship, U. S. S. SUMNER. The SUMNER surveyed, charted and blasted channels through coral reefs throughout the Pacific, in advance of the U.S. fleet.

In 1946 the Johnsons purchased the German North Sea Pilot Boat, DUHNEN. After her conversion to a Brigantine by the J.W. and A. Upham yard in Brixham, England, they resumed their sailing activities, in their new YANKEE, completing four additional circumnavigations (voyages four through seven,) during the next eleven years. The book “YANKEE’s People and Places” by Irving and Electa Johnson and Lydia Edes (a crew member) details the sixth voyage of the Brigantine YANKEE.

In 1959, they built their dream ship, the 50′ ketch YANKEE. Designed by Irving Johnson and Olin Stephens and built by Scheepswerf, Westhaven, Zaandam Holland, and with a hailing port of Mystic, CT, the Johnsons cruised on her throughout Europe’s canals, waterways and seas. The books, “YANKEE Sails Across Europe” and “YANKEE Sails the Nile” both by Irving and Electa Johnson, documents these travels.

In 1984 the Johnsons were featured in a National Geographic special entitled, “Irving Johnson, High Seas Adventurer.” Capt. Johnson also served as Trustee Emeritus of the Mystic Seaport Museum and South Street Seaport.