Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-05-06
Captain BOyt0n and His Life-Preserver.

CAPT. PAUL BoYToN who created a
sensation last October by proposing to drop
off the steamer Queen in mid-ocean, and
actually went over the good ships side
when fifteen miles from the Irish coast in
dark night with gale blowing, has for
some months been repeating his daring
exploits in London. The numerous exhi-
billions which he has given on the Thames
have been as well attended as the univer-
sity boat-races, and his last feat, to swim
across the channel from Dover, England,
to Boulogne, France, appears to have filled
the measure of his fame and made him de.
cidedly the lion of two continents.
Capt Boyton's performances are in
tended TO illustrate the advantages and ca
liabilities of "a costume by which man
becomes, as II were, his own ship, and Is
quite independent of steamers or packet
vessels When an entrance is effected in
these garments and they are inflated prop
erly, it is almost impossible for the tenant
to come to grief He must float whether
he will or no. He is also arranged, we
believe, in compartments SO that ii there
were leak in any quarter he would still
have nothing to fear except such incon-
venience as he might suffer from being
slightly out of trim. He possesses
the power of steering and sculling
himself, being furnished with a
paddle for the purpose. AS when
| one jumps from steamer into the Allan
tic the voyager of the future must be pro-
vided with food, he carries a bag of pro-
visions sufficient to last him a fortnight.
But he must be prepared for other contin-
gencies besides those of hunger and thirst.
| Cruising about the sea, he might be run
..rltI .Ix l.a Ia.,
| lantern to afiix to his headpiece, which he
can also, we are told, use as a reading
| lamp, for select library seems to be part
of his outfit. 1t being possible that he
, might meet with shark, we have him
armed with an ak and sharp knife He
| furthermore bears flag, and can hoist the
stars and stripes; while, when tired of
| padding, he can erect sail as readily as
a nautilus Such, in brief, is the life
saving dress which enables a man to live
| on water as on land--to be his own Cap
! tain, steward and helmsman, like the hero
Of the ballad who kept on exclaiming;
| Oh am cook and the Captain bold,
| And the mate of the Nancy brig,
| And the boatswain tight, and the midship-
mite,
And the crew of the Captains gig!
The revoluuon IN aquatic affairs which
this invention suggests can, at first, hardly
be realized. II will be more than fash
ionable pastime, though a great many
people may treat the question as one prom
Using them a new pleasure. 1t is not
every one who can buffet the briny waves,
even after taking laborious lessons and
gulping great deal of salt water at Long
Branch or Cape May; while there are
few who do not envy good swimmer
the power of leisurely floating out to sea
on bright July day, with the prospect of
an excellent appetite for dinner before him.
1t is not given to every one, moreover, to
manage pleasure boat at the seaside
places or on the lakes and the rivers. But
here is an invention which will transform
the most timid and inexperienced of lands
men into creature that the biggest por-
poise might envy; for what leviathan Of the
deep has ever been known to carry about
with him couple OF weeks subsistence?
Indeed, visions must arise to the minds of
the least imaginative Of water parties along
the shores of the Mediterranean and the
Adriatic George Cruikshank's celebrated
" Birds of Passage is recalled, in which
we find the various people who go abroad
in England in autumn flying across the
channel with wings. German Barons