The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1909-10-07
1900 NILES IN A PAPER BOAT,

To voyage twelve hundred miles in a
paper boat may sound somewhat incred-
ible, but, nevertheless, that unique and
hazardous feat has been accomplished by
a veteran member of the Harlem River
Rowing Club, New York, Captain G.
johnson by name. In frail racing shell
little under twenty-one feet in length,
ingeniously made by himself from news
papers from all parts of the world, he
rowed from St. Augustine, in Florida, to
New Y ork, the entire 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 news
paper work for many years.
To give his old craft a cosmopolitan in
terest, he adopted the expedient of using
the sheets Of as many prominent news
papers from the principal cities of the
world as he could possibly procure.
With this immense pile of papers and a
quantity of shellac, Captain johnson COM
menced his tedious task, which extended
over five months. The keel, gunwales,
and bulkheads were, of course, of wood
the two former of yellow pine and the
latter of white pine, on account of its
extreme lightness. Temporary Stats be-
tween the bulkheads constituted the
mould. :
The foundation work completed, Cap
tain johnson turned his attention to the
newspapers themselves. The first sheets
were laid over the slender mould with
great care and literally coated with
shellac. This process was repeated no
fewer than thirty times in building the
hull and nineteen times in making up the
deck. The last layer 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 three thousand sheets
of newspaper were used in building the
boat. 1t measured twenty-one feet in
| length, the same number of inches in
beam, and six inches in depth. 1t had a
number Of air-tight compartments at
either end which rendered it practically
unsuitable.
| sSWhen the time came for launching,
everybody in St. Augustine turned out
| to see whether this remarkable "paper
boat" would float. Success crowned the
captain S efforts from the outset.
| AS may well be imagined, johnson
kept close to the mainland, so that a
great part of the journey was on inland
waters. The journey from start to
| finish occupied about ten weeks, and
was remarkable test of strength and
endurance johnson is man of fine
physical development, or he would never
have been able to sit in his cramped posi-
ton for hours at time day after day.
At first he experienced cramp in the
back and arms, but soon became used to
the work and afterwards suffered little
inconvenience. He did not carry much
food with him-just sufficient to last the
day-and he always landed to take his
meals whenever possible.
At the places stopped at overnight the
boat was usually on exhibition, and,
needless to say, never failed to create
good deal of interest. From the October
Wide World Magazine