Irving Johnson

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Irving McClure Johnson (b. July 4, 1905 in Hadley, Massachusetts - d. January 2, 1991) was an American author, lecturer, adventurer, and sail training pioneer. Early home movies show a young Johnson training for a life at sea, climbing a telephone pole in his backyard, and wrestling to prepare for the inevitable fights he believed would occur due to his reading the novels of Jack London and Joseph Conrad.

Johnson became a professional sailor (joining the Merchant Marine in 1926) working summers as crew and captain of various yachts including the "Charmian" for Newcomb Carlton (President of Western Union.), which led to the opportunity to sail on the Peking. He was an amateur filmmaker and his footage on the barque Peking in 1929 would become the now famous film Around Cape Horn.