National Geographic USA - 03.2020

Electa

‘Exy’

Johnson

1909-2004

Circled the globe

seven times with her

husband, Irving

In 1960 Panamanian
anthropologist Reina Torres
de Araúz (below) was part
of the first team to drive
between North and South
America via the Darién Gap,
which connects Panama
and Colombia.
AMADO ARAÚZ, COURTESY THE
ARAÚZ COLLECTION
A lifetime of sailing around
the world added up to a trip
to the moon and back for
Electa Johnson (right), on the
Nile River in the early 1960s.
WINFIELD PARKS

“ I don’t suppose

many mothers have

a chance like this!”

Exy said. She was

cooking sperm whale

harpooned by our

18-year-old son, Arthur.

We were cruising

among the Galápagos

Islands for the sixth

time in twenty years

of voyaging around

the world in the

brig antine Yankee.

This moment, in-

cluded in a draft of a

story Irving and Electa,

or Exy, Johnson co-

authored for National

Geographic in 1959, was

just an average day

on the water for the

seafaring family. By the

time they furled their

sails permanently, the

couple had made seven

circumnavigations of

the world in two ships

named Yankee.

For their circumnavi-

gations, they had a

routine: They’d sail the

world for 18 months and

then spend 18 months

in the U.S. Other trips

brought them to the

Baltics, down the Nile,

and through Europe’s

canals, where Exy used

some of the several

languages she spoke.

They even participated

in the search for miss-

ing aviator Amelia Ear-

hart in the South Pacific.

The couple wrote nine

stories and numerous

books together, and

made three films for

National Geographic

during more than

40 years at sea.

Irving passed away

in 1991, and when Exy

died in 2004 at age

95, she had sailed the

distance between the

Earth and the moon

and back. Their leg-

acy continues in Los

Angeles, where kids

learn about teamwork

and problem-solving

aboard two brigantines:

the Irving Johnson and

the Exy Johnson.

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