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Personal Sketches of Marine Men Eads Johnson, Consulting Naval Architect and Marine Engineer By B. K. Price F A family engaged in ship repair- ing he graduated at Tulane in me- chanical engineering and studied naval architecture at Cornell university. IS practical experience in building and designing a wide variety of types of vessels covers a period of 35 years of continuous activity. S CONSULTING naval architect and marine engineer he has been re- sponsible for many novel innovations in machinery and hull construction. HE youngest son of the late Lewis Johnson, founder of the Johnson Iron Works, Eads Johnson was born in New Orleans in 1878 and was graduated from Tulane university in 1898, with a degree in mechanical engineering. He then went to Cornell university for a post graduate course in marine engi- neering and naval architecture. Rounding out 35 years in the shipbuilding industry, he has come to know both salt and fresh water, both the North and the South. His practical experience in shipbuilding began at Lewis Nixon’s shipyard at Elizabethport, N. J., and continued at the old Cramp shipyard in Philadelphia, where he served as a foreman for two years. He first came to New York as representative of B. B. Crowninshield, the noted Bos- ton naval architect. Then came an appointment as superintendent of con- struction in the lighthouse service with headquarters al ‘Tompkinsville, S. I. In this post, he had charge of all floating equipment in the third district. He resigned this post to become engineer and general manager of the dry- dock and shiprepair plant of James Shewan & Sons, New York, from which post he resigned to take charge of special work for the New York Shipbuilding Co. In 1910 he opened his own offices in New York as naval architect, marine engineer and surveyor. His first im- portant commission was the design of the tug INVINCIBLy, for Horace Havemeyer. This was followed by a variety of other vessels, among which were the first oil burning tug in New York harbor, MEXxPET, and six large tankers for the Mexican Petroleum Co. When the United States entered the World war, Mr. Johnson was called to Washington by General Goethals, and was placed in charge of the New York district, ex- tending from Cornwall, Pa., to Stonington, Conn., with territory up the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. Six- teen frantically busy shipyards were under Mr. Johnson’s jurisdiction; his was the task of co-ordinating the work of all these yards. Several months later General Goethals resigned his charge and Mr. Johnson also resigned. He then became executive head of a new Shipyard in Wilmington, N. C., established by the Fuller Construction Co. under the name of the Carolina Shipbuilding Corp. This company secured contracts for the construction of twelve 9400-ton cargo ships and were at work on them when the war ended. Shortly after the armistice he resigned to re-establish his New York office and also became vice president of the Johnson Iron Works, New Orleans, then operated by his brothers, the late Wilmer Johnson and Warren Johnson, who is now president. After two years he returned to New York to assume active charge of his New York office. With an over-abundance of large ships, Mr. Johnson turned to the design of smaller craft, such as ferries, tugs, and the like. In 1921 he designed the first direct diesel type ferry and, shortly thereafter, the first, diesel elec- tric ferries with center motor control. Six of these elec- tric ferries are now being operated by the Electric Fer- ries Inc., plying between Twenty-third street, New York, and Weehawken, N. J. He also designed the first diesel electric freight boat, E. F. FARRINGTON, and iron screw tunnel diesel towboat, JENNIE BARBOUR. One of his latest innovations is a unique all-welded craft, 65 feet long, powered with a 70 horsepower Fairbanks- Morse diesel engine, and capable of carrying 12 automo- biles at a load. Two of these ferryboats are now in opera- tion between EHlizabethport, N. J., and Staten Island. As consultant for the Citizens Budget commission in New York, he recently completed an extensive survey of marine operations of various departments of the city govern- ment. His findings embodied in a comprehensive report, outline how the operation of the municipal ferries could be made to show a profit instead of the customary $2,000,000 annual deficit. Mr. Johnson is now acting chair- man of the Eastern division of ferryboat operators, com- prising 28 owners in the area from Eastport, Me., to Key West, Fla., and is engaged in formulating their code of fair practice under the NRA. He is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, of the New York Maritime exchange, and of India House. Two sons, Eads Jr and Lewis, are now at Yale university, preparing to follow the engineer- ing profession. MARINE REview—January, 1934 39