Daring and adventurous American navigator, born in Pittsburg, PA, in 1848. Evincing from his earliest youth a fondness for aquatic pursuits, he enlisted in the navy in 1864, as soon as he was fifteen years old. He participated in the assault on Fort Fisher and was mustered out with honor after Appomattox. Then he served for a while with the Mexican revolutionists in 1867, and afterwards worked as a life-saver at a summer resort, where, in a single season, he saved fourteen lives. He enlisted in the French army for the Franco-Prussian war, and when the Bavarians stacked arms under the column Vendôme sailed to South Africa and tried diamond-hunting. Returning to America as a life-saver at Atlantic City, he improved upon the life-saving dress patented by C. S. Merriman of Iowa. In 1874 he landed near Cape Clear, on the Irish coast, in a stiff gale, clad in this costume, having jumped from a steamer over 20 miles from land. His next trips were across the English Channel, down the Rhine from Basel, and down the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans. Then he returned to Europe, navigating the Danube, Po, Arno, Deber, Rhône, Loire and Tagus. The Straits of Gibraltar were included in his victories. In 1879 he aided the Peruvians in torpedo warfare against the Chilians, and in 1881 paddled down the Yellowstone, from Glendive, in Montana, and the Missouri to St. Louis, a voyage of 3,580 miles.
