Captain Paul Boyton

Fortunately we know quite a bit more about Paul Boyton than we do about George Kiefer. Unlike George, who appears to have been a quiet and studious man, Paul enjoyed the limelight and sought out publicity. In the 1880s, his adventures were followed throughout the country, and he wrote a book about some of his adventures in The Story of Paul Boyton.

We have an interest in his early life, because we don't know when George Kiefer met Paul. Paul was born June 29, 1849, probably in Ireland, although he later claimed to be born in the U.S. Even as a child, he loved the water and swimming. His father, Terence, was notably absent. A trader of curiosities, Terence imported sea-shells, corals, and oriental goods that he sold in major American cities.

Paul had two brothers and three sisters. In 1858, they moved to Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on Lacock St. near the railroad bridge.

On April 15th 1864, at the age of 15, Paul joined the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to the U.S. steamer, Hydrangea, Captain W. Rogers in command. They were ordered to Fort Monroe, and spent that part of Civil War running up the James River past Malvern Hill where a confederate battery was stationed. His last engagement was the assault on Fort Fisher. He wrote that he was on board the ship-of-war St. Louis. He left the navy with the position of yeoman, possibly in 1865.

At some point he began submarine diving for the New York Wrecking Company and then went treasure hunting in the West Indies on the schooner Foam, for the purpose of collecting and shipping marine curiosities. He was wrecked in the Bay of Campeche near Tampico.

In 1867 he joined the Mexican revolutionaries under Pedro Martinez and Colonel Sawyer to fight Maximillian. After several skirmishes he deserted and returned to the United States.

In 1868, the family left Allegheny and his father helped him set up a store in Philadelphia for the sale of curiosities and Oriental goods and another at Cape May, New Jersey. In 1869 he lost everything to a fire. On October 5, 1870 his father died. We can conjecture that the absences and the early death of his father left some vacant hole in his being. Soon after his father died he left for France. When he returned from France to New York, his mother and elder brother had a store on Broadway near Thirteenth Street.

In Atlantic City, he helped organize the U.S. Lifesaving Service, where he claims to have saved 71 people.

From 1870 to 1871, Paul joined the free-shooters (Franc-tireurs) of the French Army and then sailed south to seek his fortune in the South African diamond fields.

In 1873 Paul Boyton started with his new dress-out, devised by C.S. Merriman of Iowa. It was a two-part suit made of vulcanized rubber, a tunic with a steel belt around the waist with pantaloons and boots. On each thigh and, breast, on the back of the head were inflatable pockets that could be blown up with a tube. He had a double paddle that could also be used as a sail. W.O. Carpenter was associated with Boyton in the original introduction of the suit (New York Times Obituary).

In a celebrated stunt in 1874, he leaped off a ship 40 miles off the coast of Ireland, and spent seven hours in the water before reaching the shore. He was thus enthralled by both the attention and notoriety that he achieved. Demonstrating the suit around the world now became a personal passion for him.

He leaped into the headlines on May 28th 1875 when he crossed the English Channel in 24 hours in his Merriman suit. The Annual Register in 1875 (A New Life Dress, pg. 17) mentions that Captain Boyton appeared with Lt. Morgan and Mr. Willis, all three in a “life dress”. Boyton took in tow with him an India-rubber canoe and a tin canister. The former contained rockets and signal lights; the latter had working tools, provisions, and cigars. They were two hours in the water.

In October of 1875, Paul Boyton floated the Rhine from Switzerland to Germany. In 1876, he floated the Mississippi River. In 1878 March 29 to 31st Boyton sailed down the Guadalquivir from San Geronimo (Morocco). In November, he paddled down the L’Orne.

George Kiefer said that he travelled for thousands of miles with Paul.. I would assume in a similar role to the aforementioned Lt. Morgan and Mr. Willis...but as yet it is a mystery as to when they met or started working together. We know definitely that they were in business together by the fall of 1880. Paul mentions him in his autobiography but it is hard to find evidence that they met before that date, since the newspaper articles often fail to mention who accompanied Paul during his exploits in various parts of the world.

George may have travelled with Captain Boyton when Paul travelled through Europe. We know that George visited the Louvre of Paris and the British Museum of London where he first saw examples of Peruvian antiquities, and we must assume that these visits were before 1880.

Resources:

Boyton, Paul. The Story of Paul Boyton, Voyages on All the Great Rivers of the World
http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/9/2/3/19230/19230.htm