Steam ship captain. He was in command of the side-paddlewheel steamer Chusan, which broke apart on its maiden voyage in a gale in the harbor of Androssan, Scotland, in 1874. The wreck is one of the most memorable to ever occur on the Scottish coast because hundreds witnessed the tragedy unfold from shore.
The Chusan was built for the American-owned Shanghai Steam Navigation Company by John Elder and Co., Govan, on the Clyde. The vessel was intended for navigation up the Yangste River in China and was not designed for the open sea. Captain Johnson was sent to command the steamer on a voyage from Scotland to China. During a shakedown cruise on October 6th to Waterford, Ireland, several defects in the ship's construction, notably failed rivets, turned up. It put in to Glasgow for repairs, then set out again on October 21st. The ship was overtaken by a powerful gale and a decision was made between the captain and pilot to make a run for the shelter of Ardrossan Harbor.
Huge waves lifted the ship's paddlewheels out of the water making her nearly impossible to steer. She was smashed upon rocks at the harbor's entrance and her stern broke off. Hundreds of Ardrossan citizens witnessed the calamity, helpless to aid the crew and passengers, who included Captain Johnson's pregnant wife and young son. According to contemporary accounts, Mrs. Johnson was washed overboard and Captain Johnson plunged into the sea to rescue her. He succeeded in handing her up to another survivor on the rocks, but then slipped beneath the surface and drowned. His was one of nine lives lost in the tragedy. The rest of the crew was saved by local rescuers.
Captain Johnson's body later washed ashore, and it was shipped to Salem, Massachusetts.
A memorial to the victims of the tragedy stands in Ardrossan's Cemetery.