“Sea Fever”, Dugout
Canoe (Casco), 1947
Iquitos, Republic of Peru

Gift of John Schultz

In 1947, John Schultz purchased this dugout for $16 at the headwaters of the Amazon River. After several
weeks’ journey down to the mouth of the river, he decided to equip it with a deck and cross the Caribbean. He stopped in Trinidad, Grenada, Puerto Rico, and Anguilla, and arrived in Miami on June 20, 1948, after an eventful voyage of more than 5,000 miles.

Of his time traveling down the Amazon, Schultz wrote:
In late afternoon, I would usually be too far from shore to find an Indian hut, so I’d tie up to a floating tree or a hyacinth raft. I would sling my hammock under a mosquito nest and sleep while drifting down river.