An unusual water 'happening' took place in 1614, when eccentric Thames ferryman named John Taylor, who called himself the ‘water poet’, made an extraordinary journey from London to Queenborough in a paper boat.
The boat was made of hempseed paper, varnished with the same varnish people would have used on wooden boats in the 17th century. The oars were two giant dried fish strapped to two canes. Taylor turned his time in his paper boat into a poem called:
'In Praise of Hempseed, or the voyage of Mr Roger Bird and the writer hearof in a boat made of Browne-Paper'.
The paper boat record set by John Taylor was the world's oldest surviving maritime record, and stood as the world-record distance travelled in a paper boat until Tim Higham broke it for Comic Relief in 2003.
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