"It Was As If Dad Was With Us"

Last month, ANN told you about Fisk Johnson's plans to look for the wreckage of a Sikorsky S-38 seaplane his grandfather -- the late H.F. Johnson, founder of the company that would become S.C. Johnson and Sons -- had flown in the 1930s on a trip to find a sustainable source of carnauba, for the company's eponymous floor wax.

The elder Johnson made it back from that trip safely... but the plane later went down, in the hands of a different owner, off the coast of Indonesia.

With the plane went Fisk Johnson's last link to his grandfather... and, in a way, to his father, Samuel, who passed away in 2004.

The late Samuel C. Johnson had always wanted to find the wreckage of the plane that his dad had flown... and while he didn't live to see it, his son Fisk did.

Last week, the company announced that a family expedition to the shores of Manokwari Bay had found the S-38 seaplane... on the floor of the Pacific.

"Seeing the original plane for the first time, resting deep under the ocean, was magical," Fisk Johnson said. "It was as if Dad was with us. We could feel his spirit and his love of adventure."

Fisk says ultimately, he hopes to relocate at least some of the wreckage to a building being constructed in honor of his father.

FMI: www.scjohnson.com/family/fam_our_sam.asp