Riverman : An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath

willbranthicks

Apr 27

For over twenty years, Dick Conant was a fixture on America's waterways. People encountered him in or along any major river in the United States. His wanderlust was insatiable, and his personality and size were big enough to fill any room. Always known as eccentric within his family, but widely read and knowledgeable, Conant never met a stranger, and his adventures and character became legendary. Although he weathered through numerous mishaps, Conant seemed impervious to fate.

In late 2014, a mystery canoe was found on the north edge of the Albemarle Sound, heavily loaded with equipment, that was obviously Conant's, but he was gone. Searches for human remains in the immediate area were unsuccessful - it's like he had vanished off the face of the earth.

After going through some papers and journals of Conant's that were salvageable, local officials found the author's name as a contact, and alerted him to Conant's (assumed) demise.

McGrath had met Conant just a couple of months before in Piermont, New York, a small town on the Hudson just north of Manhattan. The improbable giant of a boating man intrigued him, and McGrath caught up with him a few days later down the river, before Conant continued his journey, his intent to reach Florida by the Intercoastal Waterway. McGrath wrote a featured article in the New Yorker about Conant.

McGrath wanted a bigger picture of Conant's story, which meant traveling to nearly every corner of the country - anywhere there was moving water. As the author uncovered more of the vast tapestry of Conant's life and travels, he met dozens of people who had befriended and interacted with the man. Eccentrics must attract more of the same, because there were others that shared Conant's sense of wonder and wander, and more than a few that might have seemed stranger than him.

Riverman is a convoluted yet fascinating account of a brilliant and sometimes troubled man who gave up domesticity for a life wrestling with the elements and finding his soul, a loner who relished his solitude but loved the company of others, albeit usually briefly.

(William Hicks, Information Services)

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