In the early 1800’s, everyone knew of Sam Patch. The press wrote about him, young boys wanted to be just like him, President Andrew Jackson named his horse Sam Patch, Sam was a celebrity. The first BASE jumper, Sam jumped the Genesee, Pawtucket and even Niagara Falls. Discover the history and geography of the time and find out more about this now nearly forgotten Rochester, New York, celebrity. Sam Patch jumped into the water from high places all over the Northeast United States. His secrets to survival were angle of water entry, holding your breath and strong drink. Sam was a pioneer of sub-terminal freefall. On Friday the 13th in November, 1829, a cheering crowd watched a drunken Sam Patch make his last jump as he bravely stepped off the top of Genesee Falls in Rochester, New York. A fascinating piece of skydiving history. Dan Poynter is past president of the Parachute Industry Association, past chairman of the Board of the U.S. Parachute Association and past president of the International Hang Gliding Commission. He has written more than 120 books; seven on parachutes and skydiving. A pilot, skydiver and master parachute rigger, this Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) is a frequent speaker at aviation and other events. S-21 Keynote, multimedia with historic videos, maps and sound. 50 minutes

1. Dan Poynter’s
Sam Patch
© 2005
Dan Poynter, CSP, PIA Historian.
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2. Who was Sam Patch?
 In the 1800s
Everyone knew of him
Everyone used his name
The press wrote about him
People talked about him
Young boys wanted to be
just like him
 Sam Patch was a celebrity
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3. First BASE Jumper
B
A
S
E
Buildings, Antennas, Structures, Earth.
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4. Presidents
Named Horses
After Sam Patch
Andrew Jackson on
Sam Patch. 1833.
And to think you never heard of him
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5. Authors Wrote Books on Sam Patch
 4 children‟s
 2 Fiction
 1 Nonfiction
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6. Everyone Used Sam’s Name
Commodore
Perry
1853: Iron-clad steamships
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7. People were Re-named
Sam Patch
Adopted a castaway Japanese
sailor named Sentoro.
Re-named him Sam Patch
One of 17 crew members rescued from a battered cargo junk after
drifting 52 days in the Pacific Ocean.
The only Japanese to accompany the Perry expedition that opened
Japan to the West.
The first Japanese to enroll in what is now Colgate University.
The first Japanese person ever to be photographed. 1851.
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8. Map of the Western Pacific
 Perry stopped in Chi
Chi Jima in 1853
 500 Mile SE of Tokyo
 1831: Inhabited by 7
(Caucasian) families
from Massachusetts
 Where George Bush
bailed out in 1944
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9. Chi Chi Jima
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10. Boats Were Named After Him
Erie Canal
Rochester, NY
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11. Sam Patch was Remembered
 Immortalized in the works of Hawthorne
and Melville
 His fame inspired portrayals of him on the
London stage
 He shared the national spotlight with
 Davy Crockett, frontiersman.
 Mike Fink, legendary river man
 Mose the Bowery Boy, fictitious New York
fireman.
 A cigar named after him
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12. Sam’s Words and Name
Entered Popular Speech
 “Some things can be done
as well as others”
 “As cross as Sam Patch”
 “What the Sam Patch are you doing?”
 “Where in Sam Patch are you going?”
Explanations to substitutes for swearing.
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13. America’s First
Professional Daredevil
 Factory hand
 Ordinary life for 27 years; famous for 2.
 1820s: America‟s first professional
daredevil.
 Jumped from high places—usually aside
waterfalls.
 He was a pioneer of sub-terminal freefall
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Not a lot of high places then

14. The Travels of Sam Patch
 Massachusetts
 No. Reading (b. 1799)
 Danvers
 Marblehead
 Rhode Island
 Pawtucket
 New Jersey
 Paterson
 New York
 NYC Harbor
 Niagara Falls
 Rochester
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15. Sam Patch
 Loved to Jump
 (and talk about it)
 B.A.S.E. Jumping Pioneer
 Bridges (Spans) & Earth exits
 No tall Buildings or Antenna then
 Into the water
 No parachute
 Drank a lot
 Typical skydiver?
He was one of us
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16. Sam Loved to Jump
• Over rocks
• Over fences
• Over pumps
• From a hen house
• Out of trees
His parents figured
jumping was all right for
a growing boy—he would
grow out of it.
He didn't
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17. No Parachute
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18. Mule Spinning in Pawtucket
 Pawtucket:
First textile
manufacturing town
in US.
 Abundant
water power.
1807: Making Thread
When he wasn‟t drinking
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19. Working in the Mills
 To work at age 7 in
the White Mill
 Mills: Mostly
children.
 Work not
difficult or
dangerous.
 Noisy and
monotonous
 1820: Became a
boss spinner.
 Well paid.
 (When he
wasn‟t drinking)
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20. The Falls at Pawtucket
1st from the bridge, 50‟ in the
water.
1813: From roof of Stone Mill
to the river. 100‟.
Sam figured out that you
should breathe in FF, keep
your mouth shut and hold
your breath prior to water
entry. Called “Pawtucket
style”.
50 feet. See the bridge.
Learned to hold his breath
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21. Pawtucket Falls
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22. PIA

23. The Original PLF
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24. More
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25. Sam Learned
 Know your landing area
 Avoid the rocks
 Enter the water vertically
 Take a deep breath
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26. Passaic Falls & Clinton
Bridge, Paterson, NJ.
So side of Clinton Bridge,
3-5M spectators. Paterson had
a Population of 6M.
Sam gave a short speech that
none could hear.
70-75‟ Into a deep, shaded
pool.
A grand performer. Legs
straight, arms to sides, entered
the water like an arrow.
PIA
1828, Sam found fortune—Paid $15

27. From the Masthead of a
Ship off Hoboken
Sam found fame: General Public PIA

28. 1829: He Disappeared for a Year
Received an invitation from the innkeepers at Niagara Falls
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29. Niagara Falls Today
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30. War od 1812. Border.
2 men owned 4 hotels
Needed attractions
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31. Niagara Falls in 1911
Completely Frozen
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32. PIA

33. Innkeepers Staged Events
 Ships
 Explosions
 Sideshows
 Bands
 Vendors
Sam became a showman
Animals. 10 million tons of rock
 And now
Sam
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34. October 6, 1829
 Big show at 3 PM
 The Superior was
drifted toward the
Falls
 Did not go over
 Hung up on a flat
rock
 Sam rescheduled
for noon the next
day
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35. October 7, 1829
 From 130‟ ladder/platform
 First to jump Niagara Falls
 He partied for the next 10 days
80‟ ladder leaned 40‟ from the
base of Goat Island.
He climbed the ladder, bowed
to the men, blew a kiss to the
ladies and stepped off.
Sam got 25 cents from
spectator admitted to Goat
Island. $75
Thousands did not pay.
Survival depended on
practiced physical skills and
absolute concentration.
Bought hands from over his
head to his sides just before
entry.
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36. He Advertised his Next
Leap – October 17
Dressed in costume
Bought a tame black bear
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37. “A matchless performer of
vertical excitement”
Niagara Falls
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38. Now Sam was a Celebrity
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39. The Physics of Freefall (English)
Little air to work with in first few seconds. Exit attitude is critical.PIA
99 feet: 2.5 seconds & 40 mph

40. The Physics of Freefall (Metric)
Little air to work with in first few seconds. Exit is critical to body attitude.
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41. Off to Rochester
And the bar
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42. Rochester, New York.
 Population: 9,000
 Plus suburbs
 Rochester Recess (Bar)
 Exchange St.
 Genesee River
 Falls
 Erie Canal
 Aqueduct
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43. Basil Hall, Rochester, 1827
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44. The Falls - Originally
7 miles up from Lake Ontario
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45. Sam Borrowed a Boat and
Made Soundings in the Landing Area
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46. Nov 6, 1829 - 99 Feet
Sam Patch‟s jumps were made from the area enclosed by
the 'V' shaped retaining wall at the corner of the building
Advertised leap. 6,000 to 10,000 people waited. Equal to 9,000 pop of Rochester.
Sam showed up at 3 pm with the bear.
He scanned the crowd and waved. People cheered. The Falls roared. Perfect jump and water entry. Bobbed to surface and swam to shore.
SAM: “This is the real Sam Patch—no mistake”.
They handed him his jacket and a bottle of rum.
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47. PIA

48. Rochester Grew
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49. The Falls Today
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50. Rochester Today
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51. Canal Aqueduct - 1825
Erie Canal went over the Genesee river in an aqueduct
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52. Aqueduct Over River
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53. Erie Canal Aqueduct
Over the River
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54. Nov 13 - Last Leap Handbill
 Friday the 13th
 125‟
 Handbill posted
everywhere in
western NY and
Canada
 Would return
and throw the
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bear over

55. Date JC died on cross
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56. Sam’s Platform
See notch and canal aqueduct
November chill
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57. Getting Ready
 Sam spent the morning at the Rochester
Recess talking and sipping brandy
 1 PM: They “paraded” up State Street to
the Falls.
Bars full. People bet
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58. 12,000 People Near the Falls,
on the Roofs & in the Windows
Ascended the scaffold.
Sam was very drunk. Short incoherent speech that few could hear.
He faced the crowd, took off his cap and jacket.
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59. PIA

60. The Leap Began Normally
He arched his torso, threw his head back, arms outward. Subterminal.
1/3rd of the way down, his head dropped to his chest (probably looking down) and his body veered sideways. He flailed his arms.
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61. ?
 He entered the water on his side.
 He did not surface
 People walked away
 There were rumors that he swam under the
Falls and survived
 Sightings all over the Northeast
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62. The Search
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63. The Falls in Winter
 Months passed
 November
 December
 January
 February
 March
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64. March 17
 Silas Hudson took horses to the river to
drink
 Kicked a hole in the ice
 Up popped Sam
 4 months, 7 miles, over the Little Falls.
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65. Battered but Recognizable
 Cold water
 Preservation
qualities of alcohol
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66. Leapin' Sam Patch
It was known up 'n down in every little town
That was settled along the new canals
Sam Patch was renown
The young man from Rhode Island
Who would jump from any height
The crowds would gasp in horror
As they‟d watch him in his flight
Chorus:
LEAPIN‟ SAM PATCH the young man oh so
brash
Sailin‟ through the air he‟d come
Like a lightnin‟ boltin‟ flash
Leapin‟ Sam Patch a legend far „n near
But, oh the price of glory is a price so ever
dear
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67. Second Verse
Genesee Falls 1829
Rochester New Yorkers gathered
Waitin‟ there in lines
„N down he soared the crowd it roared
But when the curtain call came „round
Leapin‟ Sam Patch he was no where to be
found
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68. Even More Famous After Death
 “Some things can be done
as well as others” became a
popular saying.
 Farmer‟s almanacs
 Comic annuals
 Newspaper stories
 Minstrel shows
 Stage plays
Born into a world of fixed social rank where people like Sam Patch did not become famous.
He rose from low beginning to become famous—by leaping waterfalls.
He was a pioneer at becoming a celebrity. He proved hat anyone could become famous.
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69. Before the Darwin Awards
or he Would Have Qualified
 Natural Selection
 Survival of the fittest
Where evolution meets the pavement
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70.  Bestowed upon (the remains of) that
individual, who through single-minded selfsacrifice, has done the most to remove
undesirable elements from the human gene
pool.
 Granted posthumously (by definition)
 Or, lives but is rendered incapable of
reproducing
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71. Charlotte Cemetery
The Grave of
Sam Patch
Who leaped to his death
Over the Upper Falls and into
The Genesee River
At Rochester, N.Y.
Friday, November 13th, 1829.
His Remains were found
In the Lower Genesee River
March 17th, 1830
And interred in this Cemetery.
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72. 1830 Obituary
Itinerant showman who
had no home, avoided
useful work, was
reckless, drank, sought
fame for its own sake,
and corrupted the
young.
Driven by applause, he
went from waterfall to
waterfall winning fame.
Read
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73. 3
One Leap Too Many
“And here our hero should have stopt,
and husbanded his brilliant fame,
bit ah, he took one leap too much,
and most all heroes do the same.”
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74. The Patron Saint of BASE Jumpers
B
A
S
E
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75. 2
Sam Patch was
born to jump.
It was what he did
best and what he
wanted to do
most.
And “some things
can be done as
well as others”.
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76. Don't
Drink
and
Dive
Credits:
Sam Patch: The Famous Jumper by Paul E. Johnson
Mark Brine Music. http://www.MarkBrine.com
PIA