Lorne Johnston was born on the Peters Road, Prince Edward Island, in 1905. He developed an interest in the sea at a young age, sailing aboard his father's schooner. During his late teens he traveled to Western Canada many times to work the "harvest excursions". Through the 1920's he fished spring lobsters, before leaving to work in Boston, lumber camps in British Columbia, and on oil tankers through the Panama Canal. He fished in Clear Springs, East Point and North Cape (where he also operated a charter boat at the height of the tuna fishing industry).

A self taught folklorist Johnston turned to writing in the late 1970's. He became the columnist "Ole Salt" writing a series of articles for the Guardian and Eastern Graphic newspapers. He also produced the books Tales of Ole Salt (1982) and More Recollections of Ole Salt (1983). In 1983 he received a P.E.I. Heritage Award for publishing. Lorne Johnston died in 1990 and is buried in the Peters Road cemetery.