A Sailor’s Life is a Dangerous One

A Sailor’s Life is a Dangerous One. . , Side 1: , I have heard that cry: that once heard can never be forgotten,, “Man overboard!” , I remember men lost from my ship, far out in the mid-ocean, , On dark midnights. , I remember how we used to stand, , Gathered under the mizzen rigging, , All staring out into the impenetrable blackness., “Is there anything more that you want me to do, men?” , I heard the skipper ask., “Nothing more to do, sir.” Bill Adams, Ships and Memories, 1935, Overloaded with cement piers and iron machinery in Hamburg, Pinnas has been awash for much of her voyage wit the sea entering on port and starboard sides. Captain Lehmann assembles the crew of 24 in the safety of the rear cabin. Two masts have blown away, the ship’s rigging is partly overboard, and partly a tangle on the deck, with four lifeboats smashed. As the extra heavy cargo pitches the ship violently from side to side, the crew will try to rig a sail on the one remaining mast to head the ship into the wind., 50 miles away in Port Magellan, Chile, the steamer Alfonso picks up her S.O.S. but cannot leave in the heavy seas. The Scottish ship Albert passes Pinnas, but avoids the perilous rolling vessel. She radios the British Peer to stand by – but it never appears. On the Morning of April 29, 1929, the Chilean steamer Alfonso reaches Pinnas. Captain Jenson asks for five volunteers to man the lifeboat to attempt a rescue. At any time the heaving and rolling Pinnas may smash the lifeboat. They reach the vessel, but can only take 12 men off. Captain Lehamann stays behind with 12 volunteers. The lifeboat makes its second difficult rescue. Moments later, Pinnas goes down., Three men hand on to liferopes as the sea washes over the rail in a hurricane off the coast of Japan in 1918. Winds over 150 miles an hour could snap a mast. It took a cool and determined head, plus a steady hand, to capture this classic scene on film. All hands (but the cook and steward) had to be on deck, day and night, to wrestle with rigging and sails that very man’s life depended upon. The four-masted bark Flying Cloud made it through this terrifying Pacific hurricane. Built in Liverpool, in 1888; she was a steel-hulled bark of 2542 tons., Hove-to in a southeast gale, the lumber schooner C.A. Thayer struck heavy weather off Cape Cabrillo, on the Mendocino coast on September 26, 1957. “The Thayer was doing seven knots on the log, close-hauled. The next gust might send the old sails flying out of their bolt ropes… A raging green ocean widened around the schooner in the first wild streak of morning light… Rain flew in sheets off the top of the deckhouse… We were working to save the schooner and our necks… Harry said seriously, it would be a shame to lose the schooner now.” To lose the sole-surviving 19th century West Coast lumber schooner – and to lose her in the very act of saving her was unthinkable. But the C.A. Thayer became known as “The Schooner That Came Home.” A National Park museum ship at San Francisco’s Hyde Street Pier., 1933 Meant hard times on the waterfront. If life was hard at sea, try living alone and broke in Frisco. No job in sight. No letters from home. Money running out. San Francisco’s Seamen’s Institute became a safe haven: here, you could leave your gear and know it was safe; pick up any letters from home – or write a letter yourself; and if you ran through your pay, you could always pick up a meal chit., ”It is one of the strangest problems of human character, why half of mankind should feel strongly impelled to go to sea, and the other half as strongly impelled to keep away from it. Neither half can understand the other: The second finds the first lunatic, and the first finds the second just slightly subhuman.” Richard Hughes, The Spectator, January 22, 1937, GORDON GRANT 1874-1962 , Maritime artist and author, whose pen and ink sketch appears at the top of this pylon and other north waterfront pylons, was sent off to Scotland to school on a four-month voyage on a Clyde windjammer around Cape Horn. His plans to be a naval architect got set aside when he studied at Lambeth Art School in London and never stopped drawing – specializing in maritime studies of square-rigged vessels and character studies of the men who sailed them. He earned his living as an illustrator: first, for the San Francisco Chronicle in the 1890s, and later, for the New York World and the New York Journal. Harper’s Weekly sent him to Africa to make drawings of the Boer War. His maritime paintings hang in the Metropolitan Museum, the Library of Congress, Naval Academy, and the White House. So accurate are the technical details of Gordon Grant’s drawings, made on long sea voyages, that maritime historians consult his work for “how it was done.” His books include: Sail Ho!, Greasy Luck, and Gordon Grant’s Sketchbook., Side 2: , Dona Juana Briones , 1802 – 1889. , Doña Juana Briones , probably the first settler in the North Beach – Telegraph Hill area, built an adobe home near the corner of what is now Filbert and Powell Street in 1836. Early travelers remember her for her kindness to incoming sailors who were sick – and ready to jump ship. When there were only a handful of houses in the village of Yerba Buena, and no one to welcome sailors, she offered fresh milk from her dairy, herbal tea steeped from them mint Yerba Buena, which she gathered on Telegraph Hill, and best of all, she gave them a place to hide until their ship had departed. Married at age 24 to Corporal Apolinario Miranda, she bore him eight children before petitioning her bishop to sanction her separation for reasons of hos infidelity, drunkenness, and “scandalous behavior.” Doña Briones became known as an energetic business woman who successfully operated her own dairy. Those few vessels that called at Yerba Buena, made it a point to obtain milk from Doña Briones at whose home visitors were always welcome and treated kindly. She bartered milk for grain, took in sewing, acted as a nurse and mid-wife, and managed her large household of servants and children earning sufficient funds to buy the Rancho Purisima Concepcion in Santa Clara County – where she lived out the remainder of her 87 years., Charles Brown arrived aboard the whaler Helvatius on October 13, 1829, tired of the sea, took French leave of the ship. , AN old lady named Juana Briones residing in the Presidio, understanding that myself Ephraim P. Frawell, Gregorio Escalantes (a Manila man) and an Indian, native of the vicinity of New London, named Elijah, wanted to run, stowed us away in the loft of her house – from there she moved Frawell and me to the bushed on Black Point – Then she sent for her brother Felipe Briones from Pinole, who came and carried us over there. There I remained until 1832. Frawell wanted to live with the Castros – he was a tailor and a native of Philadelphia., Elijah the Indian, lived around San Francisco Bay among the native Californians, till 1842 when he went with Captain Cooper (John B.R.) to Japan – remained and died there. He was a very good cook, but not over smart as may be proved from the fact that he once climbed up a tree, stood on one of the limbs that he wanted to cut off – came down with it and broke his jaw. Juana Briones cured him. , Gregorio Escalante lived a long time here, got rich, married and raised a family, but his wife ran away from him and he got discouraged and lost all his fortune. Juana Briones took care of him until she was unable to do it any more, and Escalante had to find refuge in the poor house at Mayfield, where he still lives., Manuscript at the Bancroft Library, Sides 3 and 4: , Shipwrecks by the Golden Gate , 1849 – 1894, Based on research by James Delgado, Director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum , Stephen Haller, Historian for the Presidio, National Park Service , Taken from Shipwrecks by the Golden Gate: A History of Vessel Losses from Duxbury Reef to Mussel Rock by Delgado and Haller, Lexikos Press, San Francisco 1989, Gold Rush Ship Tonquin, built 1841, 194 tons , Strick shoal at Whalemen Spit near North Beach , November 20, 1849, Danish Bark Caroline Amelia, date built and tonnage unknown , Wrecked on Mile Rocks, , March 19, 1850, British Bark Robert Henderson, built 1838, 368 tons , Lost at Ocean Beach , July 12, 1850, British-owned Canadian Bark Mersey, built 1840, 393 tons , Went ashore near Point Bonita, , December 16, 1850, Arriving from New York, Ship Tagus, date built and tonnage unknown , Went ashore four miles north of the Golden Gate, , August 3, 1851, U.S. Revenue Cutter, Brig C.W. Lawrence, built 1848, 144 tons , Lost off Ocean Beach, , November 25, 1851, East Coast Brig Petersburg, built 1837, 183 tons , Wrecked north of Point Bonita at Rodeo Cove, , August 23, 1852, Maine-packet Ship Aberdeen, built 1847, 719 tons , Went ashore on the rocks off Fort Point, , December 1852, Side-wheel Steamship Tennessee, built 1848, 1275 tons , Wrecked at the Marin cove which now bears its name, , March 6, 1853, Screw Steamer Samuel S. Lewis, built 1851, 1103 tons , Ran aground at Duxbury Reef, , April 9, 1853, Clipper Ship San Francisco, built 1853, 1307 tons , Wrecked off Point Bonita, , December 8, 1853, Clipper Ship Golden Fleece, built 1852, 968 tons , Went ashore, beating out the Golden Gate, , April 22, 1854, French Ship Chateau Palmer, built 1855, 800 tons , Went aground five hundred yards west of Fort Point, , May 1, 1856, Ship Zenobia, built 1838, 630 tons , Wrecked on rocks at North Head, , April 30, 1858, Ship General Cushing, built 1856, 681 tons , Loaded grain for Australia, wrecked at Fort Point, , October 16, 1858, Three-masted Ship Lucas, built 1828, tonnage unknown , Wrecked on Seal Rock in the Farallones , 180 passengers on board, between 15 and 30 people perished , November 11, 1858, Bark Julia Castner, built 1858, 509 tons , Capsized off Clay Street Wharf, wrecked on Ocean Beach, , June 28, 1859, Side-Wheel Steamship Granada, built 1855, 1058 tons , Grounded on sandbar near Fort Point, , October 13, 1860, Clipper Ship Noonday, built 1854, 1189 tons , Wrecked off the Farallones, , January 1, 1863, From Bordeaux, France, Ship F.W. Bailey, built 1854, 711 tons , Wrecked south of Point Lobos, , Of the 17 people on board, only 8 were saved , January 8, 1863, Schooner Beeswing, date built and tonnage unknown , Wrecked near Mussel Rock, , All eleven people on board perished , February, 1863, Barkentine Jenny Ford, built 1854, 397 tons , Lost on the rocks at Point Bonita, , Two men drowned as the vessel hit the shore broadshide , February 1, 1864, Bark Ann Parry, built 1825, 348 tons , Grounded neat Cliff House, , Captain Trask and three of his crew were lost , January 4, 1865, Wooden-hulled Steamer Labouchere, built 1858, 507 tons , Struck submerged ledge at Point Reyes, , April 15, 1866, British full-rigged Ship Schah Jehan, date built and tonnage unknown , Driven ashore near Point Lobos, had her bottom stove in, , February 3, 1867, Cargo Carrier, Bark H.L. Rutgers, built 1855, 405 tons , Wrecked on rocks on north side of Point Bonita, , January 1, 1868, Two-masted Schooner Morning Light, built 1858, 43 tons , Wrecked on North Farallon Island, , January 18, 1868, Iron Hulled British Ship Viscata, built 1864, 1065 tons , Went aground on Baker Beach, , March 7, 1868, Italian-owned Bark Brignardello, built 1865, 543 tons , Grounded in Kellys Cove, below the Cliff House , September 3, 1868, Fishing Sloop Eliza, built 1868, 10 tons , Went ashore on rocks near Point Lobos, , January 3, 1871, Two-masted Lumber Schooner, Aimer, built 1870, 96 tons , Went on the beach at Ocean-Side House, , June 26, 1871, Full-rigged Ship Annie Sisie, built 1856, 1163 tons , Wrecked on South Farallon Island, , September 18, 1871, Two-masted Schooner Josephine Wilcutt, built 1860, 86 tons , Wrecked on the rocks near the Cliff House , January 24, 1872, Two-masted Schooner William Miguel, date built unknown, 25 tons , Was run down by Steamer Prince Alfred off Point Bonita, , and sunk, one crew member killed , February 12, 1873, British Ship Patrician, built 1859, 1140 tons , Struck submerged obstruction, sunk off Point Bonita, , February 28, 1873, Iron-hulled Steamship Prince Alfred, built 1852, 815 tons , Ran aground on the rocks at Potato Cove, , June 14, 1874, Iron-hulled Steam Screw Tugboat Rescue, built 1865, 139 tons , Ran ashore and wrecked at Point Bonita, , One person died , October 3, 1874, Downeaster Ship Champlain, built 1874, 1473 tons , Lost at sea neat the Farrallones, , June 17, 1875, Bark Isaac Jeanes, built 1854, 814 tons , Wrecked at the Golden Gate near Fort Point , March 9, 1876, Three-masted Ship King Philip, built 1856, 1194 tons , Went ashore on Ocean Beach, , January 25, 1878, Full-rigged Ship Western Shore, built 1874, 1117 tons , Struck Duxbury Reed and sank, , July 2, 1878, Schooner H.C. Almy, launched 1855, 12 tons , Dragged ashore by heavy surf outside Bolinas Lagoon, , March 30, 1879, Barkentine W.H. Gawley, built 1861, 483 tons , Wrecked on Ocean Beach, , October 23, 1880, Two-masted Scow Schooner Elko, built 1868, 147 tons , Foundered on the rocks near Lands End, , April 26, 1881, Downeaster Franconia, built 1874, 1461 tons , Wrecked on the Farallones, , June 27, 1881, Coasting Skow Schooner George Louis, built 1863, 42 tons , Went ashore inside Mile Rock, , March 8, 1882, Iron-hulled Screw Steamer Escambia, built 1879, 1401 tons , Capsized and sank neat Point Lobos, , Three sailor drowned , June 19, 1882, Three-masted Bark Dulin, built 1839, 706 tons , Struck Ocean Beach south of Cliff House and sank, , August 31, 1882, Iron-hulled Steamship Bremen, built 1858, 2687 tons , Crashed ashore on South Farallon Island, , October 16, 1882, Whaling Bark Atlantic, built 1851, 366 tons , Went ashore on Ocean Beach, , Of the 43 men on board only 11 survived , December 16, 1886, Two-masted Schooner Parallel, built 1868, 148 tons , Carrying 42 tons of black powder, exploded below the Cliff House, , January 15, 1887, Two-masted Schooner William Frederick, built 1863, 42 tons , Beached below Sloat Blvd. with her bottom knocked out, , Of crew of four, two were drowned , July 3, 1887, Brigantine Claus Spreckels, built 1879, 246 tons , Wrecked on Duxbury Reef, , January 22, 1888, Steamer City of Chester, built 1875, 1106 tons , Struck by the Oceanic, sank just past Fort Point , 16 passengers lost at the Golden Gate Channel , August 22, 1888, Two-masted Schooner Bessie Everding, built 1876, 73 tons , Carrying firewood and railroad ties, went on the beach, , September 9, 1888, Two-masted Schooner Pet, built 1868, 49 tons , Struck the North Heads and went ashore, , September 1888, Two-masted Schooner American Boy, built 1882, 183 tons , Went ashore on the North Farallones, , November 4, 1890, Downeaster Ship Elizabeth, built 1882, 1866 tons , Grounded on Four Fathom Bank in the Potato Patch, After Captain , refused to pay $50 for a tow, , 18 of the 26-man crew, including the captain perished , February 21, 1891, Downeaster Palestine, built 1877, 1397 tons , Struck the Golden Gate bar and sank, , June 27, 1891, Two-masted Schooner Esperanza, built 1877, 15 tons , Wrecked on Duxbury Reef, , September 26, 1892, Steamer City of New York, launched 1875, 3019 tons , Went on rocks southeast of Point Bonita, , October 26, 1893, Three-masted Schooner William …ebe, built 1875, 281 tons , Grounded on Ocean Beach, , December 10, 1894, Salvage Schooner Samson, built 1890, 21 tons , Wrecked while dismantling the hulk, City of New York, , In a fierce gale near Point Bonita Watchman and two divers lost , January 3, 1895, Bark Helen W. Almy, built Connecticut 1859, 314 tons , Sank between Point Reyes and the Farallones, , All 39 aboard perished without a trace , March 20, 1898, Two-masted Schooner Nettie Low, built 1891, 26 tons , Foundered off the rocks off Duxbury Point, , February 7, 1900, Pilot Schooner Bonita, built 1892, 75 tons , Perished at sea six miles off the Farallones, , July 21, 1900, Two-masted Schooner Neptune, built 1882, 84 tons , Went aground six miles off Point Lobos, , August 10, 1900, Two-masted Schooner Daisy Rowe, built 1879, 122 tons , Went ashore one mile inside Point Bonita, , November 20, 1900, Steamship City of Rio de Janeiro built 1878 at Chester, Pa., 2548 tons , Struck Fort Point ledge in dense fog at 5:25 am, , Of 210 people aboard, 128 went down with the ship , Treasure on board estimated value between three and ten million dollars , February 22, 1901, Three-masted Bark Eureka, launched 1868, 295 tons , Went aground near Mussel Rock, , June 19, 1902, Three-masted Schooner Reporter, built 1876, 351 tons , Wrecked on Ocean Beach, , March 13, 1902, Four-masted Steel Bark Gifford, built 1892, 2245 tons , Struck the shore off Mussel Rock, , September 25, 1903, Four-masted Schooner William F. Witzemann, built 1887, 473 tons , Wrecked near Duxbury Point, , February 6, 1907, Five-masted Lumber Schooner Louis, built 1888, 831 tons , Wrecked off South Farallon Island, , June 19, 1907, Two-masted Steam Schooner R.D. Inman, built 1907, 768 tons , Went ashore at Point Bolinas, , March 20, 1909, Pilot Schooner Pathfinder, built 1900, 86 tons , Ran up on the rocks at Point Diablo, , January 15, 1914, Four-masted Schooner Polaris, built 1902, 790 tons , Crashed on the rocks at Duxbury Reef, , January 16, 1914, Single-ended Steam Schooner Hanalei, built 1901, 666 tons , Struck rocks with no warning and ran aground on Duxbury Reef , Of 62 people on board, 23 died, , November 23, 1914, Two-masted Steam Schooner Eureka, Built 1900, 484 tons , Wrecked at Point Bonita, , January 8, 1915, Steam Schooner Aberdeen, built 1899, 499 tons , Capsized and sank at the Golden Gate, , Several of the crew, including Captain Knudson drowned , June 23, 1916, Steel-hulled tanker Lyman A. Stewart, built 1914, 6076 tons , Rammed by the Walter A. Luckenbach, , Went on the rocks at Lands End, , October 7, 1922, Single-ended Steam Schooner Yosemite, built 1906, 827 tons , Wrecked on the rocks below the Cliff House, , February 9, 1926, Freighter Coos Bay, ex-Vulcan, built 1909, 5451 tons , Struck on the rocks at Lands End, , October 22, 1927, Trawler Three Sisters, built 1917, 28 tons , Wrecked at Tennessee Point, , Two of the three men perished , April 15, 1929, Diesel-powered Purse-Seiner Acalin, built 1928, 87 tons , Struck Duxbury Reef and sank, , August 30, 1934, Purse-Seiner San Domenico, launched 1935, tonnage unknown, , Ran aground north of Bolinas, , December 27, 1935, Freighter Ohian, built 1914, 5153 tons , Returned from active W.W.I. duty, wrecked at Point Lobos, , October 7, 1936, Tanker Frank H. Buck, built 1914, 6076 tons , Rammed by President Coolidge, beached near Lands End, , March 6, 1937, Floating Dry-Dock #20, built 1942, 6500 tons , Grounded at Duxbury Reef, , January 20, 1943, Liberty Ship Henry Bergh, launched 1943, 7176 tons , Ran hard aground at South Farallon Island, , May 31, 1944, Navy Hospital Ship Benevolence, built 1944, 11,141 tons , Rammed by Mary Luckenbach in thick fog, outside the Golden Gate, , 54 survivors were picked up by John Napoli, fisherman on the Flora , Of 526 people on board, 508 were saved, , August 25, 1950, Ocean-going Barge Kona, built 1969 at Portland, Or., 5825 tons , Smashed on the shore north of Point Bonita, , January 1, 1980, Tanker Puerto Rican, built 1971, 20,295 tons, , Loaded with oil and fuel, burned and broke up after two explosions , Outside Golden Gate, near Gulf of Farallones Marine Sactuary , One crew member lost , November 1, 1984. , Bronze border around the base:, You can put me in jail. But you cannot give me narrower quarters than as a seaman I have always had. , You cannot give me worse food than I have always eaten. , You cannot make me lonelier than I have always been. , Andrew Furuseth, Sailor’s Union of the Pacific