VOL. 3
16TH & EXCHANGE STREET, ASTORIA, OREGON 97103
NO. 4
SCHOONER INCA OFF CAPE FLATTERY, 1913
A superb example of th~ West Coast lumber carrier is the five-masted schooner Inca, built in 1896 by Hall Brothers at Port Blakely, Washington, for their own account. The first orthodox five-master built on the West Coast, she was typical of her class, from the fine lines of her clipper bow to the ringtail topsail carried over leg o'mutton spanker. The Inca was a particularly handsome vessel, and she was well kept. She spent most of her time in offshore trade, principally carrying lumber, in her holds and in huge deckloads, to New Zealand and Australia. It was on such a voyage that the schooner met her end.
On December 7, 1920, outbound from Eureka with redwood for Sydney, the Inca was dismasted in a violent South Pacific storm. Two crewmen volunteered to stay with the ship, while the captain, his wife, and ten others took to the boats. They were sighted shortly after by the steamer Cosmos, which towed the battered schooner to Sydney. After her cargo was discharged, surveyors declared the Inca a total constructive loss, and soon thereafter she was hulked. An excellent replica of the Inca has recently been acquired by the Museum. Photographs and information on the model and its colorful builder are included in this issue.
NEW FACES
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QUARTERDECK REVIEW At the close of 1975 we look back on a most successful year for the Museum. Support through memberships has increased substantially. Attendance has continued to rise, and the collections have been greatly enhanced through acquisition of hundreds of artifacts, many of which are exceptionally noteworthy. The most significant event of the past year, however, took place in May, with the long awaited start of construction of our new building. At year's end, the structure is well on the way to completion. 1976, the Museum's fourteenth year, brings promise of great opportunities-along with great challenges for trustees and staff. Burgeoning public awareness of the Nation's heritage, occaisioned by the Bicentennial obsevances, is already being felt by museums across the country. As the year progresses, we can expect this interest to continue to grow, resulting in increased demands on the Museum's resources. The balance of funds necessary for completion of the new building- some $400,000-must be secured. In addition, memberships as well as private and corporate grants must be increased in order to meet rising operating costs. An endowment must be established to help insure the Museum's future. We will meet these challenges, and continue to grow and improve. Through the determination and commitment of staff, trustees, and members alike, 1976 will be a banner year for the Columbia River Maritime Museum. Rolf Klep, Director
There have been two additions to the staff in recent months. Marilyn Scott has taken over secretarial duties in the Museum office, while Lief Tollefsen has signed on as shipkeeper for Lightship No. 88. Mrs. Scott handles files and correspondence, and assists in cataloguing. She is particularly well qualified for her work, having held similar positions in several museums and historical agencies. Lief Tollefsen, not long retired from the Army Corps of Engineers, has been handling duties on board the Columbi,a since September. In addition to greeting visitors and showing them the ship, he usually has a number of projects in hand which might range from painting a stateroom to tracking down and repairing a leak in the overhead. In the short time they have been with us, Marilyn and Lief have established themselves as valuable assets. They are a part of the fabric of staff, volunteers, and trustees which binds the Museum together. ENDOWMENT
Over the past thirteen years, the Museum has developed steadily, enlarging and refining its collections, improving resources for scholars, increasing its staff, expanding exhibits, and now, constructing a new, efficient facility that will be unmatched by any maritime museum on the West Coast. All this has been made possible by the generosity of members and friends of the Museum. Future strength and development can be partially assured through endowment. Those who share the Museum's commitment to preserving our nautical heritage are urged to perpetuate their interest with a bequest of all or part of their estate. Gifts and bequests to the Museum are deductible within legal limits for income tax purposes. Inquiries regarding endowment may be addressed to the Director.
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MARITIME MUSEUMS
ROLF KLEP WITH NORSK SJOFARTSMUSEUM DIRECTOR SVEIN MOLAUG ON BOARD THE SCHOONER SV ANEN
The Director was among 67 delegates from around the world who attended the biennial International Congress of Maritime Museums, held in Oslo last fall. The theme of the 1975 Congress, hosted by the Norsk Sjofartsmuseum, was "Towards a Policy for Maritime Museums." The Congress included seminars on professional, legal, and technological aspects of nautical archeology; maritime industrial archeology; and on the role of maritime museums in society. One of the chief concerns of the Oslo Congress was protection of underwater archeological sites, both within national juristictions and on the high seas. A committee appointed by the Congress will survey existing laws and practices in this area and make recommendations to appropriate international organizations in the interest of achieving a uniform method of protecting and scientifically excavating historic underwater sites. In a related vein, the Congress called for international cooperation in encouraging and effecting preservation of the rapidly diminishing number of historic vessels.
FINE SCHOONER MODEL GIVEN TO MUSEUM
A superb replica of the five-masted schooner Inca is the latest addition to the Museum's ship model collection. It was built in 1950 by the late Eric Swanson, a colorful San Francisco waterfront character who sailed as a foremast hand in the original Inca. The new arrival is a blend of technical accuracy and striking realism seldom encountered in a sailor-made model. Under full sail, the six foot long Inca slices to windward through an amazingly realistic false sea. About her decks, life-like miniature crewmen carry out shipboard routine, from slushing a mast to hanging out laundry on the fo'c'stle. The model was acquired last fall from Swanson's favorite watering spot, the Admiral Bar on San Francisco's Embarcadero. It is a gift to the Museum from Rolf Klep.
ERIC HJALMAR SWANSON
Born in Sweden, Eric Swanson first went to sea in 1906, when he was 14. After 21 years before the mast, most of them in square riggers, he "swallowed the anchor" in San Francisco in 1927. Though he had left the sea, however, he did not leave it far behind. He took a waterfront room, and spent much of his time on the docks or near them, yarning with other seamen about the men and ships of "the old days." Swanson began to build models of the ships he had been in, and over the years he developed his model building technique into a fine art. The four large-scale models he built (Inca, Gol,den Gate, James Rolph, and Preussen) are exquisite-and nearly incredible, considering the conditions under which they were produced. Without money to buy proper tools, he made what he needed, including a lathe fashioned from a vacuum cleaner motor. He kept a pair of seaboots in his "workshop" in the basement of the Harbor Hotel, for spring tides often covered the floor. Eric Swanson's model building earned him considerable fame, but little money. He died penniless in 1960, but his love of the sea lives on in his models.
NEW BUILDING READY FOR ROOF
In spite of weather worse than most of us can recall, steady progress is being made on construction of the new building. At this writing, framing of side walls is complete,
most roof trusses are in place, and carpenters are beginning to lay roof decking. Exterior sheathing and roof should be complete before Spring finally arrives.
CAPITAL FUND - NEW MEMBERS COME ABOARD! -
Sincere thanks to the Capital Fund contributors and new members listed below. This vital support is extremely gratifying. (Asterisks mark increase in membership.)
Astoria Yacht Club Boise Cascade Mr. and Mrs. Ernest E. Brown Mrs. Helen Byrne Mrs. Esther Caldwell Mrs. R. T. Carruthers, Sr. Mr. A. J. Cook · Crown Zellerbach Mr. Harold Dahlgren Mr. and Mrs. Chas. H. Davis III Floyd Dement Charitable Trust Lorene Sails Higgins Charitable Trust International Paper Co. Foundation The Jackson Foundation Ralph and Adolph Jacobs Foundation Mrs. Herbert Malarkey McCall Oil & Chemical Corp. Mrs. Jennie Lea McIntyre Nidarettes of Astoria Miss Solveig Pedersen Mrs. Richard W. Robbins Mr. Frank M. Warren Mr. and Mrs. J. Dan Webster Mr. Coleman H. Wheeler Jr. Mrs. M. T. Winch SUSTAINING ($100/year) Mr. and Mrs. Edward A. Beard* Dunes Astoria Motel Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Simpson Thunderbird Motel, Astoria Mr. Moe M. Tonkon, Portland SUPPORTING ($50/year) Astorian Printing Co. Mr. and Mrs. Russell E. H. Hanson Martin Knutsen & Son*
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Life
D Sustaining
$1,000 or more $100 per year
D D D D
Supporting
$50 per year
Contributing $25 per year Annual $10 per year Student $2 . 50 per year
My Check □
Money Order □ for $................ is enclosed Memberships Start from Month of Receipt
NAME ADDRESS .................................... .................................. ....... -············· CITY ................. ..................... .. ZIP -- -·----····---· STATE ............... .
Mr. Albert J. Mittet Mr. and Mrs. Clayton C. Morse* CONTRIBUTING ($25/year) Builders Supply Co., Astoria Dawson, Inc., Portland Mr. Arthur S. Dempsie, Beaverton Fair Winds Nautical Antiques Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd M. Halson* Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Huber Anton Josephson Company Mr. and Mrs. Ronald L. Larsen Lovell-McCall Tire Service, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. John A. Marsch LCDR and Mrs. S. W. Mead, Ilwaco* Pig'N Pancake, Inc., Seaside Mr. and Mrs. Larry V. Snyder* Wuonola Signs ANNUAL Alice Thru the Looking Glass Antiques Astoria Florist Mrs. Daniel E. Barbey, Olympia, Wash. Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Damron, Gresham Mrs. Natalie DeSassise Mrs. R. V. Hauser, Laguna Hills, Cal. Mrs. Margaret Hughes, Portland
QUARTERDECK REVIEW OF THE
COLUMBIA RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM ASTORIA, OHEGON 97103
ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS TO BECOME MEMBERS
D Benefactor $10,000 or more D Patron $2,000 or more
CAPITAL FUND GIFTS
JOIN THE
COLUMBIA RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM
Radio Station KV AS Ms. Ann Lebowitz, Medford, Mass. Merle Norman Cosmetics Mr. Bruce W. Nelson, Cannon Beach Mr. and Mrs. Edwin L. Niska Mr. Frank C. Poundstone, Portland Ralph's Barber Shop Mr. Henry E. Ramvick The River Clipper Mr. and Mrs. Arthur S. Rudd, Ohio Mr. Paul H. Schmelzer Still Images Mr. and Mrs. Chris Thompson Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Thompson Mr. and Mrs. P. D. Thompson Utzinger's Bookstore, Astoria Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Vernstrom Mr. and Mrs. John E. Walmsley Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Willis, Montesano Mr. Ralph A. Woodford, Clackamas STUDENT David C. Armstrong, Beaverton Gary Hancock, Portland Donald Hann, West Linn Leonard Klikunas, Portland Philip Metcalfe
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PAID Astoria, Oregon Permit No. 209