the coast of M exico and capture some sea lio ns for exhibitions. She sailed under the name Pacific Queen. The on ly power we had was a donkey engine for hoisting sail. We soon learned that the braces were so weak that we could not tack and had to wear ship. Food becam e critical but was replenished from pass ing ships. Our diet was largely bean s three meals a day, and salt pork. On Cedros Island we landed and set abo ut cap curing a sea lion. The plan was to use a chicken wire roll with a pole about every ten feet to be held by one of the crew. W e managed to corner one old bull on the beach and surrounded him. H e looked up, sno rted, and headed back to the water, draggin g the net and chose of us sti ll holding o n along with him. That end ed th e plan to capture sea lions. T he trade winds at that time of year wo rked to the south along th e coas t, which m eant chat we had to head west almost to H awaii and then north until we co uld catch them. Eventually the Coast Guard had to co me out and tow us into Long Beach. I have not been back on board th e Balcfutha since she was refurbished, altho ugh I have passed her many tim es in Sa n F rancisco. I prefer to remember her as the Pacific Queen, torn canvas, failing rigging and all, but I am pleased she's now restored as a reminder of our maritime past. WILLIAM M . GOODE Cirrus H eigh rs, Californi a
Carl Evers: A Life Commemorated For m ore than fifteen years now, I've volunteered at the N autical H eritage Society, in large part due to your encouraging Ameri cans to "do something for the ship." T his year we sent our tall ship Californian to the East Coast to participate in OpSail 2000 . It has been a great adventure, but coverage ofOpSail in New Yo rk o n television almost seemed to miss the whole point of sail training. Most of the commentators were nice folks , but didn' t know the poin ty end of the "boats" from the square end. I'd like to thank NMHS Pres ident Peter Stanfo rd for his insightful nauti cal comm entary on Fox News. Ifit hadn ' t been for him and Revell Carr, president of M ys tic Seaport, the event wo uld have lacked pro per descriptio ns of a momen to us maritime event. I noted in Sea H istory 94 the passing of
SEA HISTORY 95, WINTER 2000- 01
th e artist Carl Evers, as well as his dram atic painting of USS Olympia at Manila Bay in the article o n the warship . It was my great privilege to know Carl and Jean Evers through a commissio n I gave him fo r a painting of USS Philippine Sea (CV-47). I had suggested a scene at Yo kosuka during the Korean W ar when I was aboard, but Ca rl hesitated about the setting, and discussio n we nt on fo r a number of mo nths. Meantime Nava flnstitute Proceedings published an article on the offi cial US Coast G uard artist An to n Orto Fischer. I suggested to them that since Carl Evers had contributed paintings of Navy ships for some rwenty covers of Proceedings, he certainly deserved an article. T hei r res ponse was : Fine idea. Why do n' t yo u write an article and submit it to us? So my wife and I visited Carl and Jean regarding the article. It was fasc inating to hear Carl describe his method of researching, making a detailed pencil sketch, and converting it to a paintin g. H e had not settled on a harbo r setting fo r the Phi/Sea because he was mo re interes ted in painting ships in the dynam ics of an active sea. Phi/Sea had encountered the o utskirts of a typhoon on the way to Subic Bay in 1952, and we agreed o n the possibili ty of a scene depicting a destroye r refueling in those heavy seas. Ca rl was a stickler for technical accuracy. T he photos I sent him didn't provide suffi cient clea r detail on the destroyer's gear, so we go t add itional photos. In the end, Carl was n' t able to do rhe
painting. Alth ough di sappointed, I treasure rhe fri endship char developed . T he article on him was published in the premier issue of Naval H istory. Carl said that he was frequentl y approached by marine artists seeking coaching o r critique. W hen asked how lo ng it took to do a painting, his answer was "about rwo m o mhs (after the research) ... and 30 years (of experience)." Kn owing Carl and Jean Evers was a special privilege, and I have a high regard for chis highly principled man and trul y talented marine artist. R OBERT A. NICH OLS Newport Beach, Californi a
The Loss of a Chesapeake Ram Yo ur article o n the Victory Chimes (SH 93) made m e recall my boyhood days. As soo n as I read that the Victory Chimes was a C hesapeake ram schooner, I glan ced through the article to see if it would mentio n rhe C hesapeake ram that entered my life 45 yea rs ago. The Levin J M arvel was there, along w ith its picture. When I was a young lad m y parents built a summer beach cottage by the C hesapeake. I was no t there when rhe Marvel broke apart (with tragic loss of life) about five miles no rth of our cottage, but I will never fo rger beachcombing that weekend after Hurrica ne Co nnie lefr debris and other flotsam washed up on our beach , including parts of the M arvel, broken suitcases, and clothin g.
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