Kelly Street Gallery: Butterflies In Motion

January 10 – 31, 2010
Butterflies in Motion
recent work on fabric and paper
by
Jennifer Clark

Join us for the Opening Reception
Sunday, January 10 from 1 – 4 pm


Jennifer Clark—Artist and Naturalist
by Carina Woudenberg and Deborah Clark

Whether she’s holding a pencil, paintbrush, or camera, Jennifer Clark—artist and naturalist—has spent most of her life visualizing, creating, and designing art in a variety of media.

“In my case, I’ve always had a propensity for taking things apart, and then rearranging, transforming, reconstructing, and transposing them,” Clark said. “I think this stems from being infinitely curious about how things work in combination with my desire to make life better, or at least different, somehow.”

“At age two, I became fascinated with what I could create with a simple pencil,” she remarked. “And, I have been making some kind of art ever since.”

Clark extended this early philosophy and has now applied it to her recent illustrations and photographs—gathering objects, especially from the natural world, most particularly butterflies—drawing, painting, or photographing them, and then further rearranging and transposing the images in transformative ways that engage people to see the objects and the world differently.

“For example, in my butterfly and caterpillar drawings and designs, I place emphasis on details that the naked eye doesn’t immediately perceive.” Clark said. “But, the details are really inherent in the insects themselves! If you examine an insect under a magnifying glass, you will discover the details and see that they are indeed there. By placing the emphasis where I do, people easily see this extraordinary complexity. When people then turn their attention next to a live butterfly, say, they can then see the same level of detail more easily.”

Clark graduated with high honors from Eastern Michigan University in 1983 where she studied painting in addition to black & white photography. In her final year at the university, Clark was awarded “Most Promising Senior” from the Michigan Foundation for the Arts. She was also granted the opportunity to apprentice with a former teacher and established artist, Charles McGee, who’s been referred to as “One of Detroit’s Greatest Treasures.”

“I was lucky enough to apprentice with Charles who really instilled in me that art is a way of seeing,” Clark said. “You can’t really teach art—it’s fundamentally about learning to see.”

As her drawing and painting skills increased, Clark dreamed of becoming a book illustrator. Growing up, she frequently concocted illustrations and cartoon drawings, hoping that her friends would write stories that she could then illustrate. Shortly after graduating from college, she got her wish. A friend and noted butterfly expert, Dr. Philip DeVries, was documenting the butterflies of Costa Rica when his camera equipment was stolen, including all the slides that contained all the images for his upcoming book.

DeVries sent Clark a letter asking if she would illustrate the butterflies to replace the missing photo images and she gladly accepted his offer. The book, The Butterflies of Costa Rica and Their Natural History, generated substantial interest and Clark was invited to illustrate a second volume, which studied the symbiotic relationship between ants and caterpillars and ultimately earned DeVries a MacArthur Fellowship.

Working on these illustrations merged Clark’s love of drawing and love of butterflies, which are now featured prominently in her work. “I’ve always been passionate about butterflies,” Clark ruminated. “I’ve just always loved them. I remember very distinctly I was just awed by this one butterfly as a child—a Mourning Cloak (nymphalis antiopa)—and still to this day that’s one of my favorite butterflies.”

Clark has created her intricate butterfly and flower patterns for nearly fifteen years. Her contemporary art form began as a way to decompress from the tight, scientific illustrations destined for book publication. The process begins somewhat chaotically by clipping her butterfly photos in Photoshop. She then organizes the different images by color, shape, texture, and line to create balanced schemas, or sections. After she’s happy with a particular section, she’ll work on mirroring, flipping, and using transposition often “cutting up” and rearranging smaller and smaller sections within the larger ones. It is a very complex, labor intensive, time-consuming process—one in which she revels.

“The process is what I love,” she noted. “It’s like working a puzzle—putting the pieces together in a way that creates a harmonic balance.”

Clark’s January 10 opening of “Butterflies in Motion” at Kelly Street Gallery in Half Moon Bay will feature her wall and paper prints along with her silk scarves—a more recent venture into wearable art—and her new fabric panels will drape from the ceiling. In addition, her cards and bookmarks will be offered.

The busy artist still searches for new ways to expand her work. She plans to use her designs as the basis for table cloths, napkins, and pillows, and would one day like to create an installation piece that makes use of an entire space—creating an environment for visitors to wander through and explore.

“I think the perfect epitaph for me would be ‘variations on a theme,’” Clark said. “And my theme seems to be transposition of whatever strikes my photographic fancy at any given moment.”

Jennifer Clark’s show runs from January 10 – 31 at the Kelly Street Gallery. The gallery is open every Sunday from 12 – 5 p.m. The “Butterflies in Motion” opening reception takes place from 1-4 p.m. For a private viewing or for more information contact Jennifer Clark at [email protected].

John Vonderlin: 1920: Movie-man drowns near Moss Beach

Story by John Vonderlin

Email John: [email protected]

Hi June,
Moss Beach doesn’t get mentioned often in the old newspapers, but this is one that they would have gladly done without. While the distaff rescuer bravely tried her best, she’d have done a heck of a lot better if nylons had already been invented. The best thing about this sad story is the date. It was published May 29th, 1920, in the “San Francisco Call.” That is ten years after the previous 1910 date that was the Newspaper Archive cutoff. How long before they add the 20’s and 30’s? I hope I’m ready, because the Coastside really started to hop in that period.  Enjoy. John
MOVIE MAN’S SLIP FROM ROCK ENDS IN DEATH
Charles A. Gilchrist Goes to Watery Grave Near Moss Beach San Francisco.—ln spite of desperate attempts to save his life, Charles A. Gilchrist of Oakland, a motion picture cameraman, was drowned May 20 while engaged in filming big waves four miles north of Moss Beach in San Mateo county.
Mrs. K. S. Heck, cousin of the drowned man, heroically tried to save Gilchrist by lying flat on the rock from which he bad fallen and throwing to him an improved life line, but her efforts failed and Gilchrist perished before her eyes. Mrs. Heck was 150 feet away from Gilchrist when she heard him utter a cry for help. Scrambling down a steep cliff, risking her own life, Mrs. Heck reached the boulder from which Gilchrist had fallen. He was struggling in the water when Mrs. Heck sighted him. Tearing her leggings loose, Mrs. Heck tied them together and, lying flat on the rock, held them down to Gilchrist. Gilchrist grabbed the makeshift lifeline and Mrs. Heck pulled with all her might. Just as she had dragged Gilchrist partly from the water the leggings parted, Gilchrist sank back into the water and disappeared before Mrs. Heck could repair the hastily improvised life line.

John Vonderlin: The Wreck of the Alice Buck (5)

Story by John Vonderlin

Email John: [email protected]

Hi June,
Another unusual aspect of the reporting about the wreck of the “Alice Buck,” was the number of small articles in the various newspapers, detailing events similar to that which first drew my attention to this story, another corpse washing ashore. The ultimate of pathos amongst the more then half dozen reports was the last one, on October 14th, in the “Sacramento Daily Union,” reporting, “Another corpse, from the wreck of the Alice Buck came ashore to day (sic) at the beach at San Gregorio, said to be the body of the boy, George Parker.”
With that big load of rails just sitting in the shallows, naturally a salvage was attempted, as reported in the November 7th, 1881, issue of the “Daily Alta,” in a small article stating: “The steamer Ferrdale, has succeeeded in clearing the wreck of the Alice Buck, so as to get to work on the railroad ties (sic.)”
It must not have been successful though, as through the month of December, 1881, the attached ad was run repeatedly. I suspect the dock was never built,  as it is never mentioned again in the papers, nor is Mr. Demarest.
December 16th, 1881 “The Daily Alta.”
“NOTICE TO DOCK BUILDERS
Proposals are invited for the erection of a wharf from the Sea Beach near Spanishtown to the wreck of the ship “Alice Buck.”
All proposals must be in sealed envelopes and addressed “Proposal for Wharf to Wreck of “Alice Buck,” and be filed with Johnson & Veasey.  324 Davis street, San Francisco, on or before 12M, TUESDAY, December 20th, when all bids will be opened.”
Less then four years later the “Johnson & Veasey Company” was declared insolvent. Undoubtedly, they railed against the Fates. Enjoy. John

John Vonderlin: 1901: The Sculptress Sybil Easterday

Story by John Vonderlin

Email John: [email protected]

From The San Francisco Call

January 27, 1901
SYBIL EASTERDAY
The girl sculptress of San Francisco
lives in her little studio, five flights
up, in the tiptop of an old building
on Montgomery street. When the
first rays of sunshine, arrive through the
quaint little round skylights in the roof
to make a light for her, she begins her
work and she does not finish until the
sunshine departs by the way it came,
leaving her alone in the dusk.
Once there was a little girl down on a
farm near Niles. Her name was Sybil
Easterday, and she was very fond of play
ing in the mud.
But It was not mud pies she made. It
was the same sort of things that she
wrought out of the putty, which she
scraped from the edges of the window
panes, and the same sort of things that
her mother found the butter patties made
into on the pantry shelves. In short,
Sybil Easterday was a sculptress in em-
bryo, and it was genius that was trying
to work its way out through the mud and
putty and butter.
When she grew up there was an in-
teresting collection of crude wood carv-
ing in her room at the Easterday farm
house and there was no peace on the
whole  farm until she had gained her
parents’ consent to come to San Francisco
for a course of art instruction.
She came and the Hopkins Art Institute
found in her one of its cleverest pupils.
On the farm she had dabbled, too, in
painting, and from under her paint brush
there sprung yellow haystacks and gray
oaks with such crude naturalness and
realistic effect as to make plodding Illus-
trators stare and arouse the interest of
the instructors. But for her painting she
did not care, so much; her passion was
sculpture, and she plunged into clay
modeling and its accompanying studies
of anatomy with a determination born of
a great love for her work.
She made .progress. Such  astonishing
progress, that those of ordinary clever-
ness stopped to make note and congratu-
late. As soon as she had mastered suf-
ficient technique to work independently,
she took her studio and shut herself up
with her work, and while the sun shone
no one was admitted. Earnestness and
ambition kept her within her four walls,
and the little art world of San Francisco
had almost forgotten her, until it found
her work prominently placed in  the In-
stitute of Art exhibitions.
Since then she has been an acknowl-
edged factor of importance in San Fran-
cisco art circles, her study figures have
appeared at all the principal art exhibi-
tions and have been given prominent
positions.
The girl sculptress is independent as
well in ideas and the execution of them
as in bread-winning. When the first bar-
rel of plaster for casts was brought into
her studio and the white powder left a
little trail along the floor; when her tub
of wet clay tipped over and she found her
hands and face and her skirts all covered
with the sticky substance, then Miss
Easterday had one of her independent
ideas and she proceeded to put it into ex-
ecution. The next day when the baker
boy called the door was opened for him
by a young person in a light flannel shirt
and white duck trousers. The young per-
son had a sculptor’s knife and a little
wad of clay in one hand and the other
was held out with wide-stretched fingers,
fresh from the tub mixture. But what
made the baker-boy stare was the young
person’s head. It was a. mass of fluffy
red-brown hair, bound up loosely with a
band of black velvet and shading the seri-
ous face and earnest blue eyes of the girl
sculptress.
Since first adopted it Miss Easter-
day has worn the practical attire at her
work.
Miss Easterday’s visitors and the baker
boy have long since become accustomed to
her practical eccentricity and the girl
sculptress herself has become so appre-
ciative of its comforts that it is with a
sigh she dons her street attire, which she
never does until the moment of her going
out.  .
Many are the comments of the little Bo-
hemian circle of artists anent the girl
sculptress. They say she is strange, and
odd, and queer, but they unanimously
agree that she is clever and independent
and that she is earnest and ambitious.
She herself is indifferent to all com-
ment. Her world is her studio and her
art. Her life motto is work. She has al-
ready met with unusual local success and
it is safe to predict that some day she
will be heard of beyond the limits of the

West.

John Vonderlin: The Wreck of the Alice Buck: Hovius & Hale (4)

Story by John Vonderlin

Email John: [email protected]

Hi June,
This article from the October 1st, 1881, issue of the “Sacramento Daily Union,” four days after the wreck, adds another new wrinkle to the reporting about the wreck of the Alice Buck. I can’t remember any previous lifesaving efforts by the folks of the Coastside being rewarded with other then their name in the paper in previous reports about shipwrecks. Considering the danger of trying to rescue the crew or passengers of a shipwreck along our wild coast, often at night in inclement weather, it’s amazing how altruistic Coastside farmers and residents were repeatedly.
Though I now think “Hovious and Hale” are generic names, as used in the article, perhaps a play off “Hale and Hearty,” I first thought how odd they both have sea-related names, as in hailing a passing ship, and the “Yo, Heave Ho” chant of sailors’ rope hauling. The fact that there was a Hovius living in both Purissima and Half Moon Bay in 1890 makes me unsure, especially because it was an unusual name in a sparsely populated area. Enjoy. John
HEROISM TO BE REWARDED. The account recently published of the wreck of the Alice Buck at Spanishtown having called the attention of the Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce to the heroic deeds of life-saving performed by the farmer boys — Hovious and Hale — at the scene of the wreck, those institutions propose to take some means to signify to the boys an appreciation of their conduct. It is probable that solid gold medals, the size of a $20 gold piece, will be suitably engraved and presented to the brave young men.:

John Vonderlin; Wreck of the Alice Buck (3)

Story by John Vonderlin

Hi June,

The reporting about the wreck of the “Alice Buck” in the articles I was finding was very similar to previous shipwrecks’ reporting, until I found this article. It appeared in the October 1st, 1881, issue of the “Sacramento Daily Union.”  I suspect intercity rivalry may have had something to do with the tone of this point-of-view reporting. But, given the facts, a little righteous indignation in the press was probably a good thing. Especially, given the title of Mr. Buck, the owner, and probably the husband of the Alice, who the ship was named for. Enjoy. John
“AN INHOSPITABLE PORT.
The treatment of sailors in San Francisco has always been abominable, but the climax of inhumanity appears to have been reached in the case of the survivors of the ship Alice Buck, which was wrecked the other day off the San Mateo coast. These poor fellows, after having been buffeted for hours by the waves, were rescued in a pitiful condition. They had saved none of their effects. The clothes they had on were torn to rags. And they were bruised and sore from their long struggle. But on reaching San Francisco they discovered that unless they were absolutely incapable there was no shelter or relief for them. The consignees of the wrecked vessel refused to do anything for them, on the ground that the ship’s papers were lost, and they did not know what was due the crew. The United States Shipping Commissioner professed himself powerless to help them; and the only persons who took any interest in them were the crimps and kidnaping land-pirates on the water front, who hoped to make a prize of the destitute men, and. secure their advance wages for another voyage, after the usual fashion. In fact these poor fellows could hardly have fallen upon worse treatment had they been wrecked among savages, and there are many savages who would have behaved a thousandfold more humanely to them than the supposititious Christians and civilized beings upon whose mercy they have been thrown. The destiny in store for these miserable creatures appears to be abandonment to the sailor boarding-house rogues, who will thrust them aboard some other ship before they have recovered from their bruises, and will steal their wages in advance. They have six months’ wages due them, but already they have been coolly informed by the United States Commissioner that they had better not try to obtain what is owing to them, since it will cost it all to secure payment. In fact it is plain that there is no consideration anywhere for the shipwrecked men, and that nobody pities the hard fate to which they seem doomed. It is no wonder that San Francisco is one of the worst places in the world to obtain sailors in, and if they understood their own interests they would refuse ever to ship for so inhospitable a port. They have no political influence, however, and so they cannot obtain decent treatment in any quarter, and even the representative of the National Government thinks it perfectly safe to snub and ride roughshod over them.”

John Vonderlin: The Wreck of the Alice Buck (2)

Story by John Vonderlin

Email John: [email protected]

Hi June,
In this account of the wreck of the “Alice Buck,” from the September 29th, 1881, issue of the “Daily Alta,” there are more details then in the previous day’s reporting, but more interesting, we hear from the Captain himself, concerning events that transpired around the time of the wreck and afterwards, his harrowing near death experience and rescue. Enjoy. John
THE “ALICE BUCK.”
The Survivors’ Account of The Shipwreck—Names of the Crew Who Perished
The steamer Salinas arrived in port early yesterday morning, having on board from the scene of the wreck of the American ship Alice Buck on Tuesday night, Capt. Henningson and twelve sailors. Capt. Henningson gave the following particulars of the shipwreck : On August 28th we encountered a hurricane in latitude 16 degrees north, and the ship sprung a leak in her bows.  The next day we encountered another gale, and the ship doubled water, and I then made for San Francisco for repairs Though the. men remained at the pumps night and day, the water gained on us. The constant work and anxiety began to tell upon myself and crew. On Monday, off  Halfmoon Bay, we struck a dead calm, and commenced to drift. We ran in the calm about 8 o’clock on Monday evening, and it continued till midnight when we went ashore. That evening the men were used up and ready to drop, and having been up myself for three days and nights, I began to feel dizzy and shaky, and I turned in. Before midnight I was awakened by the surf, and upon going on deck found the ship bows on, drifting toward a reef. About midnight we struck the reef and rebounded. We bumped five or six times, but as the calm continued we were unable to do anything. The last time the ship struck she hit hard and held on by her bows. She soon broke in two. The dinghy wa launched, but upset, one of the men being drowned and the other two washed ashore.The whaleboat, into which the two mates, the steward and two sailors got, was stovev in, and only the two sailors were able to reach the wreck. Fastening two life-buoys to me, I jumped overboard, but could not swim on account of the pieces of the wreck and the spars continually bumping against me. I floated about in the wreck and surf until rescued at about 8 o’clock in the morning.
Of the crew, the following are known to be lost : William Barry, first mate, D. Crocker. second mate, George Parker, boy, aged 14, David Black, Charles Reader, Pat Welsh, and John Gunnison, seamen, two two Chinamen, cook and steward. One of the sailors states that the ship leaked for two days and that the Captain signaled for a tug, intending to put in at San Francisco.  At four o’clock Monday afternoon, the Captain thought he was about fifty five miles southwest of the Farallones and steered northeast. Shortly after midnight, the sky being clear and starry, with a petty good sea running, they struck with terrible force on the rocks, not more then 1500 feet from a high bluff.  The two mates and part of the crew jumped from the ship into the waves, and that was the last seen of them.

John Vonderlin: The Wreck of the Alice Buck (1)

Story by John Vonderlin

Email John: [email protected]

Hi June,
This is a story about a deadly shipwreck that happened on the Coastside in the late 1800’s, that I just learned about. While it never had the headlines that  more famous local shipwrecks like the Colombia or the New York did, the related articles in the newspapers reveal complexities that I haven’t encountered in the coverage of other shipwrecks of this era.
I came across the first mention of her demise in the October 10th, 1881, issue of the “Sacramento Daily Union,” in a tiny article headlined: “Another Corpse Washes Ashore.”  It continued, “Spanishtown October 9th—Another corpse from the wreck of the Alice Buck, mutilated beyond recognition, came ashore in the vicinity of the wreck to-day about 1 o’clock.”
I thought the name  “Alice Buck,” sounded familiar at first, but then I remembered why.  The first stretch of mountain road (Highway 84) I take leading from the flatlands to the summit of the coastal mountains that shield and isolate the Coastside, is bookended by the famous, oddly eclectic, Buck’s Restaurant, in Willowside, and the equally wellknown, iconic, Alice’s Restaurant, perched at the summit, at the corner of Skyline Boulevard and Highway 84. But my temporary confusion piqued my curiosity, and I decided to find out what events had produced one of my beachcombing fears, a corpse washed ashore and me coming across it. Here’s the first part of the story. It appeared in “The Daily Alta,”  September 28th, 1881, issue:
MARINE DISASTERS.
Wreck of the American ship  “Alice Buck ” on the California Coast—
Early yesterday a telegram was received to this city that the American ship Alice Buck, from New York for Portland with railroad iron, was ashore near Spanishtown, in Half-moon Bay, and that nine of the crew were drowned. The telegram was doubted by many, in
consequence of the vessel having been seen by the steamer Oceanic to be northward and westward ol this port, and it appeared very strange that, being bound to Portland, she would bring up at Spanishtown. In the afternoon all doubts were dispelled by a telegram received at the Merchants’ Exchange, from the agents of Goddell, Perkins and Co. that the vessel had gone ashore at midnight on Monday, and that out of her complement of 24 men, 11 were drowned. None of the bodies were reported recovered. The captain and six men were picked up by the steamer Salinas, bound down the coast, which searched and rendered all the assistance in her power. Six of the men got ashore. The vessel will be a total loss. Tbe Alice Buck left New York April 7th. and was seen by tbe Oceanic as above. She had on board a cargo of railroad iron for tbe Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company,  which is fully insured.  The ship was built at Belfast, Ma., in 1870, and was owned by J.P. White and others of that city. She was commanded by Capt. Herman,
formerly her Mate, Capt. Herriman her former Master and part owner having remained hence at Searsport this trip. The ship is reputed insured for $30,000 and $11.000 on the freight. The ship was also chartered to load wheat at Portland for Europe, at £4.”
Another part of the despatch (sic) mentioned a further telegram that detailed new rails were being shipped overland  to minimize the delay in the rail project between Portland and The Dalles, where the shipload had been intended for.
This version of the “Alice Buck” story, from the “Sacramento Daily Union,” on the same day as “The Daily Alta,” story, is much more thorough.
MARINE DISASTER.
A Ship Totally Wrecked on the San Mateo Coast;
TEN MEN FIND WATERY GRAVES.
Graphic Description of the  Unfortunate Occurrence.
Spanishtown, September 27th.― The ship Alice Buck, six months  from New York, loaded with railroad iron for Oregon, struck on the rocks at Haven’s Beach at midnight Monday and went to pieces. The crew consisted of  twenty- four persons. Nine men, with the Captain, were drowned, and one boy, aged 13, was also lost. Their bodies have not been recovered as yet. Steamer Salinas rendered aid to the distressed. (Spanishtown is in San Mateo county, situated at the south end of  Half moon Bay. The Alice Buck was commanded by Captain Henninger and was laden with railroad iron for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and consigned to Allen & Lewis, Portland. She had a registered tonnage of 1,425 tons.)
[SECOND DISPATCH.]  Spanishtown, (Half moon Bay,) September 27th.― The ship Alice Buck, about six months out from New York, loaded with railroad iron, struck on Horace Rock, two miles below here, at ten minutes past 12 o’clock – this morning, and is now a total wreck, strewn in fragments along the shore for a distance of a mile, and ten of the twenty-four men on board are drowned. The following is:
ONE OF THE STORIES OF THE WRECK,
Told by a survivor: The ship had been leaking for two days, and the Captain signaled for a tug, evidently intending to put in at San Francisco for repairs, although  bound for Portland with railroad iron for the North Pacific Railroad. On Monday we spoke (sic) the steamer Oceanic, from whom we got the course to San Francisco. At 1 o’clock Monday afternoon Captain Herman Henningser thought he was southwest of the Farallones about fifty miles, and steered northeast. Shortly after midnight the sky became clear and starry, with a pretty good sea running. We struck with terrible force and an awful crash on the rocks, not over 1,500 feet from a high bluff. The two mates and part of the crew were instantly panic-stricken and jumped from the ship into the waves. That was the last we saw of them. The Captain and the rest of us provided ourselves with life preservers, and only left the ship when there was not enough of her fast-breaking hull to stick to. Some reached the shore, assisted by people on the bluffs, and the rest were picked up by the steamer Salinas.
RESPONSE TO CRIES FOR HELP. A rancher named A.C. Markman, whose place was near the  bluffs below which the wreck occurred, while milking cows this morning, heard wild cries beyond the bluff. He ran to the edge of the bluff, and was horrified to see in the surf several bodies, some lifeless and others calling wildly for help, and beyond them a dismantled wreck.  He had no means at hand to  render assistance, so mounting a horse, he rode as fast as possible to Spanishtown and gave the alarm to the citizens, and then rode on to Amesport Landing. three miles  north of here, where the Pacific coast steamship Salinas, was loading with grain. Captain Smith, of the Salinas, immediately steamed out for the scene of the wreck, and Justice Pringle, James Wiley and other citizens drove from here to the bluff.
DESPERATE STRUGGLES FOR LIFE.
The people on the bluff, which is about 100 feet high, lowered ropes, by means of which six lives were saved. The first line lowered was not heavy enough to raise a man with, but was caught and held in the teeth of one sailor, who held on desperately until a stronger line was secured.  One sailor was seen battling in the surf amidst drifting debris, attempting to save a boy, George Parker, but a heavy wave threw a piece  of timber . against  the boy and knocked him from the sailor’s arms. The boy was not seen again. ; : Another sailor managed to reach the narrow slip of beach at the foot of the cliff, and after recovering breath struck out into the waves again and brought safely to land another shipmate. He again bravely struck out, and succeeded in rescuing another sinking sailor, but a third attempt proved fatal to the gallant fellow, for he sank beneath the water, and was seen no more.
A STEAMER TO THE RESCUE.
While these efforts were being made from shore, the Salinas approached and assisted in the work of saving the sailors. A boat was lowered, and after desperate and dangerous work seven men were picked up out of the water and taken to the steamer Salinas. Seeing no further opportunity of rendering assistance, the steamer started back  for Amesport Landing. George Wymans, on the lookout from the bluff, discovered another man showing faint signs of life in the debris near  the wreck. Wymans took off his coat and waved it over his head as a signal to the steamer. The signal was fortunately seen, and the steamer put back towards tho spot indicated by Wymans. A boat was again lowered and the man, who proved to be Captain Henningser, was picked up and taken aboard. He had been in the water nine hours, supported by two life-preservers, and in addition to being, very much exhausted, had received severe contusions from floating pieces of .the wreck. The steamer then returned to Amesport Landing, to which place the sailors rescued on the beach were also taken. .After being supplied with clothes by citizens, the steamer finished  loading, and about 4 o’clock this afternoon, with all of the rescued men on board, left for San Francisco
EFFORTS TO RECOVER THE BODIES―
NAMES OF THE LOST.
A great many people left here this afternoon for the bluff above the wreck, and attempted to bring ashore the bodies which could be seen dashed about with the broken timbers in the surf. The receding tide took the bodies out of reach of the rude appliances the men had to work with, and only one body, washed ashore some distance below the wreck about sundown, has yet been recovered. The search will be continued in the morning.
The following were lost : Wm. Barry West, mate ; D. Crocker, second mate ; George Parker, a boy of 11; David Black, Cbarles Reader, Patrick Welsh and John Mouriss, seamen, and two Chinamen― cook and steward.
ADDITIONAL INCIDENTS.
When the  sun set this evening; only a ragged line of ribs could be seen above the water. The hull, which is held down by the iron cargo, is breaking up. The rocky
character of the shore line, and the high sea running when the ship struck, combined, actually ground and splintered everything above the water line, so that nothing of the ship . larger than a barrel is adrift.  Among the recovered articles was a trunk full of costly female wearirg apparel, some of which was  marked  Mrs. A. C. Dunbar. One of the sailors said the trunk  was in charge of the lost boy. Justice Pringle brought the recovered body to Spanishtown, and it now lies in the Morgue. A belt with a knife attached and boots were the only articles on the body, and none of these gave any clue to his identity.
One of the rescued sailors― Sidney Smith― who kept the ship’s log, is reported as having said  that in his opinion the Capt and mates ran the vessel ashore, knowing she was in  an  unsafe condition and would go to  pieces. The two mates were the first to leave the ship.
‘The Alice Buck was owned by R. W. Buck, Presideat of the American Seamen’s Friend Society of New York.
CARGO OF THE WRECKED  VESSEL.
PORTLAND, September  27th,― The Alice Buck had 1,682 tons of rail for the O. R. & N. Company, to be laid on the line from this city to The Dalles, now being graded. The loss will cause some delay, in finishing the road, but the company has already ordered an  equal amount from New York, which will be shipped overland at once. The vesssel was chartered  by  G. W. McNear, The ship, and cargo were both insured.
End of Part 1  Enjoy. John. I’m glad nothing bad happened when your tire blew. People drive Highway 1 on the south coast like it is a freeway. A lot of them are seasoned coastal commuters to Santa Cruz or wherever, who trade safety for timeliness, and scare me with their speed and foolhardiness as far as passing in bad circumstances.The

John Vonderlin: 1900: Encore in trouble off Point Montara

Story by John Vonderlin

Email John: [email protected]

Hi June,
This small article is notable mainly for the nice illustration accompanying it.
It appeared in the July 3rd, 1900, issue of the “San Francisco Call.” The “Junin” region is a highlands region in Peru. The nitrates referred to, is probably sodium nitrate, also know as “Peruvian saltpeter,” to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter (potassium nitrate)  Sodium nitrate was used as an ingredient in fertilizers,  pyrotechnics and explosives, as a food preservative, in ceramic and glass manufacturing, and other industrial processes.
This was considered such a valuable commodity that the “War of the Pacific” or the “Saltpeter War,” as it was also known, had been fought just twenty years earlier between Bolivia, Chile, and Peru for control of the sources. Chile won, Bolivia became landlocked and Peru’s economic growth was greatly delayed. Enjoy. John
NEWS FROM THE OCEAN AND THE WATER FRONT
The Barkentine Encore in Trouble Off Point Montara.
Captain Atwood Was Dangerously Ill and There Was No One
Left Aboard to Navigate the Ship.

The four-masted barkentine Encore has had an eventful voyage from the nitrate ports. For thirty-two days the captain has been sick with heart trouble and kidney disease, and the navigation of the ship was left to the mate, who depended on luck to reach port safely. The British Bark Brussels was spoken in latitude 32 north, longitude 132 west, and that vessel did everything possible under the circumstances. The captain went aboard the Encore and not only gave the mate his sailing course, but doctored the master of the vessel to the best of his ability. Captain Atwood was taken sick a month after the bark left Junin, and from that time on he has had a fight with death. Early yesterday morning the Encore was at anchor off Point Montara, and no one seemed to know just where she was. The tug Reliance was sent out and picked her up a short distance below the Cliff House. The Encore left Junin sixtyfive days ago, and the passage was an uneventful one until Captain Atwood was taken sick. She brings 7948 bags of nitrate for this port. Captain Atwood was formerly on the Webfoot, and later was master of the Puritan. Before that he was mate of the ship St. Francis when she was burned to the water’s edge during her trip from San Francisco to New York.