Maritime history of California
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| History of California |
|---|
| To 1899 |
| Gold Rush (1848) |
| American Civil War (1861-1865) |
| 1900 to present |
| Maritime |
| Railroad |
| Los Angeles |
| San Diego |
| San Francisco |
Maritime history of California is a term used to describe significant past events relating to the U.S. State of California in areas concerning shipping, shipwrecks, and military installations and lighthouses constructed to protect or aid navigation and development of the state. The golden state has a rich and varied maritime legacy.
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[edit] Native California peoples and early explorers
Recent dating of middens on San Clemente Island (some 60 miles offshore) has documented an ancient maritime culture dating back some 8,000 years, perhaps earlier. Native California peoples lived in large settled villages along the Pacific coastline for many centuries before European contact.
In some areas, such as along the Santa Barbara Channel and San Francisco Bay, people in these villages developed highly sophisticated canoes, with widespread trade using native watercraft. Boat construction reached its highest development in California among the Chumash. Their plank canoe, called a "tomol," impressed early explorers of the California coast for its versatility and seaworthiness.
Trading expeditions from the mainland were common to the Channel Islands to obtain steatite for soapstone bowls and effigy figurines. The remains of this prehistoric seafaring is being recorded by underwater archaeologists. At least 25 individual sites have been reported between Ventura Beach and Point Conception.
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo’s caravels, Victoria and San Salvador, were the first recorded European vessels to visit California. They carefully made their way up the Pacific coast in 1542. The first galleon made a trans-Pacific crossing in 1565, and opened the Manila route to be followed for the next 250 years.
Sir Francis Drake landed ashore on June 17, 1579, somewhere above Spain's most northerly claim at Point Loma, near the city of San Diego. Drake found an excellent port, landed, repaired and restocked his vessels, then stayed for a time, keeping friendly relations with the natives. Drake named the port New Albion (New England), and claimed it for England. It is usually assumed that Drake's port was somewhere near the northern San Francisco Bay.
The Farallon Islands and the mainland coast north of the Golden Gate Bridge have historically provided hazardous navigational obstacles to shipping. Year-round fogs and dangerous winds and storms often led ships to rocks and beaches to be pounded by the Pacific swells. Fierce currents have always swept in and out of the entrance to the Golden Gate. Many known shipwrecks litter the floor of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.
The first recorded shipwreck in California is that of the San Augustin, a Spanish Manila galleon, which was driven ashore in a gale in 1595 and was anchored in Drake’s Bay, northwest of San Francisco. Thousands of vessels have been lost in the waters of the state in the following centuries. These ships, their cargoes, and the mooring systems which restrained them are the physical remains of the maritime history of California.
More than 140 shipwrecks have been reported in the waters of the Gulf of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Most of the maritime activity in the last 400 years has been focused on trade. The Spanish built missions around the Bay after 1776, which brought supply ships and foreign fur traders. Following Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821, the port of Yerba Buena (later named San Francisco) gradually expanded into a regional trading center. New England's "Yankee Traders" and ships of European nations traded, whaled, and gathered furs and hides while using San Francisco as a base to re-supply their vessels.
On November 20, 1818 Hippolyte de Bouchard raided the Presidio of Monterey in Monterey, California. Bouchard, a French revolutionary who later became a citizen of Argentina, is sometimes referred to as California’s only pirate, although some Argentines prefer to use the term corsair.
Since much of his crew died from scurvy, Bouchard went in search of new crew members in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii), and then sailed to the coast near Mission Santa Bárbara and threatened the nearby town. Bouchard and his crew left without attacking after some soldiers from El Presidio de Santa Bárbara confronted them.
On December 14, 1818 Bouchard attacked Mission San Juan Capistrano and he and his crew damaged several buildings, including the Governor's house, the King's stores, and the barracks.
In 1846, at the outset of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), the California Republic was founded. The Republic came to a sudden end, however, when Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into San Francisco Bay and claimed California for the United States.
[edit] Lighthouses
The firm of Francis A. Gibbons and Francis Kelly was awarded the contract to build California’s first seven lighthouses in 1853. By October of that year, the lighthouse on Alcatraz Island was built, and more than 40 lighthouses were eventually built along the coast.
While Point Reyes provided a landmark near San Francisco Bay, it also posed a hazard to sailors who navigated the nearby waters. In an attempt to reduce the number of wrecks and to provide aid in navigation along the rocky shores near the point, the U.S. Lighthouse Service built the Point Reyes Light Station in 1870. It provided mariners with guidance and aid for 105 years.
Despite the efforts of the brave men and women who were stationed at the lighthouse, ships continued to wreck on the nearby coast. The Life Saving Service opened the first of two Life Saving Stations built at Point Reyes in 1889. The second station, at Drakes Beach, closed in 1968. The workers stationed there attempted the rescue of victims of storms and shipwrecks. The incredible danger of their job can be sensed in their unofficial motto, "You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back in."
International maritime signal flags (numbers 0 - 9)
[edit] Recent discoveries
Discovery of the remains of an 1850 Baltimore clipper has sparked tremendous interest in the early history of Mendocino County. The Frolic, which wrecked in a small cove near the Caspar headlands, was carrying a cargo of trade goods to gold rush California. The artifacts provide a glimpse of the flurry of activity that brought people and goods from all over the world to the golden state. Silver tinder boxes, oyster shell window glass, and Chinese porcelains have been recovered and exhibited. The wreck site remains an impressive historical feature. It has recently become leased to the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
Gold rush shipwrecks have also been recently documented in the Sacramento River. The La Grange and Sterling, former sailing vessels that carried pioneers around the horn to the California gold fields in 1849, ended their days tied to the Sacramento levee.
[edit] Port of San Diego
San Diego has become the home port of the largest naval fleet in the world, and includes two supercarriers, as well as Marine Corps stations, U.S. Navy ports, and US Coast Guard installations.
International maritime signal flags
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Hipólito (Hypolite) Bouchard and the Raid of 1818 – [1]
- Lamermoore – [2]
- Shipwreck database – [3]
- Maritime History of Point Reyes – [4]
- Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary – [5]
- The Lighthouses of California – [6]
- This article contains text from the National Park Service, which is in the Public domain
