The Maritime News September, October, November 2010
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National Park Service Park News U.S. Department of the Interior The Official Newspaper of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park The Maritime News September, October, November 2010 Pacific West Info Center Opens In Park Visitor Center our visit to the National Park Service Pacific West Infor- Photos, above, clockwise. Images from parks in the Pacific West mation Center is the start of a great adventure! The 58 na- Region. Mesquite Flat, Death Valley National Park; Park Ranger James Welcome tional parks of the Pacific West Region preserve spectacu- Marks assiting visitors in the Pacific West Information Center located Y This fall, we’re proud to announce lar natural and cultural diversity. Towering volcanic mountains in the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Visitor Center; the opening of the National Park and majestic ships, stately historic homes and lodges, massive Volunteers help get rid of weeds at Golden Gate National Recreation Service’s Pacific West Information glacier-carved granite canyons, teeming coral reefs, and fossils of Area; Moccasins from 1925, part of the Nez Perce National Historical Center at the corner of Hyde and animals that lived 54 million years ago are among the attractions Park collection; Pinnacles National Monument. Photos: NPS Jefferson Streets. Stop by to access detailed information about all of and treasures of the Pacific West National Parks. our region’s spectacular National Park sites. Plan your next trip with the help of a ranger or national park vol- unteer. The Pacific West region includes national parks in Nevada, Traditional music lovers can discover their inner sailors this September, California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Hawaii, and portions of when the 2010 Sea Music Concert Arizona, Montana and the territories of Guam, American Samoa Series kicks off with a rare double and Saipan. Not sure where you want to go? The Information Cen- shot of maritime music aboard the ter offers maps, a poster exhibit, brochures, online web browsing 1886 Balclutha: the Barbary Ghosts and a multi-media photographic tour of the region’s 58 national and Salty Walt and the The Rattlin’ Ratlines. parks. Look for a focused exhibit about Looking for a fun day trip to escape the city? There are 11 na- the 1832 Niantic in the Museum lob- by featuring the whaler’s own stern tional parks within a one-to two-hour drive in the San Francisco and rudder, a detailed diorama, and Bay Area. They offer a wide selection of cultural and recreational a fine painting of the famous Gold activities, from sailing on San Francisco Bay to a night of theater, Rush vessel. from wilderness camping, hiking and bicycle trails, to World War II memorials. Visit your nearby 11 Bay Area national parks And during Hispanic Heritage Month, we will join the Golden year-round: Eugene O’Neill, Fort Point, Golden Gate, John Muir, Gate National Recreation Area in Juan Bautista de Anza, Muir Woods, Pinnacles, Point Reyes, Port commemorating Juan Bautista de Chicago Naval Magazine, Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Anza’s 1776 Las Californias expedi- Front, and San Francisco Maritime. If you’re travelling cross- tion. You’ll learn how ships sup- country, the staff at the Information Center are happy to provide ported the march, and helped chart you with information about any of the 392 national parks. Experi- an overland route ence Your America! to San Francisco Bay. The Pacific West Information Center is located inside the park See you on Hyde Visitor Center at 499 Jefferson Street, San Francisco, CA, 94123. Photo, above: The frontispiece from the logbook, Journal of A Voyage Street Pier! Open daily from 9:30am-5:00pm. Please stop by if you are in the to the North West Coast of America, from a 1849 voyage of the sail- area or call 415-447-0463 or email: [email protected]. Craig Kenkel ing ship Niantic from Panama to San Francisco. The drawing is of the Superintendent ship receiving passengers at Panama. Photo: NPS. SAFR 13574 HDC 28 1 Pacific West 2 The Niantic, 4 They're Summer Fun In the Park…1 Gold Rush Ship Back.................... Superintendent’s Message…1 Information Visitor Information…2 Center Opens In Buried Beneath They're out of the space ship and in Painting of the Niantic…2 the Visitor Center!! Visitor Center San Francisco Events and Programs…3 Whether you’ve got half an hour, or A painting of the Gold Rush-era sailing Comics for Kids…4 half a day, you’ll find something fun ship Niantic is donated to the park. Park Map…4 and educational for the whole family. Today in the Park...4 ........................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ National Park Service Niantic: Buried Gold Rush Ship U.S. Department of the Interior A Logbook in 1980 San Francisco Maritime And a Painting in 2010 National Historical Park BY DAVID HULL , PRINCIPAL LI B RARIAN Established in 1988, San Francisco After carrying 248 gold-seekers from Pan- Maritime National Historical Park ama to San Francisco Bay, the Niantic was encompasses 34 acres, and contains beached in the summer of 1849 at the cor- the most national historic landmarks of ner of Clay and Sansome Streets. She then any unit in the National Park Service. In served as a storeship earning her owners addition to the fleet of historic ships at $20,000 per month until she was reduced Hyde Street Pier, the park includes the to a great, flat tray in the mud when she Aquatic Park Historic District (Maritime was burned to the turn of her bilge in the Museum, beach, lawn area, and bocce great San Francisco Fire of May 1851. The ball courts), a Visitor Center and a Niantic was the furthest inland of the 44 research library (in Fort Mason Center). ships known to be buried in downtown San Francisco. More than any others, she Superintendent was described by contemporaries, drawn Craig Kenkel and captured in lithography. Chief of Interpretation On another coast, in another century: the John Cunnane (Acting) street address on Martha’s Vineyard, off Cape Cod, had no number. It was simply a Public Affairs Officer sign: “Cleaveland House, c. 1750.” In this Lynn Cullivan house, in 1980, I was privileged to receive for the maritime museum a splendid gift An oil painting of the three-masted sailing ship Niantic, in port at Ningpo, China. The date of the Maritime News Editor from Dionis Coffin Riggs, a descendant of painting is circa 1836-1839. It is 27 inches wide and 22 inches high, in a plain, brown wood frame. Christine Baird Henry Cleaveland, who was captain of the Photo: NPS, SAFR 22386 Niantic in 1849 on a whaling voyage in the port at Ningpo, China about 1838. Before of Captain Henry Cleaveland. While the Mailing Address Pacific. When he learned of hundreds of she was a whaler, she carried the teas and logbook positions the Niantic for fame, the Fort Mason Center, Building E would-be passengers at Panama, he sailed silks of China, having been built in 1835 for painting illustrates the ship in her glory. San Francisco, CA 94123 there and seized the opportunity. Dionis’ the China Trade. gift was Captain Cleaveland’s logbook for On exhibit this fall in the museum build- Fax Number that voyage, a marvelous account pref- In May 2010, I was again privileged to ing at the foot of Polk Street will be the 415-556-1624 aced by a fine drawing by his son (and first receive for the park’s maritime museum painting, together with a detailed diorama mate) of the Niantic receiving her passen- a second splendid gift from a descendent of the ship on the Gold Rush waterfront Park Information gers at Panama. of 1849, and her actual stern and rud- 415-447-5000 der — which this museum recovered in Thirty years later, Dionis’ daughter, Cyn- 1978 when, as the San Francisco Chronicle thia Riggs, contacted the Park’s Library. Contributors to Volume 30: Rejane Butler, newspaper put it, “A Gold Rush Ship Is Tim Campbell, Stephen Canright, Lynn She was opening her ancestral home to Dug Up Downtown.” Cullivan, John Cunnane, Amy Hosa, and others as a Bed and Breakfast and had de- David Hull, Sheri Forbes, and Jordan Yee. cided to do something about an old paint- ing that had hung on the wall for about Photo, left: Visitor in the Museum lobby enjoys a The Maritime News September, October, 150 years. A skilled conservator brought close-up view of the diorama depicting the Niantic November 2010 Volume No. 30. the faded and torn painting back into the as a storeship on the San Francisco waterfront of light of a new day. It was the Niantic, in 1849. Photo: NPS For many SFMNPA Proudly kids, this is Sea Music Concert Series Celebrates Its 60th their first San Francisco Maritime National Histori- experience cal Park proudly presents its 22nd Annual Anniversary visiting San Sea Music Concert Series. This September, Francisco’s waterfront October, and November we once again in- Founded in 1950, the SFMNPA is a non- or a national vite you to experience the driving rhythms profit organization whose mission is to park. of chanteys and the beauty of seafaring The Barbary Ghosts, and Salty Walt and the bring maritime history to life through edu- ballads from the wooden decks of the Rattlin' Ratlines. cation and preservation programs in part- “We believe the maritime story has mean- 1886 square-rigged sailing ship Balclutha, perform songs of the Great Lakes sailors nership with the San Francisco Maritime ing and value to all communities. Our goal berthed at Hyde Street Pier on San Fran- from his extensive repertoire.