Archive for November, 2009
4. Thither . . .
DD 305
Here is a sight in the South San Francisco Bay that can only be seen up close by boat. It is about three miles north of the Dumbarton Bridge on the east side of the Bay. It is almost directly east of the entrance to the Port of Redwood City. These photos are 35 to 40 years old so maybe not as much can be seen today:
(click on image for larger view)
What is seen is what remains of the USS Thompson (DD 305). She has been at this location since 1944, and is the last of the “Four Pipers.” She was commissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard in August 1920, a little late for an active part in WWI. She was one of 273 flush-deck destroyers commissioned between 1917 and 1922. By WWII they were approaching obsolescence but still managed to play a role in that conflict. The Thompson was sold in June of 1931 and at one point served as a bar in South San Francisco, but during WWII she was scuttled at her present location and used as a target for pilots training at nearby Moffett Field Naval Air Station.
Here is a depiction of what she would have looked like in action:
Drawbridge
In the previous post I mentioned points of interest that can be seen by sailing south from Palo Alto, but there is one more in that direction that should be noted that is of historical significance. It is called Drawbridge and is located about as far as one can go by boat at the south end of San Francisco Bay. Today it is a ghost town but in the 1920s it was a thriving little village. The chart below shows it’s location (9):
(click on image for larger view)
Points of Interest:
(4) Guadalupe Slough
(6) Alviso Slough
(8) Abandoned Duck Club up Mowry Slough
(9) Drawbridge
The history of Drawbridge starts with the building of a railroad line across Station Island in about 1876. Station Island is formed by Warm Springs Slough (now called Mud Slough) on the north side and Coyote Slough (0r Creek) on the south side. Both of these waterways were navigable and thus required by federal law to remain open. Consequently, the railroad had to provide a drawbridge at each slough and hire someone to operate them. This was done, and somewhere in the mid 1870s a shack was built to house the drawbridge operator. Word spread that the area was excellent for duck hunting and fishing. Soon, other shacks were built along the railroad tracks and a whole village sprang into existence. During prohibition the “town” was very popular because the only way to get to it was by boat or railroad, a fact which insulated it from local law enforcement. To this day access is still quite limited. You can hike out along the railroad tracks north from Alviso for about two miles or arrive by boat. Below is a photo of the GAMBELLA moored Mediterranean style to the railroad trestle in about 1980:
23. Hard Aground in Palo Alto Yacht Harbor
(click on image for larger view)
Shows a visiting Sea Scout boat on February 4, 1982. I spent many happy hours in this harbor before it was turned back to nature.
Ceramic Vase
(click on image for larger view)
The GAMBELLA Moored at Drawbridge
(click on image for larger view)
2. Sinking Beer Cans
In the early 1960s I joined Uncle Sam’s Yacht Club and spent four years on active duty. Toward the end of that tour of duty I married Lynne Harley and after I left the Navy we purchased a 31 foot sloop named ESCAPE, but that’s another story. In the meantime Doug purchased the GAMBELLA and began the long process of restoration. To his credit, Doug managed to get her back in the water and functioning again. Lynne and I worked on the ESCAPE and sailed her here and there, mostly within the San Francisco Bay Area. After a couple of years of sailing the ESCAPE we sold it and were without a boat for a while.
About that same time Doug had become somewhat discouraged with the enormous task of restoring the GAMBELLA, and I was missing a nautical element to my life. After some discussion the three of us, Doug, his brother Stan and I decided to form a partnership and continue the GAMBELLA project. We normally spent one day a week (usually Saturday) working on our boat. After a short period of time Stan dropped out of the project, but Doug and I continued on for several years before I bought his share.
Typically, we would meet at the boat Saturday morning with a six-pack of beer. We would have our first beer which we called our “think drink” while planning the day’s work. After working through the morning we would have our second beer with our lunch, and the last beer after finishing up for the day. We used a marlin spike to punch holes in the cans and then tossed them overboard to sink. I liked to think of this as recycling because while going to college I worked summers for W.P. Fuller & Co. in their plant right on the edge of the Bay in South San Francisco. Next door to the plant was another industrial operation that extracted dissolved aluminum from sea water. Doug, on the other hand, being a math major, tried to determine the minimum number of holes and their placement that would be required to insure that the can would always sink.
As fate would have it, Doug and I both ended up working for Matson Navigation Co. in their industrial engineering department, and this gave us the opportunity to plan our Saturday efforts in great detail on company time. Here is the sail plan that we decided upon:
(click on image for larger view)
The original rig of the GAMBELLA was probably that of a cutter with bowsprint and double head sails. As rigged by Doug it became a sloop with a single head sail and no bowsprint. However, based on our experience with the LA BAÑERA we decided on a gaff rigged schooner — it’s such a salty rig. The existing mainmast was shortened and moved aft and a new foremast was stepped where the main had been. The following pictures should give an inkling of the scope of work involved in the refit:
(click on images for larger view)
22. Entrance to Harbor at Palo Alto
watercolor 8 1/2 x 12
This watercolor was done circa 1981. Palo Alto is no longer a functioning harbor.
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