Maritime Metaphors: We're near the water

(by Heather Hernandez, Technical Services Librarian)

One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands is "Nothing on My Mind" by Too Much Joy.  (Give it a listen on their Song of the Week blog.)  It's a song on their album Cereal Killers, which is always with me--in multiple formats at home, and on my player in my bag.

This song has always captured an exact feeling for me:  grabbing a sketchbook and heading to the water.  In times of joy, in times of sadness--letting it all go, sitting on the beach, on a pier, or on a boat and losing myself in drawing what I see.  A sketchbook, drawings, pencils, colors--and the water with its boats, birds, waves.  One of the best things about where I work, and where anyone can visit:  we know "guys" with boats, and some of them are so quiet...without motors...

What does this have to do with Collections?  Plenty!  Need some hints about drawing?  Need something to color?  These will get you started:

• Drawing ships
• How to draw ships
• How to draw merchant ships: vol. 1 and vol. 2
• Ships and how to draw them

Then head to the water.  Sit and enjoy the sound of the waves.  Float around on a boat.  Start drawing and coloring, and drift...let there be nothing on your mind...

Nothing On My Mind

It’s not important

This stuff that I’m afraid of

I’ve got a bugle someplace

Let’s get a parade up

We’re near the water

I know a guy with a boat

It doesn’t have any motor

We can just sit and float

I’ll give you a coloring book

You can draw outside the lines

I’ve got nothing on my mind

My cousin died at a Who concert

He was camping out in line

Me and him went camping, once

I’ve got nothing on my mind

That’s my favorite song

Baby do you wanna dance

If you’re happy and you know it

You got to clap your hands

I’m out of control

Je t’aime le rock and roll

Digging for Gold at the Library: A Mystery!

(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

This month I wrote a story about poetry in our collection for both our blog and our Park website. While researching, I came across a delightful find, HDC 35 (SAFR 17607), The Captain Thompson Poems and Illustrations Collection. After seeing his charming drawings, I wanted to learn more about him so I went to the collection files. It turns out, there’s a bit of a mystery surrounding the documents. As far as I can tell, the images and poems were sent to us unsolicited. The name of the donor was not Thompson and apparently they sent the work with no background information. In the file, there are numerous envelopes we sent to the donors asking for more information which were sent back to us marked “return to sender: not at this address”. 

There is a letter in the collection (see below; it’s highly amusing), that may or may not be in the same handwriting as the poems (some letters look similar, some very different, but the letter looks to have been quickly jotted down and perhaps not as much care taken as with the poems.) The letter is signed by an Alec Macson,  Moeson or something like that who purports to be club secretary.  The other gentlemen who signed the letter are sometimes mentioned in the poems. There is no Captain Thompson mentioned in either the letters or the poems.

The ship the author  mentions, is “The good ship Kay” or simply “K”.  I checked the American Bureau of Shipping and Lloyd’s registers in the years around 1914- there are no listing for a ship that begins with K having either a Thompson or a Riess (the man often referred to in the drawings) as a master.  

I checked the California Digital Newspaper Collection for a “Captain Riess” with no luck. There were too many Captain Thompsons to be sure. None of the articles about the various Captain Thompson mentioned poetry or illustrations.

 I have a feeling though the poet is British, due to some of the language in the poems. For instance, sailors are “crossed and crabbed” He also mentions Lobscouse, which is a typical sailor stew common on British ships. Lastly, the uniforms look distinctly British. Perhaps the stripes are just meant to be blue shading?

Here are some of the poems and the letter.  If you recognize the style at all or the names and can tell us anything about this clever and talented author, please let us know.

Maritime Metaphors: In memory of Tim Przygocki

(by Lisbit Bailey, Archivist and Pop Music Aficionado)

In Memory of Timothy Przygocki

7 October 1948 to 19 February 2014

Tim moved to San Francisco in 1972. Captivated by the historic full-rigged ship Balclutha, he made historic ship preservation his passion and career. He started as a volunteer for the San Francisco Maritime Museum and worked his way up to Historic Ship Rigger.

His unique skills lead to many interesting jobs which included serving on the crew of the replica ship Golden Hinde in 1979 when she sailed to Japan for the filming of the miniseries Shogun. Tim and other crew members acted as extras in the film.

Tim became a National Park Service employee when the Balclutha and the Maritime Museum were transferred to federal stewardship.

In his NPS uniform in the 1990s

In the mid-1990s, Tim started his second career at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park as the Safety and Hazardous Materials Manager. The many years he worked on the historic ships gave him a clear understanding of the complex and dangerous work involved in historic ship preservation. He was as passionate about taking care of his fellow employees and park visitors as he was about the ships.

Tim retired from the National Park Service in September 2010.

Tim and his 1979 Spider Veloce, in 2012

Tim is greatly missed by his family and his many friends near and far.

You can read his obituaries at the Mishawaka High School Class of 1968 site (MS Word format only), and until the end of March 2014 also in the San Francisco Chronicle and the SouthBend Tribune.

In honor of Tim’s life, I’ve selected a song to share here on Maritime Metaphors called Sailboats.  This beautiful and moving song was written by Adam R. Young who is Sky Sailing. It was released 27 July 2010. The album is titled An Airplane Carried Me to Bed.

Sailboats

Sailboats wish that they were stars

Floating softly in the sky

Among our dreams that bid goodbye

Moving through transparent space

Drifting through the stratosphere

And onward 'til they disappear

These continents from overhead

Look like tiny paper shapes

Intricately set in place

Below the misty mountain clouds

There's a lovely silver bay

Where sunset sailors often hideaway

Scuba diver in the loch

Speedboat driver on the dock

Sailplane pilot in the blue

Take me up there with you

The world looks brighter

From this high altitude

I was walking through the trees

(Sailboats wish that they were stars)

And I was swimming through the seas

('Cause they don't know who they are)

I was falling through the air

When it hit me right there

My eyes are tired, I don't even care

An airplane carried me to bed

Where I slept above the coast

And dreamt I had become a ghost

I sail above the frozen peaks

Deep in cold cathedral caves

Across the hills and far beyond the waves

Take the car on the run

Fly the jet to the sun

And bring the spacecraft in soon

While I play chess with the moon

I feel like sleeping

Through this cold afternoon

Once in 1964

(Sailboats wish that they were stars)

An actress ran on the shore

('Cause they don't know who they are)

And though you'll never return

I love you, Audrey Hepburn

Sometimes I can see your face in the crowd

There are sailboats throughout this brilliant sky

But you cannot pick them out if you can't fly

I'm glad the earth doesn't care if I go up there

If you want to just ask me and I'll take you along

In recognition of Tim’s early days with the organization that became San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, I’ve selected 6 items from the Park’s Museum Collection including 3 drawings, 2 paintings and 1 poster of the Park’s Historic Fleet circa 1970:

SAFR 526, painting, Golden Hynde off Point Reyes, California, being towed in calm waters, 1977

SAFR 19313, painting, Balclutha at San Francisco's  Fisherman's Wharf dock, seen broadside from starboard, partly obscured by Pier 43 1/2 gate building in foreground, circa 1965-1985

SAFR 15404, drawing, Alma, port stern quarter view of vessel under sail, 1972

SAFR 19345, drawing, Wapama, port broadside view of 1915 steam schooner WAPAMA during the 1970's 

SAFR 19732, painting, Eppleton Hall, bow port quarter view of tug in San Francisco Bay, with Golden Gate Bridge in far background. Painted entirely in blue, 1970’s

Maritime Metaphors: Brandy by Looking Glass

(by Keri Koehler, Collections Manager and Heather Hernandez, Technical Services Librarian)

Brandy (You're a Fine Girl), by Looking Glass is set "in a port on a western bay."  In this port town, on this western bay, who could these sailors be, who could be stolen from the sea by this fine girl's eyes?  Could they be sailors like these, in a barroom not so different from this one?

Waterfront Barroom Scene, ca. 1915 (SAFR 8986)


Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)
written and composed by Elliot Lurie

(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda)

There's a port on a western bay
And it serves a hundred ships a day
Lonely sailors pass the time away
And talk about their homes

And there's a girl in this harbor town
And she works layin' whiskey down
They say "Brandy, fetch another round"
She serves them whiskey and wine

The sailors say "Brandy, you're a fine girl" (you're a fine girl)
"What a good wife you would be" (such a fine girl)
"Yeah your eyes could steal a sailor from the sea"
(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)

Brandy wears a braided chain
Made of finest silver from the North of Spain
A locket that bears the name
Of the man that Brandy loves

He came on a summer's day
Bringin' gifts from far away
But he made it clear he couldn't stay
No harbor was his home

The sailor said " Brandy, you're a fine girl" (you're a fine girl)
"What a good wife you would be" (such a fine girl)
"But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea"
(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)

Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes
When he told his sailor stories
She could feel the ocean foam rise
She saw its ragin' glory
But he had always told the truth, lord, he was an honest man
And Brandy does her best to understand
(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)

At night when the bars close down
Brandy walks through a silent town
And loves a man who's not around
She still can hear him say

She hears him say " Brandy, you're a fine girl" (you're a fine girl)
"What a good wife you would be" (such a fine girl)
"But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea"
(dooda-dit-dooda), (dit-dooda-dit-dooda-dit)

"Brandy, you're a fine girl" (you're a fine girl)
[FADE]

"What a good wife you would be" (such a fine girl)
"But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea"