Ecology and climatology resources

(by Sara Diamond, Archives Specialist)

I am really excited to be going back to my old stomping grounds across the Bay today to present a poster at the Science for Parks, Parks for Science: The Next Century.  This conference is being held at U.C. Berkeley from March 25-27. I am presenting this poster at the Valley Life Science building on the Cal Campus today Thursday March 26. I will be talking it up from 4 to 6 pm:

Look for my new Flat Hat. 

The poster will travel next week to Oakland for the National Park Service’s George Wright Conference.

New Research Center Hours

Due to changes in staffing levels, effective July 7, 2014 the Maritime Research Center will be open by appointment only, Monday through Friday 1:00pm-4:00pm.  Appointments must be made at least twenty-four hours in advance.  (Closed most federal holidays.) Please contact us to make an appointment with a reference librarian, for assistance with your research, or for more information.

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.

Digging for Gold at the Library: Poetry in the Archives

(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

It’s National Poetry Month and I bet you thought I was going to talk about the Rime of the Ancient Mariner or something by John Masefield.  While that would be wholly appropriate it would also be something you have most likely seen before, perhaps even here.  As the purpose of my installments is to dig for things buried deep in the collections for you to see, I had a much better idea. I went into our archives and pulled some poems written by various seafarers and passengers for your enjoyment.  As opposed to the stereotypical idea of a sailor as somewhat brutish and dull, many sailors were curious, intelligent and in tune with the natural world; after all, they depended on a deep knowledge of not just the sea but what was going both above and below it to survive. They had long stretches to contemplate the world around them and their connection to it. It’s no wonder some of them turned to. For instance, here’s a poem by Captain Roy Moyes from HDC 235 (SAFR 17110) expressing the feelings of being becalmed both literally and figuratively.

                Becalmed

                Only the sea, motionless in calm

                Only the hope of a stirring breeze;

                There’s naught, but the depth’s alluring charm,

                Rippling reflections in placid seas-

                Only the sails and the dawning sun.

                Only the loss of the foaming run.

               

                Yet, deep in the soul the sea reflects

                In the light of questing, seeking thoughts

                The cause of its wonderful objects

                The gale, the calm, the loneliness wrought.

                All is still; there is no when, or how-

                Only the presence of the now.

                The day drifts on, and at evening fall

                Golden painted clouds drift idly by:

                The sea lies still; and over it all

                The awe of silence reigns far and nigh.

                Patient we must be, whole darkness hides

                The ship and our fate on the still tides.

Moyes was once the captain of our very own Balclutha, when she was called the Pacific Queen.  Born in Australia to no seafaring parents, Moyes left home at 14 to start a career in the sea, working his way from ordinary seaman to captain. His time spent at sea must have given him much inspiration, for he wrote over 80 poems, many of them long form.  As far as I can tell, none have been published. 

One of my favorite lighter ones is a toast I found written on a scrap of paper in HDC 833, SAFR 8451, The Captain Peter Petersen Papers. Written at the top of the torn sheet is “This poem Miss Bradley had readen (sic) on the bottle when the skiff was launched this summer after she had painted it.”

                Here’s to Peter the Great

                May you ever sail in state

                Should your mistress have a date

                Be sure you’re never late

Scribbling on scraps seems to be a popular method of capturing a fleeting poem. We can’t be sure who this was written by, but it was found in the Walter W. Taylor Papers (HDC 1454, SAFR 21896). Taylor (or someone else) took a poem by C. Fox Smith entitled “Racing Clippers: A Wool Fleet Memory” and changed it to make it more personal.

Here’s the text of the Taylor collection poem:

                There ain’t no racin’ clippers now. Nor never will be again.

                And most o’ the ships are gone by now, the same as most of the men.

                Like the ships that made a forest on the ‘Frisco waterside

                The slashing big four masters from the Mersey on the Clyde

                An the Yankee sky’s’l yarders with their plankin’ scoured like snow

                loading grain at ‘Frisco,-- Forty years ago

Another one found in the Taylor collection echoes the above poem with a lament of leaving the sea behind.

                When I was a boy I strolled

                around while the ships were

                outward bound.

                I had no tin to pay for

                gin so I just strolled

                around.

                My coat was out at the elbows

                I was hungry and footsore

                So I joined aboard a

                full rigged ship called the

                “Shanandore”

                No more will I go to the sea

                or roam the Western ocean

                a rolling and a bolling

                no more I ever will

                no more will I go to sea

                or roam the western ocean

                As long as I live I’ll stay

                on shore and go to sea more

                no more will I haul on a

                lee fore brace, or by those

                halyards stand.

                no more will I cry as

                aloft I fly with a tar pot

                in my hand.

No more will I swing on

                the big main yard or

                walk the capstan round.

                No more will I trim the

                royals while running the

                Easting down.

                               

 I mentioned passengers as being poets and boy, do I have a doozy of an example for you. In 1849, an unidentified author set sail from Norfolk to San Francisco on the bark the John L. Colley (HDC 27, SAFR 13573). This passenger found the journey so disagreeable, that he wrote a 17 page screed  in verse against the captain, of whom he says, “He was the  mildest manner’d man who ever scuttled ship or cut a throat”.  Here’s the title page so you can see he means business:

That’s a 0 star review if I ever heard one.

I’ll be writing a longer piece about poems in our collection for our website, so be on the lookout. As always, if you’d like to look at any of these poems or the many more in our collection, drop me a line gina_bardi@nps.gov.

(Addendum:  For more about poetry in the archives, see Poetry in Ocean.--Ed., Apr. 25, 2014)

Digging for Gold at the Library: Jane Proctor letter, HDC 1043

(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

Most of what I write about for this blog are fun items- little gems with interesting pictures or something just plain delightful I’ve stumbled across.  This though is about something I found in our collection which was so sincere and heart wrenching that even though it’s a departure from my usual pieces, I had to share it with you.

The document is a letter in our archives, Historical Document Collection 1043.  It’s a letter written by a woman named Jane Proctor who was a nurse at the Army Hospital at the Presidio.  It was written late in the night of February 22^nd, 1901. Ms. Proctor was unable to sleep due to the deep and overwhelming grief she felt over the wreck the day before of The City of Rio de Janeiro. The City of Rio de Janeiro was a Trans-Pacific steamship operating between San Francisco and Asia. On the 21^st of February 1901, she was headed into San Francisco Bay when she hit a reef.  She sank quickly; her holds were completely flooded.  130 people died that night; many of the bodies washing ashore the next day. Ms. Proctor describes this horrific scene to unnamed friends back home in harrowing terms.

The full letter is below.  It has been transcribed from the original.  The full collection includes a few more items about Ms. Proctor including a diary entry.  A finding aid for the collection can be found here:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8028svz/

Citation:

Proctor, Jane.  Letter in regards to the City of Rio de Janeiro.Jane Proctor Collection. HDC 1043.

Museum Archives and Manuscript Collections, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

Union Iron Works project featured on The Signal

(by Heather Hernandez, Technical Services Librarian)

One of our projects, to create the online Union Iron Works Employee Card Collection, has been mentioned with other fascinating NPS digitization initiatives on the Library of Congress' blog, The Signal:  "Content Matters: An Interview with Staff from the National Park Service."

So far, through the efforts of staff, interns, and volunteers, over 400 cards for employees of the Union Iron Works shipyard in the 1910s have been digitized and are available online via NPS Focus (just enter these search terms: union iron works).  The hardcopy collection contains somewhere between 30,000 to 57,000 cards--we believe there is at least one card for every employee of the shipyard during this time period.  In addition to names, home addresses, occupation, they sometimes include age or year of birth, and country of origin--there is a wealth of data about an entire workforce during the WWI shipbuilding years in San Francisco, waiting to become more accessible.

In addition to full color scans of both sides of cards such as these:

Rich metadata records are being created to accompany the images, allowing them to be searched and retrieved by multiple terms including name, address (historic and current, if different and identifiable), occupation, and nationality.

In progress is a transcription database that will eventually make the entire dataset available to researchers on demand, in multiple formats.

Want to learn more?  There is a presentation available for viewing, and we'd love to hear from anyone interested in conducting research in the online or hardcopy collection, or in becoming involved in the project.

Photo Archives Spotlight: Definitive Men of the San Francisco Bay

(M. Crawford, Processing Archivist)

The waters of the San Francisco Bay have made many sea captains; men and women have begun their careers traversing the Bay, up and down the coast, and up into the rivers and deltas inland. Some of the recently processed collections in the Historic Documents Department tell the stories of some of these men--at the helm of tugboats, Monterey clippers, and sailboats. Although the collections may not seem to have much in common upon first glance, when you take a closer look at the lives they document, you will find that these men lived by the sea, made a living from the sea, and in the case of one captain, died at sea.

Click for Collection Guide

Jack Ehrhorn collection of Stone Boat Yard photographs, circa 1885-2005. P05-081 (SAFR 23147)

Decorated U.S. Army Platoon Sergeant, Jack Ehrhorn, was

entrusted with the photographs and textual materials from

the Stone Boat Yard. (P05-081, Ser.7.3, File 1, Item 923) 

Jack Ehrhorn was a life-long yachtsman, master shipwright, designer, draftsman and operations foreman. He started working for Lester Stone at the W.F. Stone & Son boatyard in 1941, where he helped build minesweepers for WWII. The Stone Boat Yard was a San Francisco Bay Area boat building company that was located in Alameda, California, from 1971-2004. The business had three previous names, and has been in four other locations in the San Francisco Bay Area since its establishment in San Francisco by W.I. Stone in 1853. It was run by three generations of Stones from 1853 until 1970 (W.I. Stone, W.F. Stone, and Lester Stone). It was one of the oldest and longest running businesses on the Pacific Coast and its boats and designs were very influential in Pacific Coast maritime history.

Ehrhorn helped build fast boats that won races, whether it was
his Yankee One Design  Flame, or the 6 Meter St. Francis V,
seen here in 1972. (P05-081, Ser. 6, File 5, Item 379)

One of Stone Boat Yard's specialties was producing first class yachts--the fastest on the bay some say. Ehrhorn worked on the constructing many of these beauties. In 1949, Lester even gave him a corner to build a yacht for himself, a Starling Burgess Yankee One Design, Number 34. Even in the 1970s, he was working on a 6 Metre St. Francis V designed by Gary Mull that won the 1973 World Cup in Seattle. Ehrhorn came to be the custodian of documents, photographs, photo albums and marine architecture drawings from the boat yard, all of which his estate donated to San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in 2005. In this collection, there are over nine hundred photographs depicting vessels being built from start to finish, the details of construction, the tools and shop that they were built in, and the people that crafted these vessels. Combined with his collection of Stone Boat Yard records and marine architectural drawings (SAFR 21341, HDC 1288), we are able to see some of these boats come alive from their original drawings to yachts under sail.

Click for Collection Guide

Domestic life was not

limited to land. The

captain and daughter,

Vici, on the bay.

P07-005 Ser. 4 File 3

Item 211.

Captain Curt Hasenpusch photograph collection, circa 1900-1960s. P07-005 (SAFR 23352)

Captain Curt August Hasenpusch (1910-1962), a first generation San Franciscan, was a boatman on the San Francisco Bay from the early 1930s until his death. His employers included Anderson's Shipyard and Crowley's Red Stack tugs, both eminent companies in Bay Area maritime history. He worked on everything from the pilot boat California to the tugboats Crowley No. 23 and Frank G. White during his career. Born in San Francisco on March 12, 1910, he was the second son of German immigrants who arrived just before the Great Earthquake and Fire. He was a collector of maritime photographs and memorabilia, as well as a model boat builder, one of which, the 1893 pilot boat Gracie S (SAFR 22765) is in our museum collection.

Hasenpusch spent his life working the Bay

with many photos taken from those decks.

(P05-007, Ser.1.1, File 1, Item 52) 

His collection consists of mostly photographic prints, some of which hung in his family's home. Within the boxes, folders, and envelopes you will find photographs of tugboats, pilot boats and other vessels, all predominantly in the San Francisco Bay, from the 1900s to the 1960s. There are photographs of vessels under construction, being launched, at dock and underway; shipwrecks; and maritime activity, events and people in the San Francisco Bay.

The collection includes images of the tugboat Crowley No. 23 which Hasenpusch was a captain on from 1945-1951; the pilot schooner California on which Hasenpusch worked as an engineer; and the tugboat and auxiliary fireboat Frank G. White.

This deck's-eye view giving witness to an account of life on the Bay waters is a compelling perspective for landlubbers and mariners alike. The auxiliary fireboat was the last vessel that Captain Hasenpusch worked on, for on June 12, 1962, the captain suffered a fatal heart attack while on duty in her wheelhouse and died at the calling he so dearly loved.

Click for Collection Guide

James L. Douthit photographs and oral histories, circa 1965-1975, 1989. P91-058 (SAFR 22588)

Hours fishermen spent were
not all out on open water.
The preparation and dedication
of those that chose this trade
are evident above.
(P91-058 Ser 1.1 Vol 2 Item 74)

James L. Douthit was a photographer and a reporter from the Pacific Northwest and spent many years writing for the Oakland Tribune. He was also a maritime historian; he wrote articles on whaling and conducted oral histories of people involved with fishing vessels and steam schooners in California and Oregon.

This collection contains photographs of Monterey clipper fishing boats, fishermen and the fishing trade, and boat shops, taken circa 1965-1975 as a part of Douthit’s research. The majority of the photographs are of vessels, some with operators on board. Some photographs depict on-deck scenes of fishing or fishing equipment: portraits of fishermen, views of preparing lines, hauling in fish, and weighing fish on the dock. Photographs include the “Yukon Gang,” a notorious group of fishermen that worked together from the 1950s-1970s. The collection also includes transcripts of interviews with Monterey clipper boat builders and fishermen, as well as portraits of some of the interviewees. These men are important figures in maritime history, captaining vessels which defined the fishing industry in the San Francisco Bay for decades and characterized Fisherman’s Wharf.

Small in stature, these Monterey clippers were a big presence in the San Francisco Bay. They were introduced to the San Francisco Bay around 1925. The boats and their captains played a key role in the local 1930s sardine industry. It wasn’t until the 1950s, as the fishing industry hit its peak and began to decline, that the Monterey clippers began to disappear (P91-058, Ser.1.1, Vol. 2, Item 14)

Surely, these men lived very different lives, but the waters of the San Francisco Bay kept them closely connected. Perhaps they knew one another, if even in passing. Perhaps they crossed paths on the waters of the San Francisco Bay. I will most likely never know but I will spend a good amount of time in speculation... If you would like to find out more about these men, their livelihoods, and their accomplishments, peruse the collection guides on the Online Archive of California or make an appointment with our resourceful reference staff to assist you in your quest for more.

Photo Archives Spotlight: A River Tyne Paddle Tug Arrives in San Francisco

(By M. Crawford, Processing Archivist)

Two recently processed collections (cue Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Water) will take you back to March 24, 1970, and a British Invasion of the nautical kind. The George R. Lamuth photographs and the H. Alan Sims photographs of the Eppleton Hall (built 1914; tugboat) are collections of 28 and 56 slides, respectively, documenting the approach, celebration, and new home of Eppleton Hall in San Francisco.

Fireboats and spectators welcome Eppleton Hall as she makes her way

Fisherman’s Wharf. Photo by George R. Lamuth. (P99-015, Item 7)

Click for Collection Guide

George R. Lamuth photographs of the Eppleton Hall (built 1914; tugboat), 1970 March-1989 September, P99-015 (SAFR 23143)

Click for Collection Guide

H. Alan Sims photographs of the Eppleton Hall (built 1914; tugboat), circa 1950s, 1970 March 24, P99-014 (SAFR 22590)

An epic journey it was!

As if this wasn't dramatic enough, add to the plot three 

children aboard for the journey, illness in Mexico, and some 

colorful disagreement about the way to run a ship, and you 

have yourself an adventure. Photographed by H. Alan Sims.

(P99-014, Item 4)

You will have to bring your own band, but you can still experience the crowds, camera crews, and first glances of this relic as she steams into San Francisco. The measures taken to pull the burned-out hull of this steam side-wheeler out of the mud and return her to full operation were tremendous--a labor of love, indeed--and her arrival from Newcastle, England, was a day of exuberance. H. Alan Sims, of the Sacramento Area, and George Lamuth, life-long San Franciscan, were there to capture it on film for all of us that couldn't be there and for all of us who choose to relive it.

Builder’s plate from the restoration of  Eppleton Hall.

William “Bill” Bartz, went to Newcastle with Karl Kortum 

and Scott Newhall to purchase the paddle tug. He stayed 

with her while she underwent her renovation in England, doing 

much of the work himself. Photographed by H. Alan Sims.

(P99-014, Item 38)

Peruse the collection guides on the Online Archive of California to explore more, or while you’re in the mood, make an appointment with our reference staff to see the collections in person. While you’re here, feel free to pull Captain Scott Newhall's book on the Eppleton Hall (Call No. G470 N4) off the public reference shelf, or request a look at the logbook of her journey to San Francisco (HDC 1137, SAFR 17686). There's more to be found; it's only a reference request away.

Photo Archives Spotlight: Shipboard Life on a Merchant Steamship

(by L. Bianchi, Project Archivist)

Alexander Ryan
(P77-003 Ser. 1.3 File 3 Item 85)

Although photographs of ships seen underway from a distance can be nice, sometimes you might find yourself wishing you could zoom in to see what sort of mischief (if any) the crew and passengers are getting into on board. The Alexander Ryan Photographs recently processed by the Historic Documents Department staff here at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park provide a peek into this world. The collection contains 307 images mostly split between glass plate and nitrate film negatives, the bulk of which was likely photographed by Ryan between 1900-1920. Besides cargo, merchant ships carried crews and passengers. Alongside the regular work, shipboard life was filled with activities to combat the boredom of a long passage--games and costumes were common along with the occasional shoreside excursions.

Click for Collection Guide

Alexander Ryan photographs, circa 1895-1926. Collection No. P77-003 (SAFR 23353)

Manoa in drydock. (P77-003 Ser. 1.3 File 1 Item 26)

Alexander Ryan (1871-1964) served as chief engineer aboard steamships operated by various shipping companies, including American-Hawaiian Steamship Company, Oceanic Steamship Company, and Matson Navigation Company. The photographs depict his travels aboard various merchant steamships including Californian (built 1900; cargo vessel), Lurline (built 1908; merchant vessel), and Manoa (built 1913; merchant vessel). Among the collection you'll find photographs of vessels in drydock, decks awash from heavy weather, and glimpses inside engine rooms. The collection also contains views of other miscellaneous sailing, steam, and naval vessels, and as well as views of coastlines, waterfronts, and scenery ashore in San Francisco, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. One group of 8 photographs depicts views of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition waterfront in 1915 as seen from the San Francisco Bay.

But have you ever wondered, "What did women do during long, monotonous ocean voyages? Did they stay in their cabins and knit?" Well, if they're anything like the ladies photographed in this collection, they cross-dressed! In this collection you'll discover women in borrowed officer's hats, and sometimes full uniforms, posing with crew members. One particularly brave woman is photographed climbing a mast with the assistance of a crew member during her voyage aboard Lurline. Another woman wearing the captain's uniform fully embraced her new look by adding a fake mustache and goatee to her ensemble while aboard Manoa.

She’s no landlubber. (P77-003 Ser. 1.3 File 3 Item 6)

And there are plenty of men sporting mustaches as well.

‘Staches galore. (P77-003 Ser. 1.4 File 3 Item 284)

Yet being a chief engineer requires more than just posing for photographs with passengers or letting women try on your uniform. For those interested in the more technical side of engineering, the Maritime Library holds a book formerly in the possession of Alexander Ryan on the construction of the steamship Maui titled Specifications for building a steel twin-screw geared turbine passenger and freight steamer to three-deck rule, hull No. 127, November 18, 1915. Built by Union Iron Works Company, San Francisco.

Make an appointment to take a closer look at Alexander Ryan’s photographs documenting early 20th century merchant steamship travel. Peruse the collection guides on the Online Archive of California to explore more, and know our reference staff is here to help in person.

Photo Archives Spotlight: From Wooden Boats to Steel Hulls

(by Amy Croft and M. Crawford, Project Archivists)

Two newly processed collections at San Francisco Maritime represent the diverse talents of Northern California residents. From designing commercial vessels to building wooden boats by hand, these creators reflect the difference in the scale of maritime craft and the different processes of building boats and ships.

Click for Collection Guide

William H. Grunwald photographs, circa 1960-1997. Collection No. P99-007 (SAFR 19671)

Aeolus Boats logo burned into wood.

(P99-007, Ser. 1, File 1, Item 1.1)

If your interests are in wooden boats and small craft and you don't know about Aeolus Boats in Davenport, California, you'll probably want to. The William H. Grunwald photographs (SAFR 19671, P99-007) come from the owner of Aeolus Boats and  builder of fine craft himself, and were recently processed and made available for research by the Historic Documents Department.

Bill at work in his boatshop.

(P99-007, Ser. 1, File 2, Item 18.3)

Over the course of his 40 year career building boats, Bill Grunwald, became a prominent and established boat builder in Northern California. Born in Seattle and raised in Alameda, Grunwald bought a barn in Davenport and began Aeolus Boats in the 1950s. He first built sailboats; later concentrating his efforts on custom boats. He used about 26 designs for rowing boats, punts, dories, and yacht tenders.

The photos date from around 1960 to 1997 and depict mainly boats built by Grunwald. They are shown being constructed, out and about on various San Francisco Bay Area waters, and they are often occupied or surrounded by people enjoying themselves. Awaiting your discovery are photographs from photo essays, prospective and satisfied customers, as well as Grunwald's personal collection, making up three photo albums and 124 loose photoprints. Take a look to view the construction of the boat hulls, the boat shop itself, and a master at work (and sometimes at leisure.)

Grunwald’s shop with his boats under construction. (P99-007, Ser. 1, File 3, Item 3.2)

Click for Collection Guide

L. Christian Norgaard photographs, circa 1954-1985. Collection No. P95-035 (SAFR 22581) 

Norgaard, upper left, celebrates
delivery of Mokuhana.
(P95-035, Ser 1, File 1, Item 4.1)

These photographs are from the prodigious work of local naval architect and marine engineer, "Chris" Norgaard. Chris was a longtime resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, California. His career spanned from the design of small craft and large cargo vessels to the design of replicas and historic ship renovations. He was responsible for the design of over 400 vessels seen from Los Angeles, California, to the fisheries and canneries of Alaska. He designed the cargo vessels Mokuhana and Komoku for Bay and River Navigation Company to transport sugar from the C & H Sugar Refinery at Crockett, California, to distribution points across San Francisco Bay including C & H’s headquarters at the city’s now historic landmark Pier One. Norgaard is perhaps best known for his designs of the replica of Sir Francis Drake's flagship Golden Hinde, Western Pacific's train ferry Las Plumas and the Red and White Fleet of sightseeing boats on San Francisco Bay during the fifties, sixties and seventies. He also worked on restorations of famous vessels, such as President Roosevelt's yacht Potomac.

Girl inside of kort nozzle on unidentified tug.
(P95-035, Ser 1, File 3, Item 2.26)

Notably, Norgaard was responsible for numerous maritime engineering innovations, such as the adoption, development and design of the "Kort Nozzle" on U.S. West Coast vessels.  He also authored and compiled a number of technical papers and books, including Golden Hinde II: A Galleon, c1570 (1974).

The collection holds 15 photo albums, loose photographs, and loose album pages (2.4 linear feet) documenting tugboats, cargo, passenger, public, and fishing vessels that he worked on from the 1950s to the 1970s. Many photographs depict the construction and christening of new vessels as well as exterior views of vessels at work. In addition, you will find Norgaard’s personal papers and over 1,300 vessel plans in the Loring Christian Norgaard historic documents collection, HDC 1294.

Golden Hinde II
(P95-035, Ser 1, File 4, Item 1.2)

Make an appointment to take a closer look at the art of wooden boat building and ship design through these photographs -- some of them may document some vessels you may have seen with your own eyes cruising San Francisco Bay waters. Peruse the collection guides on the Online Archive of California to explore more on your own or contact our reference staff to guide you.