Adventures of a Sea Hunter: In Search of Famous Shipwrecks

by James Delgado

  A forensic look at this intact wreck tells us even more. This ship sank suddenly, probably in a winter storm. Fresh water, driven by the wind, will quickly ice up decks, rigging and masts, weighing down a vessel. The position of the gaffs, boom and mast hoops suggests that the schooner was scudding along the lake on a storm-tossed crossing with very little sail set—“close reefed” in sailor parlance — and perhaps, in a gale or a snowstorm, with very little visibility. The location of the wreck, very close to shore, but turned away from it, suggests that the crew suddenly realized that they were driving onto shore. Not surprisingly, the rudder is angled sharply to starboard, literally stopped in time in the middle of an incomplete turn. Experienced mariners would turn about and head back out to deeper water, perhaps to drop anchor and ride out the storm. The anchors do look as if the crew was in the midst of trying to drop them when the ship sank. The davits for the ship’s boat are empty at the stern, indicating the boat may have been launched; but, in heavy seas, it was probably carried away. Then schooner slipped beneath the waves, leaving the sailors suddenly alone in the cold dark water, struggling until their thick clothing and heavy boots pulled them under.

  We don’t know the name of this ship or when she sank. Perhaps, based on our discoveries, researchers will ultimately learn what it is we found and perhaps just what happened. This wreck and its story will not rewrite history or enlarge our understanding of the past, but they serve to remind us that when we go into tombs, dig in the ground or dive into the sea, what we are really seeking is a connection to everyday people whose experiences and lives make up the rich fabric of history. That’s why we keep on exploring.

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  ARTICLES

  Belcher, George. “The U.S. Brig Somers: A Shipwreck from the Mexican War,” Underwater Archaeology Proceedings from the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, Reno, Nevada. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Society for Historical Archaeology, 1988.

  Delgado, James P. “No Longer a Buoyant Ship: Unearthing the Gold Rush Store ship Niantic,” California History 63:4 (winter 1979).

  ——. “What Becomes of the Old Ships? Dismantling the Gold Rush Fleet of San Francisco,” The Pacific Historian 25:4 (winter 1981).

  ——. “A Gold Rush Enterprise: Samuel Ward, Charles Mersch, Adolphe Maillard and the Niantic Store ship,” The Huntington Library Quarterly 44:4 (autumn 1983).

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  ——. “Recovering the Past of USS Arizona; Symbolism, Myth, and Reality,” Historical Archaeology 26:4 (1992).

  ——. “Operation Crossroads,” American History Illustrated 28:3 (May/June 1993).

  ——. “Rediscovering the Somers,” Naval History 8:2 (March/April 1994).

  ——. “The Brig Isabella: A Hudson’s Bay Company Shipwreck of 1830,” The American Neptune 55:4 (fall 1995).

  ——. “The Lure of the Deep,” Archeology 49:3 (May/June 1996).

  ——. “Bombshell at Bikini,” Naval History 10:4 (July/August 1996).

  ——. “The Bermuda Brig William and Ann: Fur Trading Pioneer on the Northwest Coast of America,” Bermuda Journal of Archaeology and Maritime History VIII (1996).

  ——. “Arctic Ghost,” Equinox, May 1997.

  ——. “Wreck Site of the U.S. Brig Somers,” in Mensun Bound, ed. Excavating of Ships of War. Ostwestry Shropshire, International Maritime Archaeology Series, Anthony Nelson, 1998.

  ——. “Underwater Archaeology at the Dawn of the 21st Century.” Historical Archaeology 34:4 (2000).

  ——. “Galvanic Ghosts,” Naval History 14:1 (February 2000).

  ——. “Diving on the Titanic,” Archaeology 54:1 (January/February 2001).

  ——. “The Gold-Rush Store Ship Niantic,” Maritime Life & Traditions 13 (spring 2002).

  ——. “Relics of the Kamikaze,” Archaeology 54:1 (January/February 2003).

  Eliot, John E. “Bikini’s Nuclear Graveyard,” National Geographic, June 1992.

  Erskine, Angus B., and Kjell-G. Kjaer. “The Arctic Ship Fox,” Polar Record 33, 185 (1997).

  Keenleyside, Anne, Margaret Bertulli and Henry C. Fricke. “The Final Days of the Franklin Expedition: New Skeletal Evidence,” Arctic 50:1 (March 1997).

  Lenihan, Daniel J. “The Arizona Revisited,” Natural History Magazine 100:11 (November 1991).

  ——. “Bikini Beneath the Waves,” American History Illustrated 28:3 (May/June 1993)

  Murphy, Larry. “Preservation at Pearl Harbor,” APT Bulletin 9:1 (1987).

  Nordby, Larry V. “Modeling Isabella: Behavioral Linkages Between Submerged and Terrestrial Sites” in James P. Delgado, ed., Underwater Archaeology Proceedings from the Society for Historical Archaeology. Reno, Nevada: Society for Historical Archaeology, 1988.

  Pastron, Allen G., and James P. Delgado. “Archaeological Investigations of a Mid-19th Century Shipbreaking Yard, San Francisco, California,” Historical Archaeology 25:1 (1991).

  Solnit, Rebecca. “The Rifts That Unite Us,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 8, 2002.r />
  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  My dad taught me about life and how to value people for who they are, not what they are.

  Lynn Vermillion, the librarian at the California History Room at the San Jose Public Library, showed me the way to books and files from the first afternoon I asked my father to drop me off at the downtown library.

  Constance “Connie” Perham, founder and curator of the New Almaden Museum, took me in as a fifty-cent-per-hour assistant at age fourteen and taught me that collecting the past meant nothing unless you could share it with others and make it relevant and exciting for them.

  Ted Hinckley convinced my parents to send their precocious child not to the local community college but to university.

  Tom Mulhern and Gordon Chappell of the Western Regional Office of the National Park Service, with help from Roger Kelly and Robert Cox, taught me about nominating historical resources to the National Register of Historic Places and about cultural resources management.

  Allen Pastron let me join his crew at the bottom of a deep pit that had just reached the top of the hull of William Gray. That dig in 1979 lured me with the siren song of the sea, and the drama of a lost and buried ship now fills my archeologist’s soul. My work with Allen continues and remains my touchstone.

  Doug Nadeau, Golden Gate National Recreation Area’s first chief of the Division of Resource Management and Planning, was the best boss that I’ve ever had the privilege to work for.

  No-nonsense master diver Lawrence “Dutch” Bowen often said while training me, “There are bold divers, and there are old divers. There are no old bold divers.” Through the years, whenever I make some mistake underwater and nearly kill myself, Dutch’s basic training comes back to mind to save the day.

  Dan Lenihan and Larry Murphy of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center Unit taught me how to dive wrecks and how to “do” underwater archeology. Their philosophical discussions over the role of anthropology in underwater and maritime archeology, as well as a strong preservationist approach to saving wrecks from the ravages of treasure hunters, also formed a solid core in my education.