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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 2018
CONTACT US
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
THE TRIALS OF MISS HELEN
ust in time for Shark Week: Drama for Miss Helen, a 16-inch-
long gray horn shark, who was sharknapped from the San
Antonio (Texas) Aquarium, AP reports. She is pictured, courtesy
of the aquarium.
Snatched from her tank by two men, she was unceremoniously
plopped into a bucket, then a baby stroller, and wheeled right out
the door. However, the piscine pilferers were soon tracked down,
and Miss Helen was safely retrieved.
“She is back home, where she belongs!” the aquarium posted
on Facebook. “Sharknapping: Unsuccessful!”
J
TICKET SHOCK
ony Beck of Kennewick, Washington (pictured), was
on vacation in Seaside when he bought a Keno ticket at
Dundee’s Bar & Grill. He was shocked when he found out it
was a $76,000 winner, according to a press release from the Ore-
gon Lottery. “Honestly, I haven’t played Oregon Lottery Keno,”
Beck said, “and I wasn’t even sure how to play.”
Neil Dundas, who owns Dundee’s along with his wife, Sta-
cey (both are also pictured), was just as surprised. “We’ve been
open since 2002,” he said, “and have never sold a Lottery ticket
with a prize this large. … We usually see $1,600 or $1,800 wins
on Video Lottery, but never anything like this.”
Beck knows just what to do with his winnings. “With the kids
I have in college and diapers, it will get soaked up,” he added,
laughing.
T
HISTORY NUGGET
on Foss found an intriguing object on the Asto-
ria waterfront somewhere between Sixth Street and
the Astoria Bridge. A photo of it is shown. It looks like a
handmade brick with lava on it. A friend of Ron’s says
the “lava” is melted asphalt. And maybe it is.
After some puzzling, it seemed the most likely answer
is that it is rubble from a structure that was destroyed in
one Astoria’s notorious fires. But which one? A consulta-
tion with Liisa Penner, archivist at the Clatsop County
Historical Society, was in order.
Liisa thinks the brick probably wasn’t from the 1883
fire, since it raged mostly from 13th to 17th streets along the
waterfront. And, it wasn’t likely the 1922 fire, either, since
that one stopped at Eighth Street. But it could well have
been from Astoria’s 1877 fire, which burned several blocks
around Fifth and Astor streets, up to about Eighth Street.
It’s a safe bet most people don’t even realize there was a
fire that year, but most people aren’t historians. Liisa found
an article in a June 1877 Weekly Astorian that revealed
the “first fire of consequence in Astoria” started under Mr.
Borglund’s ’49 Saloon on Astor Street.
He thought he could put it out with one bucketful of
water, but no bucket was handy. He dashed off and grabbed
an iron pot and filled it with water from a tub, but spilled
the water on his way back to the fire. By then it was too
late, anyway; the blaze was already spreading rapidly.
A citizen bucket brigade and the Astoria Fire Depart-
ment’s old hand engine brought the fire under control, but
it had already caused a considerable amount of damage
— $20,000 to $30,000 then, about $480,000 to $720,000
now. “But for that fire engine that has been condemned and
offered for sale,” the article said, “Astoria might now pos-
sibly be in ashes.”
And there you have it. Another little almost-forgotten
Astoria history nugget, thanks to Liisa Penner.
R
YOU NEVER KNOW
TIDBITS FROM 1883
hen last heard from, Astoria’s wayward sailor/Kon-
Tiki drifter Rimas Meleshyus (pictured, left), after
being missing for two months, was rescued from almost
certain death in the South China sea in February by some
Vietnamese commercial fishermen.
His sailboat, the Mimsy, was wrecked, grounded on
a reef. He was out of water, almost out of food and very
weak. The fishermen brought him aboard and took turns
nursing him while they finished fishing. Upon his return to
shore, Rimas was welcomed by cheering locals, and was
both happy and grateful. And giving interviews, of course.
But then … nothing. What happened? The normally
garrulous Rimas fell silent after his last Facebook post on
March 11. Then, about a month ago, unsettling reports that
he had been detained in Danang because his visa expired
concerned his many Facebook followers. Was he in jail?
Was he OK?
Recently, out of the blue, former Seasider Dena Mat-
tox Rush (also pictured) — a missing persons advocate
who tried to get Rimas help the last time he was missing
at sea — got a Facebook message from Karlo, a volun-
teer worker in Danang. He heard that Dena was looking
for Rimas, and he found him at the Danang Social Support
Center, which is essentially a homeless shelter.
Thanks to Karlo, Dena had a chance to talk to Rimas via
Facebook Messenger, and she could see for herself that he
seems well and safe. He is even being given his preferred
vegetarian diet. Even so, Rimas wants outta there, pronto,
to get back home to the U.S. — which means he needs
to somehow round up a nice chunk of change for travel
expenses and visa renewal.
Will Rimas make it back to America? Will he be able
to use his considerable powers of persuasion to convince
someone to donate yet another sailboat (he’s gone through
three already) so he can continue his solo sailing/drifting
around-the-world journey? You never know, with Rimas.
Stay tuned.
W
rom the Friday, Aug. 3, 1883 issue of The Daily Astorian:
• The West Shore for July is on our table. Those of our cit-
izens who purchased the admirable June number with its wealth
of illustrations of local interest will want this companion num-
ber which has some charming portrayals of our coast scenery …
Note: The illustrations (a section of one is shown) are of a time
before the devastating Astoria fire in December that year. The full
issues of The West Shore mentioned are available online: June at
bit.ly/WS061883, and July at bit.ly/WS071883. The images are
at bit.ly/WS1883big.
• The fastest passage ever made from Rio De Janeiro to San
Francisco was by the American clipper ship Wizard, Captain
Slade, in 1858, in 59 days. This has never been beaten before or
since …
Note: Well, not really. Wizard, an “extreme” clipper ship, was
shipbuilder Samuel Hall’s “masterpiece” in 1853, when clipper
ships were breaking records on every ocean. There appears to be
some confusion about the captain’s name, however: the original
owner was Oliver Slate, the first skipper was Capt. Salde, then
later there was a Captain Slade and possibly a Captain Slate.
A detailed log of the ship’s voyages makes no mention of this
particular Rio voyage in 1858. However, a 1936 book “Clipper
ships of America and Great Britain, 1833-1869” says the Wiz-
ard’s unbeaten run actually occurred in October 1855 (possibly
1884) from New York to Singapore in 78 days. Sadly, she was
wrecked in the English Channel in 1874. (bit.ly/clipwiz1, bit.ly/
clipwiz2)
F
THE LONGEST SWIM
nother solo ocean traveler is making the news lately.
French-American Ben Lecomte, 51, is attempting “The
Longest Swim,” a 5,500-mile six-month swim across the Pacific
Ocean from Tokyo to San Francisco. For support, he’s being
accompanied by a 67-foot yacht with a crew of six. A photo of
him from his Facebook page is shown (bit.ly/benswim).
The journey is also a “citizen science expedition,” he says,
to perform oceanic and medical research. “The ocean is in peril
right now,” Lecomte told Seeker.com. “It has never been done to
collect data from one end of the ocean to the other.” You can fol-
low their progress at benlecomte.com
Lecomte is no stranger to brutal ocean swims. In 1998, when
he swam across the Atlantic to support cancer research, he was
followed by a shark for five days and repeatedly stung by jelly-
fish. Even so, he made it in 73 days.
This crossing isn’t going smoothly, either. “A life-threatening
typhoon has hit my swim across the Pacific Ocean,” he posted on
Facebook this week, and the swim has been suspended for now.
“But,” he added, “I am remaining as committed as ever to con-
tinue this epic journey.”
A
THAT MOMENT
arol Johansen pulled into Battery Russell at Fort Stevens
State Park, and didn’t even notice there was a large photo-
graph on display out front. “Imagine my surprise to open passen-
ger door and to be greeted by a picture of my own father, Arthur
S. Johansen,” Carol wrote. “Literally right there. What were the
chances? And it was a picture I had never seen before. … Some-
times I still tear up when I think of that moment.” The photo is
inset; her father is on the left.
“I’m sure the picture was placed there because it was just out-
side the ‘plotting room,’ where the photo was taken.” As it so
happened, filmmaker Ron Walker was there — working on a
documentary about the shelling of Fort Stevens — when she had
her “moment,” so he took her into the plotting room for a photo.
“The picture of me standing (and crying!),” she noted, “was
taken in the exact same spot where (my father) had been sitting.”
“Before we left, the videographer asked me to stand by the pic-
ture and point out my Dad with my finger,” Carol added, “which I
did. More tears, then!”
C
‘IT IS A LOVELY BOAT’
ne of the few postcards mailed from the Titanic went up
for auction July 18 at Warwick & Warwick Auctioneers
in England, and was expected to fetch at least £20,000 (about
$26,350) tinyurl.com/postTitan.
The postcard (pictured, courtesy of Warwick & Warwick)
was mailed by maid Sarah Daniels to her friend, Ellen “Nell”
Green. “I wish you were here, it is a lovely boat & it would do
you good,” she wrote. “Am just going on deck.” Ralph “John”
Wilkes, and his brother, Stephen, submitted the item for auction;
Ellen Green was their grandmother’s cousin.
The card didn’t sell July 18, but a private collector bought it July
23 for £8,600 (about $11, 275), according to The Warwick Courier
(http://bit.ly/sarahcard) — less than half of its original estimated value.
Incidentally, Sarah Daniels was a Titanic survivor, along with
pregnant Madeline Astor, wife of John Jacob Astor IV. He was
not as fortunate, and went down with the ship.
O
COMMUNITY NOTES
SATURDAY
Angora Hiking Club — 9 a.m.,
Sixth Street parking lot. Oyster-
ville, Washington hike. Member-
ship is not required to participate.
For information, call Bill Herold at
503-468-0474 or 425-737-3976,
or go to angorahikingclub.org
Sit & Stitch — 11 a.m. to 1
p.m., Homespun Quilts & Yarn,
108 10th St. Bring knitting, crochet
or other needlework projects to
this community stitching time. All
skill levels welcome.
Detachment 1228 Marine
Corps League — noon, El Com-
padre, 119 Main Ave., Warrenton.
For information, contact Lou Neu-
becker at 503-717-0153.
Columbia
Northwestern
Model Railroading Club — 1
p.m., in Hammond. Group runs
trains on HO-scale layout. For in-
formation, call Don Carter at 503-
325-0757.
Spinning Circle — 1 to 3 p.m.,
Astoria Fiber Arts Academy, 1296
Duane St. Bring a spinning wheel.
For information, call 503-325-5598
or go to astoriafiberarts.com
SUNDAY
Seniors Breakfast — 9 a.m.
to noon, Astoria Moose Lodge, 420
17th St. Cooked to order from
menu, includes coffee. Cost is $5
for seniors 62 and older, $7.50 for
those younger than 62. Breakfasts
are open to the public. Proceeds af-
ter expenses help support local and
other charities.
Line Dancing — 5:30 to 8 p.m.,
Seaside American Legion, 1315
Broadway. For information, call
503-738-5111. No cost; suggested
$5 tip to the instructor.
MONDAY
Chair Exercises for Seniors
— 9 to 9:45 a.m., Astoria Senior
Center, 1111 Exchange St. For in-
formation, call 503-325-3231.
Scandinavian Workshop —
10 a.m., First Lutheran Church, 725
33rd St. Needlework, hardanger,
knitting, crocheting, embroidery
and quilting. All are welcome. For
information, call 503-325-1364 or
503-325-7960.
Grace and Encouragement
for Moms — 10 to 11:30 a.m.,
Crossroads Community Church,
40618 Old Highway 30, Svensen.
GEMS group is a time for moms to
relax and enjoy each others’ com-
pany. Free childcare is provided.
For information, call Rachael Bid-
dlecome at 503-458-6103.
Senior Lunch — 11:30 a.m.,
Bob Chisholm Senior Center, 1225
Avenue A, Seaside. Suggested do-
nation $3 for those older than 60;
$6.75 for those younger than 60.
For information, call Suzanne Bja-
ranson at 503-861-4202.
See NOTES, Page 6B