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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2018
CONTACT US
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
BELIEVE: IT’S POSSIBLE
n the North Coast, the oldest known shipwreck would be the
Beeswax Ship, lost sometime in the late 1600s, around 300-
plus years ago. LonelyPlanet.com reports that a 2,400-year-old
shipwreck has been found, lying in more than 6,500 feet of water,
during a mapping project of the Black Sea (bit.ly/2400wreck).
The 75-foot Greek trading vessel is believed to be the world’s
oldest shipwreck, and is pictured, courtesy of Black Sea MAP/
EEF Expeditions (blackseamap.com).
“A ship, surviving intact, from the Classical world, lying in
over 2 kilometers of water, is something I would never have
believed possible,” Professor Jon Adams of Black Sea MAP said.
“This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafar-
ing in the ancient world.”
O
BLUBBERY BLAST
est we forget this sterling moment in Oregon’s history, Mon-
day was the 48th anniversary of the exploding whale fiasco.
Everything you didn’t want to know about the infamous event
can be found at theexplodingwhale.com
In a nutshell: On Nov. 12, 1970, Paul Linnman of KATU was
on the beach near Florence to film the disposition of an extremely
odiferous 48-foot 8-ton decomposing gray whale. Unfortunately,
nobody could remember how such things were dealt with before.
After much thought, the decision was made to blow up the
offending object with half a ton of dynamite placed on the lee-
ward side of Mr. Whale, in the hopes that everything would be
blown out to sea. At least that was the hope of George Thornton
of the Oregon Department of Transportation Highway Division,
who was in charge of the project.
For safety, the spectators were moved back a quarter of a mile
from the carcass. The explosion was spectacular, as was the fall-
out, which did not head toward the ocean at all. The explosion
is shown, courtesy of a KATU video (bit.ly/boobblub). You can
actually hear pieces of blubber pelting the ground.
No one was hurt, but the roof of Walter Umenhofer’s brand
new Oldsmobile was crushed by a catapulting whale slab. What
was left of the whale was quietly buried.
“The blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds,”
Linnman said, and that about says it all.
L
HE CHOSE KINDNESS
little feel-good gem, brought to the Ear’s attention by Judith
Niland:
“This is what being human is,” Angelsea Keim posted on
Facebook Nov. 7, describing her photo, which is shown. “This
gentleman is picking an older woman up who missed the last bus
in Astoria on this chilly November evening. I overheard him tell
her he had called ahead, and had the bus waiting for her in War-
renton, and planned to drive her to meet them in his personal car.
“They didn’t know each other, there was no one around, no
one to notice. He didn’t need to help her. He could have easily
turned his back, ignoring her, as she stood alone out on the curb
waiting for a bus that would never come. He could have just gone
home … but he chose kindness.
A few minutes of your life in service to another, choosing
compassion and kindness, when it may be easier not to — to
me, this is what being human is. #bekind … #actsofservice …
#truehumanityisaliveandwell”
A
LOCAL BREVITIES
rom the Saturday, Nov. 16, 1889 edition of The Daily
Morning Astorian:
• The Oregonian is the authority for the statement that
Jim Turk, having seen the error of his ways, is going to
not only turn over a new leaf, but throw the old book away
altogether, and keep “a mechanic’s and workingman’s
hotel,” in Portland.
Note: James Turk was a famous crimp (shanghaier) in
both Portland and Astoria. He had a seaman’s boarding
house in both cities, the easier to drug and snatch unsus-
pecting sailors to work at sea for almost nothing. In Asto-
ria, the boarding house was on the south side of Com-
mercial, between 15th and 16th streets. Theoretically, he
retired in 1889-ish, and his sons took over the shanghai
business. (bit.ly/JTurk01, bit.ly/JTurk02)
• “Gimme an Astorian,” said a man, rushing hastily in
yesterday morning. “There’s a friend of mine back in the
settlements that’s always sending me little slips cut from
newspapers back there, telling about what they think are
big vegetables … I want to send him a copy of this morn-
ing’s paper with an account of that 36-pound beet …”
Note: At first the Ear thought this was some bizarre
Victorian joke. Nope. A little research revealed the world’s
heaviest beetroot to date came in at 51 pounds, 9.4 ounces
in 2001. (bit.ly/maxbeet)
• Well, the regular fall crop is showing up in great shape.
The man with the big potatoes, the man with the Nehalem
coal, the man with the boss beet, the man that shot a white
deer over in Ilwaco, … the first lobster caught at Gray’s
Harbor, and several other ictas are on time.
Note: As far as the Ear can tell, the word icta is proba-
bly from the Chinook language, meaning “what” or “what
is it?” (bit.ly/ChinookDict). The lobster item proved inter-
esting, as in the late 1800s, there was an attempt to trans-
plant East Coast lobsters to the Washington Coast waters.
Some were seen in Port Townsend and Shoalwater Bay,
and two were spotted in Gray’s Harbor in 1890, so the
transplantation was deemed “successful.” It just depends
on your definition of successful. (bit.ly/WAlobsta)
F
IT’S LIDBERG, NOT LINDBERGH
THE TURKEY’S REVENGE
orth a rerun for turkey day: A cautionary tale for all and
sundry who tend to overeat at the Thanksgiving dinner
table (the Ear pleads guilty as charged): According to a story on
the Oregon State Archives Facebook page, 52-year old house-
wife Laura Ann Barker of Portland met an untimely end the
afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 30, 1947.
It was rumored that family members were told at the time that
the cause of her demise was “too much Thanksgiving.” Her
death certificate, part of which is shown, backs up the story. It
seems it was no coincidence that Thanksgiving Day was three
days earlier, although her husband, Dell D. Barker, lived to tell
the tale.
Mrs. Barker’s physician, who attended her at her home during
her final 48 hours, listed the immediate cause of death as “coro-
nary heart disease,” which lasted only half an hour. What’s nota-
ble is the contributory cause, “acute indigestion,” which lasted
two long, miserable days. (bit.ly/tooturkey)
W
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
nterested in UFOs? Michelle Gabrielli of St. Helens took six
videos of strange light(s) in the nighttime sky, between 2:56
and 4:15 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 12, and posted them on Facebook
at bit.ly/MGabrielli.
She mentions there are several lights, but the one that shows
predominantly is white … sometimes. At other times it explodes
in pulsing colors. (An enlarged screen shot is shown.) One min-
ute the light moves slowly, the next it zips erratically around in
the sky. Either way, it’s fascinating to watch. KOIN News 6 was
even interested enough to do a story (bit.ly/koinMG).
On one video, after a particularly colorful display, Michelle
asked “My God, what is that?” Good question, and one with no
answer. Yet.
I
A WHALE OF A CATCH
ur son Aaron Delano-Johnson, who is study-
ing in Boston, came across this painting of
Charles Lidberg’s who was born in Astoria, Oregon
in 1902,” Ed Johnson wrote. The painting, which is
unnamed, is shown, and is selling for $850.
Google Search keeps mistaking the artist for the
famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh, but even so, there
were still a few nuggets to glean.
Although Charles Clarence Lidberg was, indeed,
born in Astoria, at 9 years old he was sent to live in an
orphanage in Portland. A high school teacher helped pay
for him to go to the University of Oregon, where Lid-
berg earned a scholarship to the Fontainebleu School
of Fine Arts, not far from Paris. He boarded a ship and
headed to France in the late 1920s.
Living in Paris while attending school, he became
a freelance artist and met and married Dorothy Har-
kins, a piano student. They stayed in Paris for two
years, then moved to New York City. She taught piano,
and he tinted photos for a photographer and went door-
to-door selling pastel portraits for $5 each (about $73
now), which kept them going during the Depression. He
had his first art exhibit in Cambridge, Massachusetts in
1934, and the couple moved to Boston in 1935.
His work caught on, and he received commissions
to paint portraits of politicians and celebrities, including
two Boston Red Sox baseball players. A 76-inch high
portrait of left-fielder Ted Williams, and one that’s 79
inches high of first baseman Harry Agganis, still hang
in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New
York.
Lidberg was also known for his paintings of histor-
ical sites, landscapes and seascapes around Massachu-
setts. He died in 1972. (bit.ly/CLidberg)
“I don’t know if anyone knows who this was,” Ed
noted, “or has a connection to him, or would possibly
want to purchase it.” But you never know.
“O
ost won’t ever see this in a lifetime,” fisherman Jesse
Anderson posted about the photo shown, and he’s prob-
ably right. The bones were found while he was on the F/V Ocean
Beaut off the coast of Washington, about six hours north of the
Columbia River. He speculated they were part of a whale’s skull.
It was Ask the Expert time, so the Ear emailed G. Renee Alb-
ertson at the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Cetacean
Conservation and Genomics Laboratory at Oregon State Univer-
sity’s Marine Mammal Institute in Newport.
“I think it is the caudal region of a baleen whale spine (ver-
tebrae), but may be the caudal region of the skull,” she initially
replied, but wanted to confer with a colleague to be certain.
“Yes indeed, the back/top of the skull,” she confirmed after
speaking with Jim Sumich at the Hatfield Marine Science Cen-
ter. “There is also part of the brain space — the beginning of one
side, so we can tell it is indeed this part of the skull. It looks big-
ger than a gray whale, which would be our local. Probably a fin
or humpback whale.”
“And no, didn’t keep it,” Jesse reported. “800 pounds!”
“M
COMMUNITY NOTES
SATURDAY
Sit & Stitch — 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
Homespun Quilts & Yarn, 108 10th
St. Bring knitting, crochet or other
projects to this community stitching
time. All skill levels welcome.
Columbia Northwestern Mod-
el Railroading Club — 1 p.m., in
Hammond. Group runs trains on
HO-scale layout. For information,
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.
Cannon Beach American Le-
gion Women’s Auxiliary Break-
fast — 9 to 11:30 a.m., American
Legion, 1216 S. Hemlock St., Can-
non Beach.
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 Christina Leon-
ard at 503-298-3936.
See NOTES, Page 4B