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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, ApRIL 12, 2019
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
MAKE A DAY OF IT
A PLACE OF HONOR
pril 15 is not just tax day, it’s National Tax Day.
To commemorate that dreaded day, the Boston Tea
Party is pictured.
It should also be noted that — perhaps not coinciden-
tally — Monday is also National Rubber Eraser Day,
National Take A Wild Guess Day and National Titanic
Remembrance Day. If you get hungry, it’s also National
Glazed Spiral Ham Day.
If you’re wondering how tax day became April 15, it
didn’t actually happen until 1955. For years before that,
it was March 1. The date was moved to supposedly make
things easier for taxpayers — and give them more time
to wring their hands — since the tax laws had become
increasingly arcane and convoluted. How thoughtful. (bit.
ly/taxmax1, bit.ly/maxtax2)
recently read with interest news articles about the
memorial service for Gordon Huggins (pictured,
inset, by Lee LaFollette), retired Coast Guard
member and sole survivor of the Triumph disaster,” Ron
Spahman of Kelso, Washington, wrote.
“I remember that stormy night long ago, Jan. 12, 1961.
I was a young boy living in a beach house in Seaview,
Washington. My mother and I were leaning out an upstairs
window looking out at the ocean in the darkness. The wind
was howling through the trees, and military planes were
flying out over the ocean dropping ominous red aerial
flares. We knew something serious was happening (and)
the next morning we sadly heard of all the men and boats
lost that night.”
The lifeboat Triumph (pictured), sent out to rescue the
fishing vessel Mermaid on the Columbia River bar, cap-
sized, killing five of the six aboard. Two were lost from
the Mermaid.
“Later that morning, I went down to the ocean. On the
beach, just south of the Seaview beach approach, floating
in a crab hole, was a long wood boat pike pole. The boat
pole, which had one end snapped off, had intricate naval
rope work on it. I knew it was off one of the Coast Guard
boats. I took it home and it was in my garage for over 35
years.
“One day a friend of mine said he knew a Clark County
deputy, Gordon Huggins … of the Triumph. I told my
friend the story of finding the boat pole on the beach, and
he conveyed that story to Gordon.
“I met Gordon the next week, and when I opened the
trunk of my car and he looked at the pole, he had a look of
amazement on his face. He said, ‘That is the boat pole off
my boat!’ He said he knew the man who did the rope work
on it … and I gave it to him.
“Years later, while visiting the Columbia River Mar-
itime Museum, I saw the pole hanging on the wall at the
Triumph exhibit. It’s fitting it’s in a place of honor.”
A
A BETTER CHANCE
ust in time for the 107th anniversary of the sink-
ing of the Titanic on April 15, auctioneers Henry
Aldridge & Son in England have announced the sale
of a silver brandy flask that belonged to one of the ship’s
American first-class passengers, Helen Churchill Can-
dee, an author and women’s right pioneer.
The flask was a family heirloom, and is engraved with
the Churchill coat of arms. When the Titanic was going
down, she handed the flask to her friend, Edward Kent,
another first-class passenger, and said, “You stand a better
chance of living than I.” Not true, as it turned out, as she
survived the sinking, and was rescued.
When Kent’s body was recovered and returned to his
wife, the flask and a miniature portrait of Candee were
with it. About a month after the ship went down, his sis-
ter, Charlotte, sent the miniature and flask (which had been
badly dented in the disaster) back to the author. “I am so
glad you are to have them both again,” Charlotte wrote.
Both items are shown, courtesy of Henry Aldridge & Son.
The auction takes place on April 27. The lot — which
includes the flask, letter and miniature portrait — is
expected to fetch from $66,000 to $105,000.
J
FINDERS KEEPERS
n browsing through the Long Beach Peninsula Friends
of Facebook page recently, it seemed as though there
were an unusual number of glass fishing floats turning
up. But where did they come from?
An article in the weekly South Beach Bulletin in West-
port, Washington, explains it all (bit.ly/floatsgone). As part
of the 57th annual Grayland Driftwood Show, which
was April 6 and 7, 450 glass floats with numbers etched in
them, initially collected after the tsunami, were set loose
along the coast in late March/early April. Famed oceanog-
rapher Curt Ebbesmeyer (flotsametrics.com) even helped
plan the timing and release strategy.
If, by chance, you find one, please report where and
when you found it to the Westport Maritime Museum, as
they’d like to know. Don’t worry, though, it’s still finders
keepers.
I
‘I
TITANIC HEADLINES
he front page of The Morning Oregonian on
April 16, 1912, was full of stories about the demise
of the “unsinkable” Titanic the day before, after
hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic on her maiden voy-
age. (You can read the articles at bit.ly/TMOtitan).
One headline, “Wireless flashes tragedy to world,”
brings up an interesting point. If it were not for the ship’s
telegraph operator reaching out with a CQD distress call,
it’s likely no one would ever have known what happened
to the Titanic. It would have just disappeared.
Fortunately, by an act of Congress in 1910, all
ocean-going vessels with more than 50 passengers aboard
were required to have wireless transmission. Too bad they
didn’t enact rules about the number of lifeboats required at
the same time.
Another headline pondered all of the wealthy world
travelers, mostly men, who boarded the Titanic: “Seven
on ship have wealth $420 millions.” The richest by far
was Col. John Jacob Astor IV, great-grandson of Asto-
ria’s founder, who was estimated to be worth $150 million
(actually, he was worth $87 million, but who’s counting).
All seven millionaires perished.
As a historical footnote, one article, “Portland peo-
ple on doomed boat,” mentions there were believed to be
five passengers from the City of Roses aboard the Titanic,
among them Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Warren.
Actually, they were the only first class passengers from
Oregon on board. She survived; he did not. You can read
her harrowing tale at bit.ly/AnnaWarren
T
‘A JOURNEY IN OTHER WORLDS’
WHO, ME? RETIRE?
t’s well known that uber-wealthy John Jacob Astor
IV went down with the Titanic in 1912. What is less
known is, aside from being a businessman and inven-
tor (he had several patents), he was also the author of a
science fiction book, “A Journey in Other Worlds: A
Romance of the Future” (bit.ly/JJA4book), published in
1894.
PublicDomainReview.org says the book takes place
in the year 2000, where Astor speculates there will be a
worldwide telephone network, solar power and air travel.
Less on the mark is his description of Jupiter’s vast arc-
tic wasteland as a tropical bedlam crawling with cannibal
plants, vampire bats, huge snakes, etc. On a rather contem-
porary note, the planet is also loaded with scads of natu-
ral resources that are being exploited by (surprise!) greedy
Americans.
The book must have made some impression at the time
— even though you can read it for free online, several
book sellers offer it in both hardcover and softcover even
now, 125 years later.
I
L
ocal artist Bill W. Dodge, who just turned 86, is
definitely retirement age — but what’s he doing
instead?
“I’m making my first ever Second Saturday Art Walk
appearance this weekend at Luminari Arts, at 1133 Com-
mercial St.,” he said, “and expanding the distribution of
my fine art prints.”
For over a decade, the Columbia River Maritime
Museum has sold his work in its Museum Store. “The
museum will continue to exclusively represent my Asto-
ria, nautical and scenes of the local area,” he explained,
“but Luminari Arts is now representing my original paint-
ings.” The originals include his comical cat print series
and his warm-folksy Americana depictions.
“For this upcoming Art Walk, I will display a very lim-
ited number of prints dating back almost half a century,
recently discovered hidden away in my studio,” he noted.
“This collection includes the only one remaining copy of
a piece used to decorate the set of the soap opera ‘All My
Children,’ for which I provided art during a four-year
period in the l970s.”
The photo shown is from 2011, when the Silver Salmon
Grille was transformed into the soap’s Pine Valley Inn to
honor the last episode of the show. Bill is pictured with
Laurie Martin, who is holding a piece of hanging art used
for the permanent sets of the characters Cliff and Nina on
the show.
And, as if being in this new gallery wasn’t enough
extra work for the artist (who apparently doesn’t believe
in retirement), he is just wrapping up production of a line
of coffee mugs featuring a special Astoria design (inset)
which will be available in May.
Bill will greet Art Walk visitors to Luminari Arts
between 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, so why not go say hello?
DID YOU KNOW?
o wind things up, a few Titanic factoids are in order.
It took 2 hours and 40 minutes for the ship to sink,
and it might not have, at all, if there hadn’t been a
30-second delay in the ship’s communication system. By
the time the message about spotting the iceberg reached
the captain, it was too late to change course. (Shown, a
Willy Stöwer illustration.)
While it’s true the ship’s musicians played for hours and
went down with the ship, it’s also true that after the disas-
ter their families were billed for the uniforms the musi-
cians were wearing at the time.
And last, but surely not least, scientists believe the
Titanic was done in by an iceberg that started forming
around 1,000 B.C. (bit.ly/titanbits)
T
COMMUNITY NOTES
SATURDAY
Lower Columbia R/C
Society — 8:30 a.m., Buoy
9 Restaurant & Lounge, 996
Pacific Drive, Hammond. Local
Academy of Model Aeronau-
tics (AMA) chartered radio
control model aircraft club
meets for breakfast and busi-
ness. All model aircraft enthu-
siasts are welcome. For infor-
mation, call 503-458-5196 or
503-325-0608.
Angora Hiking Club —
9 a.m., parking lot between
Second and Third streets.
Ilwaco to Beard’s Hollow,
Washington, hike. Member-
ship is not required to par-
ticipate. For information, call
Arline LaMear at 503-338-6883
or go to angorahikingclub.org
Seaside Duplicate Bridge
— 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mary
Blake Playhouse, 1215 Broad-
way, Seaside. Come with a
partner or call ahead for one
at 503-791-9745.
Chinook Indian Nation
— 11 a.m., Rosburg Hall, 28
Rosburg Hall Road, Rosburg,
Washington. Monthly coun-
cil meeting, open to all tribal
members; attendees are
reminded to arrive on time
and bring a potluck item. Con-
tact the Tribal Office at 360-
875-6670 for questions.
Sit & Stitch — 11 a.m. to
1 p.m., Homespun Quilts &
Yarn, 108 10th St. Bring knit-
ting, crochet or other nee-
dlework projects to this com-
munity stitching time. All skill
levels welcome.
Men’s
Exploration
See Notes, page B3