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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, July 8, 2021
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
SHIFTING SANDS
MEET BILL DODGE
I
n early July 1849, Capt. Francis Menes, at the helm
of the French bark L’etoile de Matin (The Morning
Star), arrived at the Columbia River Bar. He waited seven
days days for a bar pilot, but no one showed up. That’s
because the only local bar pilot had drowned in San Fran-
cisco Bay. Famed Capt. George Flavel wasn’t licensed
until 1851.
Menes crossed the bar on his own in 1847, so on July
11 he gave it another try. What he didn’t realize was that
the river carried vast quantities of sediment to its mouth,
which formed constantly shifting sandbars on the bar,
making maps useless.
The ship quickly ran aground in 16 feet of water. There
she sat for nine hours, pummeled by the heavy seas around
her. Lowering the lifeboats was a tragic fiasco; one man
drowned, and all of the lifeboats were lost. Eventually, the
keel and rudder broke off, and the ship — with the pumps
broken and everyone terrified, but still aboard — drifted
into Baker’s Bay.
Capt. Alexander Lattie Sr., a river pilot, arrived on the
scene and brought help. They spent 20 hours bailing and
pumping, and by constructing an emergency box rudder,
managed to take the ship safely to Portland.
The cargo, which belonged to Capt. Menes, was mostly
saved, and he opened a store in Oregon City. The ship did
not fare as well; the hull was sold, and later burned for
its iron and copper. (tinyurl.com/letoile-1, tinyurl.com/
letoile-3, tinyurl.com/letoile-4)
ODDLY OOXJAA
D
eb Syna and Dirk Morgan had a too-close encoun-
ter with “Ooxjaa,” a 17-year-old Bigg’s orca, in the
Puget Sound on June 29, the Orca Network reported on
Facebook.
They were sitting in their small boat, drifting, when
Ooxjaa approached from the stern, then sidled up to the
starboard side, pressing himself against the boat.
Then, he dove under them several times, rocking the
boat a bit, always coming back to the starboard side,
pushing and slowly spinning them — all the while wetly
snorting through his blowhole every few seconds. A
video of the incident is here: bit.ly/ooxjaa; screenshots
are shown.
Ooxjaa’s playful but scary behavior lasted 10 harrow-
ing minutes, during which the boaters wisely did not start
their engine. The Orca Network says the orca’s “unusual
behavior” is a mystery.
ROCKY RESCUE
A
L
ast week, this column mentioned that popular local art-
ist Bill W. Dodge would be exhibiting new or publicly
unexhibited fine art signed collector prints at the Angi D
Wildt Gallery, 106 10th St.,
along with his iconic Astoria
folk art. Better yet, Bill will
be at the gallery for the art
walk on Saturday to greet
one and all.
Did you know he was
first introduced to the Pacific
Northwest at that very same
location 30-plus years ago?
“It was at this address that
I decided to open one of the
first art galleries in Astoria,”
he told the Ear, “a decision
made by the ending of a four-
year romance with my California neighbor, who just hap-
pened to be Academy Award-winning film star Joan Fon-
taine — but that’s another story.
“I was introduced by two local artists, Diane Beeston
and Shirley Dahlsten, to the empty 10th Street space, and
opened The Bill W. Dodge Gallery. Shirley decided being a
gallery owner wasn’t what she wanted to do — she wanted
to spend her time at her easel. So, Diane Beeston and I
decided to move to a smaller space on Commercial Street,
where the little bakery is today.
“Then a friend of Diane’s approached us and offered
us an opportunity to design and open an over-the-river ice
cream shop/restaurant. It appeared in a small article in Sun-
set magazine.
“Its demise came when the entire Sixth Street wharf and
an adjoining restaurant burned totally. That disaster ended
both of our gallery ownership desires.”
Not owning a gallery didn’t keep Bill from his art. After
the fire, he continued painting in his Alderbrook cottage.
He moved to Portland for a while for a (thankfully) short-
lived retirement, then back to Warrenton.
And now, he’s happily un-retired, back home at his old
Astoria gallery, and looking forward to Saturday.
MIDNIGHT MISHAPS
Guadalupe fur seal, which is an endangered spe-
cies, was spotted entangled in some netting, and first
reported to the Seaside Aquarium on July 1. Someone
who meant well tried to free it, but the seal fled into the
ocean.
The seal was reported again on July 3. When the aquar-
ium staff arrived at Arch Cape, it had crawled onto an off-
shore rock, so they had to wait for the tide to change.
“Once the rock became accessible,” Tiffany Boothe
of the aquarium explained, “they were able to safely get
to the animal, capture it and place it in an animal carrier
for transport … to a licensed rehabilitation facility for a
full veterinary health assessment, disentanglement and
stabilization.”
Her photo of the seal is shown.
“… It is best to let trained responders deal with marine
mammal emergency situations,” Tiffany advised. “If you
see a marine mammal trapped in netting, the best thing you
can do for the animal is give it plenty of space, keep dogs
away and call the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding
Network at 866-767-6114.”
As for this little guy, “if all goes as planned” she added,
“the animal will be released back into the ocean once it is
healthy.”
KIND AND EMPATHETIC
F
or “The Goonies” fans, that remaining ray of hope
for a Goonies 2 sequel was crushed with the death of
91-year-old director Richard Donner on Monday. The
movie would not be made without him. He is pictured on
the set of “The Goonies,” courtesy of Warner Bros.
Donner was a man of “astounding generosity,” as Jeff
Cohen (inset, Chunk in “The Goonies”) explained to
Variety.
Most of the movie’s fans know that Cohen became a
prominent entertainment lawyer in Beverly Hills. What
many don’t know is that his legal career was made possible
by Donner and his wife offering to pay for his education.
“I was absolutely flabbergasted,” Cohen recalled. “I
was shocked. I had to sit down, because, for me, paying
for college was going to be a problem.
“That changed my life … They thought I could do
something. They thought I could make something of
myself. That is Dick Donner — being kind, being empa-
thetic, and not because he wanted anything in return.
“… The world is a darker place without him in it, but
his amazing films and his good works as a human being
will live on.”
RIP Richard Donner.
HEED CAPT. TRIMMER
SAIL ON
O
F
un rerun: For maritime instruction, a dandy tome
is “How to Avoid Huge Ships,” by Capt. John W.
Trimmer.
Nonsensically, on Amazon.com, new copies cost
$165.99; used are $199.69. Pictured, the book’s
cover and a reader’s illustration of an imaginary
diagram.
The book, which is actually a serious primer on how
pleasure boaters can avoid being flattened by a huge
ship, set off a cackle-fest of over 1,400 snarky reviews.
Some examples:
“Given that there is a huge ship bearing down on me
RIGHT NOW I am extremely disappointed that I can-
not get inst…”
“I found ‘Chapter 3: Relocate to Arizona’ particularly
helpful.”
“I’m very much scared of ships. I live over 100
miles inland and at 6,000 feet elevation, but one can
never be too careful!” (Verified purchaser) (In One Ear,
2/22/2013)
n July 8, 1885, The Daily Astorian reported a mid-
night blaze. The mishaps that followed could easily
have turned the fire into a repeat of conflagration that swept
the city’s waterfront in 1883.
At 11:30 p.m July 7, a flame was spotted shooting up from
the roof of H. Brown’s saloon, across the wharf from the Point
Adams cannery in Upper Astoria. The fire bell rang out.
No. 2’s hose cart, while dashing toward the fire, broke
down going up a hill. Then, the first fire engine, also racing,
took a corner at a tilt, badly injuring a fireman riding along.
No. 2’s engine rushed out next, right behind the second
hose cart, which suddenly jumped off the road and flew into
a gulch near Point Adams Co. A cart occupant was tossed
out onto an enormous stump, then the cart crashed into the
stump, and tipped over.
Thought to be dead when he was carried to the bank,
when the man gained consciousness, he only complained of
pain in his shoulder. In the same incident, two others were
injured, including the mayor.
No. 2’s engine made it to the fire, but … the pumps
wouldn’t work. By then, the saloon was an inferno, and
flames had engulfed the surrounding buildings.
At least 1,000 local men helped the fire department untangle
the cart hose and pull it out of the gulch, prevent the fire from
spreading and fight the fire, which was declared out at 2:30 a.m.
In the aftermath, only four small buildings were lost. The
unfortunate saloon owner, who was intoxicated when the fire
broke out, was carried out suffering from horrific burns, and
was not expected to survive.
“It is necessary for everyone to be doubly careful about
fire,” the newspaper cautioned. “A five minutes’ start would
make a terrible blaze in any part of the city.”
Good advice, even now.
M
ichelin Research & Development and two Swiss
inventors have collaborated to come up with the
Wing Sail Mobility project, an “automated, telescopic,
inflatable wing sail system” for merchant ships and
pleasure craft.
Using sails will help ships reduce fuel consumption,
lowering carbon dioxide emissions and improving fuel
efficiency by up to 20% — depending on the type of
vessel, its route and, of course, the weather conditions.
The sail system can be used on most ships but is
deemed “especially suitable” for car and bulk carri-
ers, and oil and gas tankers. The system can be installed
as original equipment on new vessels or retrofitted on
older ones. Since the mast is retractable, ships using this
sail system can also easily enter harbors or go under
bridges.
The first sail system will be fitted on a merchant ship
in 2022. Once the trial phase is complete, Michelin
expects to go into production.