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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2021)
A7 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021 CONTACT US ewilson@dailyastorian.com (971) 704-1718 COMMUNITY FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON SHE’S THERE TO HELP IMAGINE THAT BUDD’S DEBACLE ews from Astoria of the demise of the 818-ton iron ship Fernglen on Clatsop Spit on Oct. 16, 1881, made it all the way to The Evening Post in New Zealand. The ship is shown, courtesy of the State Library of Victoria. Capt. F. Budd’s account of the wreck showed he was woefully uninformed about navigating the North Coast. “I was puzzled with the lights,” he wrote. “I knew nothing of a light being on Til- lamook Rock (which opened Jan. 21, 1881), or the change of light color at Point Adams (also in 1881). I saw a red light where I expected to fi nd a red and white fl ash.” Mistakenly thinking he was just out- side the Columbia River Bar, he waited for a bar pilot. At 6 a.m., the ship ran hard aground in a strong tide. All of the sails were put up, but she wouldn’t budge. The ship “lay easy” at fi rst, but when they were still stuck the following morning, Budd fi red up the steam engine and started tossing ballast overboard. They kept at it for hours, only to dis- cover the ship was leaking. By 7 p.m., the wind was whipping up, and the Fern- glen was steadily taking on water. The next morning, in heavy seas, Capt. Budd launched the starboard lifeboat to abandon ship, but the life- boat was smashed when it washed back aboard. By 9 a.m. the Fernglen started to heel over, the remaining ballast shifted, and the masts rolled over into the water. By noon, the ship was in two pieces, and the anticipated bar pilot boat still hadn’t arrived. The captain and crew, desperate to save themselves, with great diffi culty managed to board the ship’s other life- boat. “We had but two oars,” Budd recalled, “and it kept four men busy bailing the boat suffi ciently to keep her afl oat.” Luckily, they were picked up by the crew of the tug Columbia. All hands were saved, but the Fernglen was a total loss. Not surprisingly, Budd was blamed for the debacle; his certifi cate was sus- pended for four months. (bit.ly/fern- glen1, bit.ly/fernglen2) N ou may know a familiar face from reading to chil- dren at Astor Elementary School, advocating for education at Astoria City Council meetings or knock- ing on your door to renew your Astoria Downtown His- toric District Association membership,” Jessamyn West posted on the association’s Facebook page. “I know her as the person who, when I see her take her glasses off and lean forward, I instantly feel better about the task at hand — no matter what it is, Patsy Oser is there to help.” “People like Patsy do things without expectation of rec- ognition — they are generous, driven and care about the place they live in. Well, this week the state took notice of everything Patsy does … and awarded her ” the Oregon Main Street “Volunteers on Main” award. “This is a huge deal, and I was crying as I watched her accept the honor — this woman who worked as a teacher in Chicago for decades, has served as ADHDA’s board president … and continues to devote her time to making Astoria a wonderful place to be,” Jessamyn continued. “I read to 22 classes a week for eight years, about 1,500 stories a year …” Patsy commented. “Astoria is a won- derfully welcoming place. My husband, David, and I are happy to be here. We are delighted to be so involved. We have made many wonderful friends.” “Patsy,” Jessamyn added, “ADHDA loves you, and thanks you for everything you do, and everything you are.” ‘Y A PROUD MOMENT autical writer Peter Marsh sent this gem in: Bet you didn’t know that there is a titled Norwegian residing at Scotland’s Edinburgh Zoo. His name is Nils Olav, and he just happens to be a king penguin. The bird, a mascot of King of Norway’s Guard, has worked his way up through many titles since his adoption in 1972. In 2008, he was knighted as Sir Nils Olav; this time around, he has been elevated in rank to Brigadier Sir Nils Olav, the zoo reports. In honor of the occasion, in August, more than 50 of King Harald V’s uniformed guard members stopped to visit the new brigadier (pictured, courtesy of the zoo), who paraded up the walkway to preside over an inspection. “It is a very proud moment,” Barbara Smith, of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said, “and rep- resents the close collaboration between our two countries, Scotland and Norway.” N OLDEST PIONEER? id you know there’s a secret detail about One Eyed Willy’s treasure map in “The Goonies,” accord- ing to Express.co.uk? Production designer Michael Riva handmade the map, but he wanted it to look old and tat- tered. But how? To achieve this eff ect, the story goes that he holed up in a hotel room for a day pouring coff ee on the map and smudging it. Then he got a brainstorm that it should be splattered with blood, but he had no red paint on hand. What to do? “So we actually had to cut our fi ngers and edge the sides of it with blood,” he explained. “You do these crazy things. You get so into it.” Director Richard Donner was impressed. “Imagine that inspiration and that creative push so early in life,” he marveled. So what happened to the map? In 2015, Sean Astin, who played Mikey in “The Goonies,” said he saved the original treasure map, and kept it in his room, Mysterious- Writings.com reports. But when he was off fi lming another movie, his mother, actress Patty Duke, sold the house, and the map went missing during the move … or, he speculated, perhaps his mother accidentally threw it away. Astin noted that if the map is out there somewhere, it might be worth $100,000. Imagine that. D IN SAM’S EYE ver wondered what it’s like to be inside a hurri- cane? The autonomous sailboat company Saildrone, on behalf of the National Oceanographic and Atmo- spheric Administration, sent their unmanned 23-foot SD 1045 drone (powered by wind and solar) into the eye of Hurricane Sam, where it successfully navigated through 50-foot waves and 120 mph winds. More importantly, for the fi rst time, the drone fi lmed the Atlantic Ocean storm’s action at sea in real time, Mar- itime-Executive.com reports. A still shot and a drone are shown, courtesy of Saildrone. “Using data collected by Saildrones, we expect to improve forecast models that predict rapid intensifi cation of hurricanes,” Greg Foltz of NOAA explained. “Rapid intensifi cation, when hurricane winds strengthen in a matter of hours, is a serious threat to coastal communi- ties. New data from Saildrones and other uncrewed sys- tems that NOAA is using will help us better predict the forces that drive hurricanes, and be able to warn commu- nities earlier.” E ISLAND SURPRISE WHAT IS THAT THING? tidbit found in an August 1887 edition of The Daily Morning Astorian: “The question is being discussed by the papers of the state as to who is the oldest pioneer,” J. J. Winant wrote to the editor, “and it appears to be settled that the honor belongs to Jean Baptiste Gargnier, who is now living at Siuslaw. “I had an opportunity of seeing the old gentleman very recently, and engaged in a long talk with him … I will merely say that the old gentleman’s mind seems to be very clear, and he is very positive about events, but seems to fail in remembering dates … “Some correspondents have fi xed the year of his arrival on this coast at 1824. Others say 1819. Now the old gentleman says positively that there was no settle- ment at Astoria and … no one but native Americans, and he came here and traded with them. This would fi x his arrival at a much earlier period, certainly as early as 1810.” “And, this would make him an older man than he thinks he is, as he claims to be in his 87th year. I am inclined to think that he is past 90 years of age, and that he came here very young. “I can hardly think that he can be mistaken about an event so important as the settlement of Astoria … I asked him repeatedly, and he positively asserted that there was no ‘Fort George’ or no settlement here when he came.” Note: Aside from this notice, there seems to be no written record of this gentleman, but Jean Baptiste was a common French name, and the last name is proba- bly spelled wrong. (Pictured, Fort George/Fort Astoria, painted in 1845 by Henry James Warre.) A he University of Copenhagen has made an unusual announcement: A tiny island, recently discovered by an arctic expedition, expands the Kingdom of Denmark and its territory, Greenland. The unnamed island, which researchers have declared is the most northerly on the earth, “consists primarily of small mounds of silt and gravel,” the announcement says. “It may be the result of a major storm that, with the help of the sea, gradually pushed material from the seabed together.” Approximately 100 by 200 feet in size, it reaches about 13 feet above sea level. The “short-lived islet” is pictured in a photo by expedition leader Morten Rasch. “No one knows how long it will remain,” Rasch noted. “In principle, it could vanish as soon as a powerful new storm hits.” T un rerun: Dave Kinney sent in the photo shown, along with a question: “I was wondering if you knew what that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion equipment is on the causeway on Pier 36?” It looks like one of those robots from a bad 1950s science fi ction movie. The Ear emailed Dave’s photo to Beverly Drury at the Point Adams Research Station in Hammond to see if she knew its purpose. Nope, she didn’t, but she said she’d pass the email around, and someone was bound to know the answer. The next day, Michelle Rub, a fi sheries biologist at the research station, called back. The equipment is actually a radio receiver; it only receives, and does not transmit. It is listening to and recording data from the radio tags on fi sh and sea lions — each one has its own individual tag — so NOAA can track them. And now you know. (In One Ear, 3/18/2016) F