A7
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021
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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