The
Old Manse Inn was home to great captains throughout
the Colonial and Clipper Ship eras. They alternately
purchased the great estate, as time passed on, and they
raised sons here who later became great sea Captains
themselves.
Each
of them added new layers of history and romance to the
place. But, of them all, few could surpass the legend
of Josiah Knowles, son of the estate’s first sea
captain Winslow L. Knowles. |
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Indeed,
here is a summary of just one of his tales, as recorded in
his journals (which are now part of the University of California’s
historic document collection).
The
Big Crash
It began with a scream from the lookout, that announced the
great dread of all captains: “Breakers under our lee!”
The “Wild Wave” Clipper Ship, which Josiah Knowles
commanded, had begun a nightmare scenario, smashing its hull
into a coral reef somewhere in the vast Pacific. And the impact
was horrendous, snapping masts like matchsticks, and sending
copper bottom hull plates crashing down on the decks.
Within just five minutes, the ship was full of water, and
the sea was breaking over the hull.
Castaways
By morning the nightmare deepened. Josiah fixed their position
at Oeno Island, a spit of barrier land, that was so far out
of the shipping lanes, that it made rescue - and survival
- impossible.
But things soon went from bad to immeasurably worse. Torrential
rains, howling winds and lightening strikes, swept the island
on the first night, and carnivorous land crabs made their
way into the sailor’s sleeping blankets, to hack at
the crew’s flesh indiscriminately.
And so the hellish conditions continued for eight more days.
The only solace being a fragile canvas tent that the crew
managed to salvage from the “Wild Wave” before
it went down. A few also huddled under two of the tiny wooden
lifeboats that were also salvaged from the “Wild Wave”
clipper ship.
The
Pitcairn Disaster
Half starved, lost amid the endless swells of the Pacific,
and reduced to eating the leaves of scrub trees, it was enough
to break the spirit of most men.
But most men weren’t Josiah Knowles.
Setting out in one of the battered and fragile lifeboats,
he sailed out into the sea with six other members of the crew,
to take a stab at finding the legendary Pitcairn Island (rumored
to be the place where the descendents of the mutineers from
the H.M.S. Bounty lived on).
The first disaster happened when the wild surf, surrounding
the towering cliffs and mountains of the island, reduced the
lifeboat to kindling wood, and smashed the stock of the only
gun they had. And, while the island was home to bananas, breadfruit
and orange trees, the wild boars threatened them at every
turn - especially since they had no defense given the destruction
of their only weapon in the surf.
But the worst was yet to come.
After scaling the almost perpendicular cliffs of the Island,
they reached a plateau and their hearts sank. A few scattered
remnants of buildings remained, and a single carved sign announced
that the descendents of the mutiny aboard the Bounty were
once here all right, but that they had long since taken their
own chances and fled.
The
Power Of One
It was over then.
Or rather it would have been over, except for the determination
of one Sea Captain named Josiah Knowles.
His plan: to create a boat 30 feet in length, and four feet
in depth, with essentially no tools to work with and no nails.
An impossible fly spec of a boat, that would sail the endless
vastness of the Pacific in search of a ship, or a harbor,
where rescue could be found.
Leading the project, he had his men somehow create planks
and beams using dulled axes, and he conjured up the idea of
burning down the dilapidated buildings, where he had his men
sift through the ashes to find usable nails. Finally, after
nearly five months of work, and another idea - of finding
small, windblown pieces of canvas on the island which were
later patch-worked into a sail - Josiah Knowles and two other
crew members sailed beyond Pitcairn Island’s surf…
to God knew where. (Note: Three other crew members refused
to go, preferring being marooned on the island to their doubts
about the seaworthiness of the boat they had built).
Mission
Impossible
Maybe those that stayed behind were right. As the journey
started, the ship began spinning on an odd corkscrew configuration,
and the seasickness experienced by the men became almost unendurable.
Then came an even greater terror - the only islands they came
across were not only uninhabited, but uncharted as well.
The answer then?
For Captain Josiah Knowles it was simple, really. Try to reach
the Sandwich Islands THREE THOUSAND NAUTICAL MILES AWAY!
Divine
Intervention?
It must have been. Because after nearly half a month at sea,
the disintegrating ship reached the Marquesas Islands, and
discovered the USS Vanalia, an American sloop of war, at anchor.
(After taking Josiah Knowles and his two crew members to Tahiti
for their return to the U.S., the war sloop returned to the
Islands of Oreno and Pitcairn to rescue the other castaways
as well).
A
Legend is Born
The incredible Pitcairn adventure soon became a legend in
the Pacific. When, for example, Josiah Knowles stopped at
Pitcairn Island many years later (now inhabited), after breaking
the world Clipper Ship speed record, he was treated as a wonder…
a hero… a man larger then life itself. And, in San Francisco,
the Maritime Museum there had its own exhibit of Josiah Knowles
and the great “Wild Wave” adventure.
Perhaps it was all said best by the poet John Masefield, when
he wrote the following about the great clipper ship era:
“They
mark our passage as
A race of men,
Earth will not see such ships
As those again.”
A
NOTE TO THE READER:
The
above story is just one of many that is part of the history
of the Old Manse Inn.
And,
thanks to the new owners, you can live this history itself.
More to the point, they have set up historical markers and
exhibits throughout the mansion, that makes for a truely remarkable
experience for guests. And, if you are intrigued by the tales
of Josiah, there's a lot more surprises in store.
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