Open Water Therapy

By Steefenie Wicks - The Sausalito Historical Society

Sausalito’s waterfront history is rich with the different types of people who have come here and made it their home or place of business. Most of these transplants themselves have a connected background of being on the water, sailing or rowing and doing so at early age.

Courtesy of Steefenie Wicks/Sausalito Historical Society

This is the background that fits Shirwin Smith, who learned her rowing skills when she was 8 years old on Lake Champlain in Vermont. In 1973, her life encountered a change that would bring her to California.

“My first job was for the GGNRA [Golden Gate National Recreation Area] in San Francisco at the Maritime Museum,” Smith said. “It was while I was working there that I moved to Sausalito in 1979.

“One day while reading the Marinscope, I saw an ad about the forming of a new Sausalito Rowing Club. I remember thinking, ‘That’s for me.’”

Smith remembers the club’s first meeting, led by Gordy Nash, was attended by five people at City Hall.

Nash was a builder of small craft and quite well-known in Sausalito. It was through Nash that Smith started to become serious about the idea of rowing and sculling. She remembers a story of how she was part of a race Nash put together from Catalina Island to Marina Del Ray, a 36-mile event. The rowing shells would be taken out on a larger vessel. Participants then boarded their vessels and raced back. She wound up participating in the event on five separate occasions.

In 1985, Smith quit her job with GGNRA and started her own business, Open Water Rowing Center, which is now a 30-year-old waterfront firm dedicated to the art of sculling.

She is the first to tell you what she does is like the “mountain bike” of rowing – a sport very different from kayaking or paddle boarding. She was the first to open a particular type of water sculling, which uses a form of rowing shell that only weighs about 38 pounds and travels quickly over the water’s surface.

Smith said the business was quite different back in 1985.

“I never felt that I was treated differently because I was a woman,” she remembered. “For me, it was more like shock factor when people would find out that the owner was the ‘little gal’ over there.

“It is always the same, no matter who I’m standing with and talking to. Someone will eventually come up and say, ‘Hey, do you know how I can find the owner.’ And I would speak up and say, ‘That would be me.’”

Smith feels when you get about a quarter-mile offshore, the world seems to change. And you change with it.

She tells stories of only pleasant encounters with other waterfront dwellers who anchor out on their vessels. She also tells of how many have gone out of their way to return boats to her when they have gotten lost in a storm.

“All waterfront areas are different,” she said. “But the thing that makes Sausalito so special is the atmosphere created by this incredible body of water that surrounds us, takes us to another world of experience, then lets us row back to shore.

“My grandfather was a rower. He was with the Harlem River Rowing Club that was founded by returning civil war veterans back in 1873. I never got to meet him, but my grandmother gave me all the medals he had won. Maybe I get my talent for this sport from him; I have wondered about that.”

I asked Smith about her early days in the Onshore Marine building, which was demolished to make way for the contruction of the Schoonmaker marina.

“Oh, those were the days,” she recalled. “There were all of thess local waterfront business that all seemed to fit together in that space. We shared the space and became a small, supportive community for each other.

“I can remember one night I was on my way home, and one of the fishermen had come in, tied his boat up and he, along with some of the guys from the building, were out grilling fish from his catch. As I walked by, I commented on how good it looked. He told me to stick out my hand; in it he handed me a nice filet that I had that night for dinner.”

Smith feels the laid back attitude is part of being on the water and being part of that close water existence. She mentioned one of her mentors on the waterfront has long been Hank Easom; she admires him as a business owner, a person of character and an awesome sailor.

When Easom closed down his boat shop, he offered her space for her shells on his property.

“[Easom] never seems to get upset,” Smith said. “He, instead, has this attitude of ‘let’s just get it fixed and move on.’ I like that.

“For the past 30 years, the Sausalito waterfront has been a wonderful place for me. When I’m offshore, moving along with the birds and the seals, this is another world. I feel that with this sport of sculling, you are taught to experience the bay in a most personal way. It’s a way of taking one’s first breath of Sausalito’s fresh air.”

A Contemporary Recalls: Mr. & Mrs. Richardson

By Larry Clinton - Sausalito Historical Society

Last week, we excerpted memories of Sausalito founder William Richardson from the book, “Sixty Years in California.” The author, William Heath Davis, Jr., also included these charming recollections of Richardson’s marriage and early family life:

After the [whaling ship] Orion had dropped anchor off the Presidio, the usual old anchorage, William A. Richardson, first mate, landed a boat’s crew on the beach. He found there a portion of the inhabitants of the garrison who were attracted by the arrival of a foreign vessel in the bay. Among the number were the Señoritas of the Martinez household.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

As Richardson leaped from the boat to the landing, Señorita Maria Antonia Martinez exclaimed, with joy in her eyes, to her lady companions, “Oh, que hombre tan hermoso el estranjero que desembarco del bote; el va hacer mi novio y yo voy hacer su esposa.”– Oh, what a handsome man that foreigner just landed from the boat. He will be my bridegroom, and I will be his wife.”

It was love at first sight. Richardson was equally impressed then and there with the loveliness of Doña Maria Antonia. A match was made and two hearts were entwined as one, without the formality of expressing to each other orally their love and devotion.

Richardson, during his stay at San Francisco, resided at the home of Lieutenant Ygnacio Martinez, then comandante of the Presidio. He married Maria Antonia, the eldest daughter of Comandante and Martina Martinez. The young couple was married at Mission Dolores by Father José Altimira; the sponsors were the comandante and one of the bride’s sisters. The wedding was made the occasion of a great feast. The families of the officers and others were present at the ceremony and banquet.

Señorita Maria Antonia was considered a belle of great beauty among the handsome women of the Presidio in the thirties. There was a romance connected with this marriage.

The union was blessed with three children: namely, Francisco, Stephen and Mariana. (Lieutenant Wise in Chapter XII of his book, “Los Gringos,” gives the following delightful portrait.)

“This anchorage (Sausalito) is a great resort for whale ships, coming from the north-west fishing grounds for water and supplies; the procurante of which was an English man, for many years a resident in the country, and possessing myriads of cattle, and a principality in land and mountains; among other valuables he was the sire of the belle of California, in the person of a young girl named Mariana.

Her mother was Spanish, with the remains of great personal charms; as to the child I never saw a more patrician style of beauty and native elegance in any clime where Castillian donas bloom. She was brunette, with an oval face, magnificent dark gray eyes, with the corners of her mouth slightly curved downward, so as to give a proud and haughty expression to the face-in person she was tall, graceful and well shaped, and although her feet were incased in deer skin shoes, and her hands bare, they might have vied with any belles of our own.

I believe the lovely Mariana was as amiable as beautiful, and I know her bright eye glancing along the delicate sights of her rifle, sent leaden missives with the deadly aim of a marksman, and that she rode like an angel, and could strike a bullock dead with one quick blow of a keen blade.”

During Richardson’s long life in California, he made friends with all who came in contact with him in social or business relations. They were firmly attached to him for his goodness. He had not a single enemy, because his heart and nature were noble. He was seized with a desire at all times to serve his fellow beings in their hours of need. He was incapable of saying no to a deserving applicant for alms. It was inconsistent with the impulses of his nature; a birth-right inherited from his pure Anglo-Saxon parents. He was a handsome man, above medium height, with an attractive face, winning manners, and a musical voice, which his daughter, Mariana, inherited.

My knowledge of the captain dates back to July 1838, when I was in the employ of Nathan Spear. Richardson was the grantee of the Saucelito rancho with thousands of cattle, horses and sheep. His family had two residences, one at Yerba Buena, an adobe dwelling, a structure of primitive architecture, which contained a parlor, commodious bedrooms and a sitting and dining room which was used at times as a ball room. The walls were thick with blinds or massive shutters closing the windows on the inside. The other residence was at Saucelito.

At the time of my acquaintance with this good man, he was Captain of the Port and Bay of San Francisco, under the immediate direction of General Vallejo, who was the comandante general. General Vallejo appreciated Richardson’s experience as a sea-faring man, and as the General expressed it, Richardson was the right man in the right place. Both men respected each other, and their official and social relations were as smooth and as placid as the waters of the anchorage of Saucelito or Richardson’s bay on a calm day.

I knew Mrs. Richardson personally as far back as the year 1838. She was a model of grace and dignity with a face full of expression. Doña Maria Antonia was truly entitled to be called a Spanish beauty. She was gifted with vivacity and intelligence, and a little spice of satire gave an added charm to her winning manners. She came from a family of good looking brothers and sisters.

“Sixty Years in California” is in the Sausalito Historical Society’s rare book collection and is also available online.

A Contemporary Recalls: William Richardson

By Larry Clinton - Sausalito Historical Society

William Heath Davis, Jr. (1822–1909) was a merchant and trader in Alta, Calif., who settled in San Francisco in 1838, when it was still called Yerba Buena. In his memoir, “Sixty Years in California,” Davis set down his recollections of Sausalito founder William Richardson. Here are excerpts of that story:

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

William A. Richardson, an Englishman by birth, arrived at the Presidio of San Francisco as chief mate of the British whaler Orion, on the second of August, 1822. He left his vessel and was permitted by the authorities to remain temporarily, but on the 7th of October, he concluded to settle permanently in California. He applied to Governor Pablo Vicente de Sola to grant him the privilege of domicile, which was acceded to on the 12th of October of the same year.

Richardson, during his stay at San Francisco, resided at the home of Lieutenant Ygnacio Martinez, then comandante of the Presidio. He noticed the difficulty of bringing the food supply for the troops at the Presidio. He at once went to work and built a launch and a boat for the purpose of transporting provisions from San José and Santa Clara Missions. It is well known that the transportation of provisions by land was done by carts drawn by oxen. Richardson was the manager of the transporters for three years.

At the end of his charge, he married Maria Antonia, the eldest daughter of Comandante and Martina Martinez.

Richardson and his family settled in Yerba Buena in 1835. His only daughter, Mariana, was then about nine years old.

Some time after Richardson had fixed his residence at Yerba Buena, he heard that a vessel was at the Presidio. He soon ascertained that it was the brig Ayacucho, commanded by his friend Captain John Wilson, who, descrying a man on the beach, sent a boat ashore, and Richardson, going on board, piloted the vessel into Yerba Buena Cove. After the vessel cast anchor, Captain Richardson and his friends, Wilson and the supercargo James Scott, came on shore and visited Richardson’s tent, the domicile of the family.

This tent was the first habitation ever erected in Yerba Buena. At the time, Richardson’s only neighbors were bears, coyotes and wolves. The nearest people lived either at the Presidio or at Mission Dolores. The family lived under that tent about three months, after which Richardson constructed a small wooden house, and later a large one of adobe on what is now Dupont (Grant Avenue) near the corner of Clay Street.

During Richardson’s long life in California he made friends with all who came in contact with him in social or business relations. They were firmly attached to him for his goodness. He had not a single enemy, because his heart and nature were noble. He was seized with a desire at all times to serve his fellow beings in their hours of need. He was incapable of saying no to a deserving applicant for alms. It was inconsistent with the impulses of his nature; a birth-right inherited from his pure Anglo-Saxon parents. He was a handsome man, above medium height, with an attractive face, winning manners, and a musical voice, which his daughter, Mariana, inherited.

My knowledge of the captain dates back to July 1838 when I was in the employ of Nathan Spear. Richardson was the grantee of the Saucelito rancho with thousands of cattle, horses and sheep. His family had two residences, one at Yerba Buena, an adobe dwelling, a structure of primitive architecture, which contained a parlor, commodious bedrooms and a sitting and dining room which was used at times as a ball room. The walls were thick with blinds or massive shutters closing the windows on the inside. The other residence was at Saucelito.

At the time of my acquaintance with this good man, he was Captain of the Port and Bay of San Francisco, under the immediate direction of General Vallejo, who was the comandante general. General Vallejo appreciated Richardson’s experience as a sea-faring man, and as the General expressed it, Richardson was the right man in the right place. Both men respected each other, and their official and social relations were as smooth and as placid as the waters of the anchorage of Saucelito or Richardson’s bay on a calm day.

Anterior to the year 1838 Captain Richardson had piloted vessels of war in and out of the Bay. His long practice as a mariner made him one of the best pilots for the Bay and the bar beyond the Golden Gate. Admirals and Commodores of different nationalities would communicate with him from Callao, Valparaiso and from Honolulu, that in case a vessel of their squadrons should visit San Francisco, she would fire two guns, one after the other, outside the heads. This was the signal for Richardson to go out and pilot her in. The Captain had eight trained Indians, who had become proficient boatmen. They lived on the premises at the Captain’s home in Sausalito. At the report of one or two guns from outside the Bay, Captain Richardson would whistle three times which was the order for the Indian crew to repair at once to the boat which was moored close at hand. Away the surf boat would slip through the water with Richardson in the stern steering, and the aboriginal boatmen bending to their oars with a will to board the man-of-war. These Indians would do anything to serve and please the Captain. He was kind to them and they loved him.

William A. Richardson was a master mariner trading up and down the coast of California in the thirties with assorted cargoes for a Lima house, which were exchanged for hides and tallow, the currency of the country. Richardson was considered a bold navigator, but not a rash one. He was a man of judgment, and never abused it.

Davis’s memoirs are in the Sausalito Historical Society’s rare book collection. “Sixty Years in California” can also be accessed online. Look for the conclusion of this column next week, when Davis recalls Richardson’s marriage to Maria Antonia.