The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-20
A QUEER HABITATION
An Old Sea Captains House Built Out of
Shipwrecks.


Shipwrecks.
Santa Barbara tCal) Independent.
There is queer little nook down on the
coast below Santa Barbara into which
rambling reporter found mis- way few days
ago. 1t is the wreck of a vessel, perched
high among the sandhills upon the Palos
Verdes rancho, upon the shores of San Pedro
bay. 1t is the home of a vivacious, eccent-
ric individual, an old salt named Captain ].
F. James. who boasts of having met and van
pushed, single-handed, the representatives
of the most powerful monopoly on the
Pacific coast. Come and see my
museum" said James to the reporter,
who was weather-bound on San
Pedro wharf with the mercury steadily
crawling up above the Tooth degree. ut is
queer place, but l amt ashamed of it, and
it's cooler down here; besides, want to show
you my lawsuits. l have twenty-eight of
them, all of them nailed upon the wall, and
each one represents money"
The queer place" was found in dry
arroyo, or sandy gulch, upon the north side
of San Pedro harbor. 1t is a handsome,
square house, with piazza extending all
around it. and Flagstaff surmounting the
whole. At a distance it presents the ap-
pearance of a tasty little hotel, and over the
top can be seen painted upon the stern OF
some wrecked ship the words ocean Villa"
1t is only when one enters the neat little in
closure about the house that its true charac-
ter is observable. The house and its whole
surroundings are made up of portions
of wrecks. The garden fence, the plants
the ornaments all around bear the
signs of the sea. The house is combination
of bulwarks, bulkheads, lockers and cabins
The principal room is the cabin of some first
class ship; the room above it is the cabin of
a bark The kitchen is the galley of a
wrecked merchantmen, and each and all of
the many appointments are either cabins
wheel-houses or cooking galleys transferred
from some dismantled craft wrecked upon
the bay. No two rooms are alike, and all are
constructed so as to preserve their original
appearance on the ship they were built upon.
Some are finished in natural woods, and some
are ceiled with wood of the most expensive
character.
1t is in fact house made up of wrecks
gathered together by Captain James as a wa
terman on the south coast during ten years.
The principal portions of the house are made
out of the wreck of the Adelaide Cooper
which was cast ashore during a Southwestern
about three years ago. The interior walls
are covered with marine curiosities, gath
cred by sailors in all portions of the
world. The collection of handiwork made
by sailors is perhaps the best upon the coast.
The models of ships and quaint carvings are
splendid. The most remarkable curiosity of
all is large star formed out of legal docu-
ments from the courts and sherif7s office
and nailed upon the walls. "Those papers, :"
said Captain james, in explanation, 'are my
lawsuits. keep them on exhibition like an
Indian does his scalps. Those are suits 1
have had brought against me by the South
ern Pacific and by General Phineas Banning
to drive me away from this spot 1 have de-
fed them all and have whipped 'em. am
here yet, and there's my boats, those three
little sloops, anchored in front of my house.
1 own this land and the water 'front.' and all
1 have about me is paid for. When me and
my hPra " a
we lived in tent made out of an old sail
Now 1 am independent, and next month
shall start newspaper, the San Pedro Ship
ping Gazette. I am no scholar never went
to school. 1 am sailor, but have made
up my mind to grow rich with San Pedro"