The herald., 1896-12-25
san PEDRO PROTECTED ON EVERY S|DE'

|
| & Dutch captain, who ran ashore because
she was insured" If caught In storm
| he would run for Catalina island for
| refuge and not for a lee shore. Under
| the lee of the island it is as calm as
| mill pond Tho old mission captains ran
! for the island in bad weather. A south
! east wind that has a sweep Of 90 miles,
would kick up something of sea- Yes
, sells go adrift from dra agging their chains.
! not because the anchorage is not good
| The rocks in San Pedro bay are loose;
F.; the kelp grows on them until they are
| buried under the sand. showing that
| there can be no rocky bottom underlying
! the sand. The captain is now pilot In
| San Diego bay aud has not a dollars
! worth of interest in Los Angeles county.
| He left San PEDRO in 1884 and has taken
| nothing over the bar since. He has new
er known Of any vessels running for
refuge in time OF gale from San Pedro
to Santa Monica. Waves coming in be-
/ hind breakwater in a severe storm
| would come in at an angle Of a. degrees.
which would also be the case in any OBJ
struction squarely against the swell.
| Vessels can run within halfmile of
Catalina in storm. where they cannot
| anchor, but lie under sail. Every foot
! of distance from San Diego TO the island
| the water can be seen getting smoother.
| He went to San Pedro in 1860. before
tue bTedkWdttI was Dullt, tne l1TSl NSt'
| there was less than two feet of water in
| the inner harbor; he often got out of a
| skiff and did not go over his boot-tops.
The sand carries around the point with
the trade winds, drifting like snow in
storm against any obstruction. There
has been a great movement of sand in
the inner harbor. brought out with tha
flood tides on the coast. Vessels can an
chor better at Point Dune than at Port
Los Angeles. The sand on this coast
cuts funny freaks, in illustration Cf
which the captain told an amusing
story of the Perpe tua. which was beach,
cd on the coast until the grass grew
or the sand. One morning she was seen
calmly floating out to sea. the uncertain
sand having let loose its hold on her.
! Everybody admits said he. that when
! the padres came here they selected the
very best places on the coast to locate
their missions; their navigators knew as
much as the padres in making landings.
They preferred to make a landing at San
Pedro for the Mission San Gabriel than
at closer point not so safe; they knaw
what they We're doing. Dana's expert
erces on hide drogher on this coast in
1886 were cited.
MIR STEWART OF PASADENA
Mr.. Coils Collins Stewart, president
of the board Of trade of Pasadena, was
introduced. Mr. Stewart presented a
series of resolutions passed by the board
or trade. which represents a popula ton
of 1900, for the location of the harbor
at San Pedro.
CAPTAIN wELDT.
Captain ID. w. Weldt has been pilo.
in San Pedro for fifteen years. He con-
sders San Pedro easy of access. and
had taken in vessels drawing eighteen
feet. He has given the currents good
deal of study, and thinks they set east
At iy, Co !,
he constructed the breakwater, and he
was also of the same opinion. He does
not know of any destructive swell for
two miles off Point Firman. He had
observed that the moon has great in
lluerce on the currents some miles off
shore He would not run for lee shore
in gale, but if compelled to do so
would take his chances at San Pedro in
sou'wester in preference to Port Los
Angeles Danger, in his experience, :s
not always greatest in a southwest gale;
1t often comes from the swell The hold
ing ground there is good. while at Santa
Mohlca some is good and some bad
He has been in and out of the latter
nay for fifteen years and considers the
anchorage bad; the ship almost drifted
in with her anchor. Being asked the
cause of certain vessels drifting ashore
at San Pedro, Captain Weldt gave ex-
pliclt reasons in each instance and in
that none were permanently disabled
InI San Pedro they are not Obliged to
tow more than ten to twenty minutes;
square rig2ers he has sailed out without
steam. Between 1884 and 1889 the COM
merce at San Pedro by deep sea vessels
was much larger than it is now; he has
seen twenty-seven or twenty eight
ships from 500 to 2400 tons capacity lie
there at one time. but now he admitted
there : fboy ,oh
he had never known a vessel to run there
for shelter. The bay. he said, in an
swer to a question had shoaled up con-
siderably in the last year. Much of the
debris from the Los Angeles and San
Gabriel rivers washed in there in the
winter, but most of it comes in al Will
mington.
Mr.. T. L. Gibbon explained briefly that
the work done by the Terminal company
Was only temporary. and corrected
statements about the San Gabriel river,
fshowing that it empties at Anahelm
Landing instead of SaE Pedro.
RUDOLPH AMMAN.
Mr. AXman has done the dredging in
San Pedro harbor and dumped the ma
terial one mile east of Deadman's
island, and as far as he knows it is there
yet 1t was quicksand mud, sand
shells. 'lt and some light rock. He
| had never seen currents go in any direc-
tion but eastward. The bottom OF the
inside harbor is composed of sand and
sometimes streak of clay is found.
The rock bottom spoken of between
the jetties is practically removed. The
expense of dredging is q little mole
than the average cost. owing to the
heavy sand, and when dreGged the chan
mel deepens: it does not fill up. lie
knew nothing of a ledge OF rocks said
to have been mentioned by the govern
ment engineer: they have been biasto j
up and removed.
CAPTAIN JOHNSON
Captain A. j. Johnson is employed on
the barkentine Enoch Talbot. carrying
oil He has been following the sea twelve
years along this coast as far south as
Guatemala. His vessel draws fourteen
feet and four inches of water and he
has laid outside OF the bar at San Pedro
He has commanded the Talbot twenty
eight months. He has unloaded cargoes
of lumber al Fort Los Angeles, but it re-
Quired twenty-five days. No ship can
open her bow port there for the heavy
swell which Is always setting in. He
has discharged cargoes through the bow
port at San Pedro without any diff
Guilty. At the former place the people
at the wharf told him they never had
seen a finer spell of weather, but the
swell ran high over the bowports.
The Enocli Talbot was built in 1854
and she is pretty good old lumber ship
yet, nor would he be afraid to carry
a load of coal in her now. At the time
of the storm spoken Of, his owners told
Z IL