A guide to the Harold Huycke motion picture film of C.A. Thayer (built 1895; schooner, 3m) restoration and voyage, 1955-1957
Processed by: Taylor Horton2015.
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
2015
Building E, Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA 94123
Phone: 415-561-7030
Fax: 415-556-3540
SAFR_Historic_Documents@nps.gov
URL: http://www.nps.gov/safr
A Guide to the Harold Huycke motion picture film of C.A. Thayer (built 1895; schooner, 3m) restoration and voyage
P79-235
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, National Park Service2015, National Park Service
Title: Harold Huycke motion picture film of C.A. Thayer (built 1895; schooner, 3m) restoration and voyage
Date: 1955-1957
Identifier/Call Number: P79-235 (SAFR 15044)
Creator:
Huycke, Harold D.
Physical Description:
6 items.
Repository:
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Historic Documents Department
Building E, Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA 94123
Physical Location: San Francisco Maritime NHP, Historic Documents Department
Language(s):
In English.
This collection is open for use unless otherwise noted.
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case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.
The descriptions in this collection guide were compiled using the best available sources of information. Such sources include
the creator's annotations or descriptions, collection accession files, primary and secondary source material and subject matter
experts. While every effort was made to provide accurate information, in the event that you find any errors in this guide
please contact the reference staff in order for us to evaulate and make corrections to this guide.
Please cite the title and collection number in any correspondence with our staff.
[Item description], [Location within collection organization identified by Collection Number/Series Number/File Unit Number/Item
Number], P79-235 (SAFR 15044), Harold Huycke motion picture film of C.A. Thayer (built 1895; schooner, 3m) restoration and
voyage, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
SAFR-02395
The motion picture film was originally placed on loan with Golden Gate National Recreation Area's National Maritime Museum
at San Francisco by Harold Huycke were it was duplicated. The film was donated by the family in 2015.
Historical or Biographical Note
Captain Harold D. Huycke, Jr. was a maritime historian of the Pacific Coast. He was the author of many articles and the book,
"To Santa Rosalia: Further and Back" (1970), a detailed history of a dozen German sailing ships detained in Mexico during
the First World War. In 1957, he was employed by the state of California to prepare, man and deliver the C.A. THAYER from
Puget Sound to San Francisco, and she is now one of the San Francisco National Historical Park's historic vessels moored at
Hyde Street Pier. Huycke was a research associate of the San Francisco Maritime Museum for 57 years and conducted hundreds
of oral histories with seafaring men and some of their relatives to help document West Coast maritime history.
Captain Huycke was born in 1922 in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1930 where he graduated from University
High School. He became acquainted with West Coast shipping history while fishing and working around the Santa Monica Pier
and Santa Monica Bay fishing barges. He attended Occidental College, graduated from the California Maritime Academy in 1944,
and the University of Southern California in 1947. He went to sea on Liberty and Victory ships as a merchant seaman in the
Pacific during and following World War II. After the war he continued to go to sea, rising in rank to chief mate, and obtaining
his license, Unlimited Ocean, Master, Any Gross Tons. In 1952 he married Alice Marguerite Frost of Birmingham, Alabama after
which they relocated to the West Coast where they had 3 children.
Captain Huycke spent about 45 years in the shipping industry, at sea as mate and master and ashore as a cargo supervisor and
later marine surveyor. His duties found him in San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest, Central America, British Columbia, and
Hawaii working for various shipping companies including Weyerhaeuser Steamship Company, States Marine Lines, States Marine-Isthmian
Agency, Puget Sound Tug and Barge Company and Foss Launch and Tug Company. Between assignments at sea and ashore, Huycke was
tapped by the State of California to purchase, refit and deliver the lumber schooner C.A. THAYER. This year long project culminated
in a coastwise sailing voyage from the Puget Sound to San Francisco for which Huycke acted as bosun. Crew members included
Karl Kortum. Around this time Huycke also surveyed the steam schooner TONGASS, ex. WAPAMA for the State of California. Beginning
in 1973, he became an independent marine surveyor with a specialty in wooden vessels including wooden hulled U.S. Navy minesweepers.
He retired from his surveying practice in 1991.
(From David Hull's article listed below): For 60 years, Huycke's avocation was maritime history. With John Lyman, Karl Kortum,
and John Kemble he was part of the first generation of maritime historians on the West Coast. Huycke has written and contributed
to several books on maritime history. His largest published project was the book, TO SANTA ROSALIA, FURTHER AND BACK, a detailed
history of a dozen German sailing vessels detained in a remote port in Mexico during World War I. He researched and wrote
extensively on commercial sailing vessels including the Star Fleet of the Alaska Packers Association, steam schooners, Liberty
and Victory ships, fishing barges and maritime businesses. Huycke located and collected primary source material and corresponded
with hundreds of sailors, captains, collectors, and historians. He served as mentor and editor to many individuals, helping
them to write and publish stories that would otherwise would not have been told. He conducted oral histories to preserve the
stories of seafaring men and the vessels that they sailed on.
His interest in preserving maritime history led him to become active in historical organizations and maritime museums in North
American and throughout the world. Harold founded the North American section of the International Society of Cape Horners,
an organization whose members have all sailed around Cape Horn in a commercial sailing vessel. Huycke served on the editorial
board of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society's periodical, Sea Chest. He directed many donations to the San Francisco
Maritime National Historical Park over the years and some very important archival collections were acquired because of Huycke.
Captain Huycke died in Edmonds, Washington on February 12, 2007.
- The Herald Everett, Washington. Captain Harold D. Huycke Jr. Obituary http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/heraldnet/obituary.aspx?n=harold-d-huycke&pid=86546972 last accessed 6/13/2012
- Hull, David. End of an Era for West Coast Maritime History: Harold Huycke: 1922-2007, An Appreciation. Relative Bearings newsletter, no. 6 (April 2007), p. 2-3.
- Huycke, Harold D. To Santa Rosalia Further and Back. Biography on inside cover jacket.
Harold Huycke motion picture film collection of C.A. Thayer (built 1895; schooner, 3m) restoration and voyage, 1957 (P79-235,
SAFR 15044) consists of approximately 6,000 feet on six reels of 16mm silent, color film concerning the restoration of C.A.
THAYER in 1957.
The collection's total run time is 03:23:04.
Reel 1: Hood Canal to Maritime Shipyard, Tugboat Titan and schooner C.A. Thayer. Reel 2: New stern, stepping masts, painting
ship's name, and Maritime Shipyard to Winslow. Reel 3: Winslow rigging to sea, sternwork, sailing return voyage to San Francisco.
Reel 4: Deckhands at work and on rigging, sailing, lowering sails, arriving in San Francisco. Reel 5: Arrival in San Francisco
assisted by tugboat "W 150", visitors aboard and Harold Huycke. Reel 6: Drawbridge, Maritime Shipyard, deckhands at work.
Digital video available on the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/csfmm_00003 and digitized by the California
Audiovisual Preservation Project (CAVPP).
Six reels of film arranged generally in chronological order or as received.