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A guide to the The Captain's Kid manuscript, 1982
HDC1654 (SAFR 23810)  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Publication and Use Rights
  • Processing Note
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Historical or Biographical Note
  • Collection Scope and Content
  • Collection Arrangement

  • Title: The Captain's Kid manuscript
    Date: 1982
    Identifier/Call Number: HDC1654 (SAFR 23810)
    Author: Borden, Mary Helen
    Physical Description: 1 item
    Repository: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Historic Documents Department
    Building E, Fort Mason
    San Francisco, CA 94123
    Abstract: THE CAPTAIN'S KID manuscript (SAFR 23810, HDC 1654) consists of the self-published 244 page memoir written by Mary Helen Borden, and is open for use without restrictions.
    Physical Location: San Francisco Maritime NHP, Historic Documents Department
    Language(s): In English.

    Access

    This collection is open for use unless otherwise noted.

    Publication and Use Rights

    Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.

    Processing Note

    Note on Description: 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. P lease cite the title and collection number in any correspondence with our staff.

    Preferred Citation

    [Item description], [Location within collection organization identified by Collection Number/Series Number/File Unit Number/Item Number], HDC1654 (SAFR 23810), The Captain's Kid manuscript, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

    Acquisition Information

    SAFR-02226
    Transferred from the library collection.

    Historical or Biographical Note

    THE CAPTAIN'S KID manuscript is a memoir of Mary Helen Borden's life between 1911 and 1919 as a young girl aboard the JOHN ENA and the JOHN ROLF.
    Mary Helen Borden was adopted in 1914, at the age of three by her father's nephew, Vic Olsen, captain of the four masted bark JOHN ENA (built at Port Glasgow, Scotland, in 1892 by R. Duncan). She spent the next five years aboard the vessel, visiting ports of call in Hawaii, Australia, Chile, Panama and England. In 1919, at the conclusion of World War I, she sailed on the four masted bark JOHN ROLF (built as the CELTIC MONARCH at Liverpool, England by T. Rordan in 1884) for San Francisco. Unfortunately her adoptive father died en route and the ship made port in Panama, where Mary was shipped to New Orleans, and transited by train to San Francisco, where her grandparents took her in.
    In 1982, at the urging of the curator of the National Maritime Museum in San Francisco, Mr. Karl Kortum, Mary Helen Borden wrote this 244 page manuscript as a memoir of her days as a child at sea on oceangoing large sailing vessels.

    Collection Scope and Content

    THE CAPTAIN'S KID manuscript (SAFR 23810, HDC 1654) consists of the self-published 244 page memoir written by Mary Helen Borden, and is open for use without restrictions.

    Collection Arrangement

    Single item, no arrangement.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Memoirs and biographies
    Borden, Mary Helen
    John Ena (built 1892; bark, 4m)
    Manuscripts for publication
    Diaries
    Sailing