Abalone: Anacapa Island
Abalone: Anacapa Island
[photo Land of Sunshine Chinese gathering abalone on Anacapa Earle 1896]
In the News~
March 17, 1857 [SDU]: “Santa Barbara. The Gazette says that gold has been found on the Islands of Anacapa, a group of three small islands lying about 30 miles southeast of Santa Barbara. On these islands there is neither wood nor fresh water, and they are only frequented for seal oil and abalone shells.”
November 9, 1872 [PRP]: “Abalone shells. Sixteen tons of shells have been ordered from this coast by two firms, one in Boston and the other in Philadelphia. They are for manufacturing into buttons and many kinds of fancy articles, and bring good prices. The islands opposite to this county are literally covered with the finest shells for this purpose found in the world. Why are they not utilized? On the shores of Anacapa and Santa Cruz, a few men could soon load a schooner. Ventura Signal.”
April 12, 1880 [SBDP]: “The schooner Surprise came in yesterday from Catalina Island, having on board 90 seal skins, 40 sacks of abalone meat, and 40 sacks of shells. She goes in a day or two to Anacapa Island with a party of seal hunters, who are employed to capture 50 seals alive, which are designed for the East.”
April 27, 1880 [REG]: “The Santa Barbara Press of the 20th says the schooner Surprise came in yesterday from a California island, having on board 90 seal skins, 40 sacks of abalone meat, and 40 sacks of shells. She goes in a day or two to Anacapa Island with a party of seal hunters, who are employed to capture fifty seals alive.”
July 14, 1883 [SBDP]: “The schooner Convoy came into port today from Anacapa Island with a cargo including 11 barrels of seal oil, 25 sacks of abalone shells, 2 tons of seal skins, 10 sacks of dried abalones and one ton of wool.”
July 20, 1883 [LAT]: “The schooner Convoy came into port yesterday from Anacapa Island with a cargo including eleven barrels of seal oil, 25 sacks of abalone shells, 2 tons of seal skins, 10 sacks of dried abalones, and one ton of wool. [Santa Barbara Press]
August 1, 1883 [SBDP]: “Further adventures of the Santa Barbara exploring party... Then the party disembarked [on Anacapa Island] and made camp in a wild looking ravine where some Chinese abalone fishers had some time made their home. They had left an abundance of fuel behind...”
September 26, 1883 [SBDP]: “The schooner Star of Freedom arrived from Anacapa Island this morning and brought 60 sacks of abalone meat and 220 sacks of shells.”
November 3, 1883 [SBWI]: “The abalone business is carried on more or less along the sea shore of the semi-tropic, but at this place on the islands of the Channel the occupation is conducted, though quietly, upon larger scale than any other locality further south. The abalone is a greater success than the egg in point of natural economy, in that the shell also is materially viable. The meat is taken by the Chinamen and dried. The dried abalone is esteemed as a great dainty and is worth in San Francisco six cents per pound. It is exported from that point in large quantities to China and gourmets of that frugal people do not hesitate to pay the heavy price it commands in that Empire after first cost, freight and handling are added. The particular charm that this dried meat has for the celestial palate is not apparent to the barbarian tooth. The Independent reporter found it much resembling in consistency, color and odor a piece of veteran sole leather... San Miguel, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Nicolas, Anacapa, Catalina, and Santa Barbara islands are all productive points of supply. Messrs. Rogers and Brothers of this city sent out today for San Miguel a party of five for abalone, seal skins and oil. The number of abalone to be obtained by such a party is impossible to estimate, low tide being the only time when they can be gathered, and the lower the tide the more exposed to view. It would seem that the practical mind of the American should be able to find some manner of preparing this healthful article of food in a manner acceptable to the taste of white men.”
May 17, 1884 [SBDP]: “The Angel Dolly sailed for Anacapa this noon with a load of Chinamen to gather abalones. She has been refitted, the cabin enlarged and a galley built on deck. She will be a comfortable excursion craft, swift and well managed.”
July 17, 1884 [SBDP]: “Yesterday afternoon the schooner Angel Dolly arrived from Anacapa Island with the Fields brothers and party. They brought over 11 barrels of oil and a quantity of skins and abalone shells as the fruit of two months work.”
February 24, 1885 [SBDP]: “The sloop Ocean King sailed for Anacapa Island this morning to get a cargo of shells and abalones.”
February 27, 1885 [SBDP]: “The Ocean King came into port this morning from Anacapa Island, bringing a cargo of abalones and shells for Chinese shippers.”
August 14, 1886 [SBDP]: “The Ocean King came in yesterday from Anacapa Island with a load of Chinese abalone hunters.”
March 23, 1888 [SBDI]: “The sloop Brisk arrived this morning from Anacapa Island with a load of shells for H. A. Rogers.”
August 23, 1890 [SBMP]: “The schooner Santa Rosa sailed for Anacapa Island yesterday to bring back a party of Chinamen who have been there gathering abalones.”
February 11, 1893 [SBMP]: “The schooner San Mateo got up sail yesterday afternoon and started for Anacapa Islands for a cargo of abalone shells.”
August 24, 1895 [LAT/VC]: “Captain T. C. Merry of the Democrat staff left for Anacapa Island this afternoon to inspect the abalone shell camp which is sending shells to this city for shipment to San Francisco.”
August 26, 1895 [LAT/VC]: “Abalone meat. Sing Hing, the oldest and most influential Chinese merchant in this county, having resided and done business here for nearly thirty years, is reaping a rich harvest of abalone meat and shells on Anacapa Island this season…”
1896. “Anacapa is uninhabited unless one counts campers and the Chinamen who spend a part of thee year there in a tent amid piles of iridescent abalone shells and square yards of the evicted tenants, drying in the sun, to be shipped to Chinatown.” [Earle, Homer P. The Santa Barbara Islands in Land of Sunshine 5: (227-230) 1896.]
July 10, 1897 [SBDN]: “Few of our people appreciate the magnitude of the abalone industry on our Channel Islands. In the past eighteen months on the Anacapas, some twenty-two tons of the dried meat and perhaps twice that quantity of shells have been secured and sent to market. Now another lot of men are at work gathering a new crop… It thrives in comparatively few parts of the world.”
March 24, 1898 [LAT/SM]: “A good deal of anxiety is felt for the safety of Andrew Johnson and Olaf Oleson [Olsen], two fishermen of this town. On the last day of February they left here for Anacapa Island in company with John F. Nelsen, another fisherman. They went over to the island in a sloop and remained there several days. Nelsen came away with a small cargo of abalones which they had gathered…”
[» Anacapa Island]
March 24, 1898 [SFCall]: “Santa Barbara, March 23. A. Johnson and Bow Olsen, two fishermen left by a companion, John Nelson, on Anacapa Island, the smallest of the Santa Barbara group, arrived home tonight after incredible suffering. The men left here one month ago to get abalone shells for a San Francisco button company. Nelson landed them from a small sloop and returned here with a load of shells. He promised he would go back at once. The two men had provisions for three days and only four gallons of water, Nelson, for some reason, bringing away a ten-gallon cask of water. For fifteen days the men waited and suffered. The rocky island was searched fruitlessly for water and finally, despairing, they built a rough raft and drifted out to a small open boat Nelson had anchored a mile out. The sunken reefs about the island made their way perilous, but they succeeded in getting out to the boat, and after hours of toiling at the oar, and with their makeshift sails, succeeded in landing on the coast near Warren’s ranch. The found water in cow tracks and drank their fill and started again down the coast and reached Decker’s ranch, whence Charles Decker brought them home. They arrived this evening. Johnson says he will have Nelson arrested.”
March 26, 1898 [LAT/SM]: “Andrew Johnson and Olaf Oleson, the two abalone fishermen reported as having disappeared from Anacapa Island, have returned here. They went to that island with John F. Nelson early in the month, and he left them there with the understanding that he should call for them a few days later. They had with them two five-gallon cans of water and some sea biscuit and potatoes. One of the water tins leaked and most of the contents were lost. The water was used sparingly, but finally it was exhausted and they suffered greatly from thirst. Time wore on and Nelson not appearing, the two men last Friday evening constructed a raft with which they precariously made their way out to their skiff, quite a distance from shore. The sea was heavy and the weather was threatening. Reaching the boat they started out on the long pull for the mainland. Johnson pulled at the oars and Oleson struggled to keep the water bailed out of the boat as fast as it was shipped. Next morning they landed a few miles above Hueneme and were cared for at a ranch house. Their thirst relieved, and their appetite satisfied, they took the boat again and worked their way down to Charles Decker’s place, and were brought to Santa Monica by him Monday evening.”
April 6, 1899 [LAH]: “Captain and Mrs. John Nelson have returned from their trip to the Anacapa Island bringing back three tons of abalones.”
June 4, 1900 [LAT/VC]: “Chin Lin Yung pleaded guilty to the charge of taking abalones out of season on Anacapa Island, and was fined $20.”
June 9, 1900 [SBMP]: “Ventura officials after Chinamen for violating law. The three Chinamen who were arrested at Anacapa Island last week by the Constable Arrellanes and brought to the mainland charged with taking abalones out of season, having been settled with by the authorities. One of the pleaded guilty before Judge Argabrite and was fined $20. He paid the fine. The other two were discharged from custody. There was a pretty stiff fight made in the case by the Santa Barbara Chinese firm for which these fishermen were working, and an attempt made to break down the ordinance, or the right of the supervisors to make such a law, but the Superior Court upheld the county body, and the Chinese did not think it worthwhile to further obstruct matters. The outcome of this case will have a good effect in saving abalones, crawfish and clams.”
July 21, 1900 [OC]: “An outing on Anacapa… The only human inhabitant is one man who tends the sheep, and three Chinamen, who during the season collect abalone shells. For these they receive $70 per ton in Germany, while the meat is dried and sold in China. The abalone meat makes fine chowder and that Captain Merry knows how to cook…”
August 14, 1904 [LAT/VC]: “Deputy Fish Commissioner Pritchard of Santa Monica, and Fish License Collector Davis of San Francisco, arrived from Anacapa Island this morning on the schooner Peerless, having in charge a party arrested for violating the lobster and abalone sections of the State laws. Charles Stokes, who resides on Anacapa, was brought over for taking lobsters out of season, while Messrs. Bay Webster and Henry Ireland were charged with taking abalones less than the size allowed by law. Each pleaded guilty and cheerfully paid his fine of $20…”
August 20, 1904 [SFCall]: “Acting upon reports of violations of the fish laws in the islands off the Southern California coast, Deputy Fish Commissioners John H. Davis and H. I. Pritchard were sent on a rounding-up expedition from Santa Barbara. At Anacapa Island they arrested D. Webster and Henry Ireland for having small abalones in their possession and Charles D. Stokes for having crawfish in his possession during during the closed season.”
October 21, 1904 [OC]: “Anacapa Island in verse. Colonel E. M. Sheridan tells how abalones are gathered and writes a few lines about the rock…”
February 5, 1905 [LAT]: “Assistant postmaster Webster is a fisherman and sailor, besides being a government official. Last summer he was arrested on Anacapa Island and hauled before the court here and muleted with a heavy fine for catching smaller abalones than the law allows. Ever since his arrest he has been endeavoring to make the State authorities believe that there should be a distinction between black abalones, the kind taken at Anacapa, and abalones from other parts of the coast. He has written a letter to Assemblyman Frank O’Brien, chairman of the Committee on Fish and Game, on the subject and has received a reply stating that the prospect for the desired amendment is encouraging.”
May 25, 1906 [SBMP]: “Frank Nidever, captain of the launch Irene, has recently returned from a trip to Santa Barbara Island. Nidever reports that there two Japanese abalone camps on the island, and that according to statements of the fishermen themselves, the grounds will be about cleaned out within a month. When there are no more shellfish to be taken, one outfit will move to San Miguel and the other will locate on either Santa Cruz or Anacapa. Nidever has been active in bringing the practical extermination of abalones by the Japs to the attention of the authorities, and hopes that some legislative action will be taken to protect the fish. The Japs use up-to-date diving outfits and get the large abalones in several fathoms of water. These large black abalones are the breeders, and it will take years to undo the harm that the divers have already done, even if measures are taken to prevent further depredations.”
