Abalone: San Clemente Island
Abalone: San Clemente Island
In the News~
July 3, 1880 [LAH]: “Arrived at San Pedro July 1st, sloop Flora, Perry master, from Clemente Island with cargo of abalone shells for I. Morrison.”
February 14, 1892 [SBMP]: “The schooner Ruby was at the wharf yesterday, discharging her cargo, which consisted of ten tons of abalones from the San Clemente Island consigned to some Chinese merchants of this place.”
May 3, 1892 [LAT/SB]: “The schooner Ruby left for San Clemente Island yesterday morning, taking down four Chinamen who will remain on the island for four months gathering abalones. The Ruby will bring a load of gravel from the island.”
July 7, 1892 [LAT/SB]: “The schooner Ruby sailed yesterday morning for San Clemente Island for a cargo of abalones.”
November 25, 1892 [LAT/SB]: “The schooner Ruby returned from San Clemente Island yesterday morning after a very rough trip of five days coming. She had been gone eighteen days and brought back 850 bags of abalone shells. The schooner will leave on another trip in a few days.”
December 10, 1892 [LAT/SB]: “The owners of the schooner Ruby received a telephone message Thursday night from San Pedro announcing the wreck of the schooner on San Clemente Island. No particulars were given, further than that the boat was a total loss. The schooner was a small, two-masted vessel, and was owned by Thomas Clark and E. P. Stevens of this city. The Ruby had gone to San Clemente Island after a cargo of shells, and it is supposed that she ran against a rock. There were three men aboard: Clarence Libbey in command; E. P. Stevens, one of the owners, and a seaman. No one was hurt. The schooner was valued at $1500 and was not insured.”
December 14, 1892 [LAT/SB]: “Latest news from the wreck of the schooner Ruby of this place, at San Clemente Island, goes to show that the vessel was a total loss and that Mr. Stevens, one of the owners, came near losing his life. When the Ruby reached the island, although the storm had abated, there was a heavy swell on. Mr. Stevens and two men had remained on the island from the last trip to gather shells for another load… After resting completely the three men took an otter boat, and by rowing and sailing made their way in the open boat, first to San Nicolas Island, then to San Pedro where Mr. Stevens chartered another vessel and went back after the men left on San Clemente, together with their effects and the shells gathered. They are expected in Santa Barbara in a few days.”
February 7, 1893 [SBMP]: “The schooner San Mateo came in Sunday night from San Clemente Island with a cargo of twelve or fifteen tons of abalone shells.”
February 9, 1893 [LAH]: “Redondo Beach, Feb. 8 — Captain Gent moored his yacht Oregon alongside Redondo wharf at 2:30 P.M. today, just in from San Clemente Island. The Oregon brought in a full cargo of abalone shells gathered by the crews of the steam schooner Hetty and the Oregon on the beaches of San Clemente. Captain Gent left San Clemente yesterday at noon, making a good run into the port. The remaining members of the crews with the Hetty he left at San Clemente, all in good health and spirits. Captain George Earle, with the Hetty, will soon proceed from that island to the island of San Nicolas located to the northwest, where they will make their next rendezvous. Captain Gent proposes putting to sea tomorrow for San Nicolas Island, or as soon as he can ship sufficient stores aboard the Oregon required for the crews of the expedition.”
May 1, 1894 [SBDI]: “The sloop Restless, Captain Burtis, made the run from Santa Barbara to San Clemente Island, a distance of 145 miles, in 19 hours the other day; the Restless took a cargo of Chinamen to the island to hunt abalones. The sloop is expected back tonight.”
August 30, 1894 [SBDI]: “The sloop Restless arrived from San Clemente Island last night with a cargo of abalones and shells, being the catch of a party of Chinamen who have been at work there for some time past.”
March 11, 1896 [LAT/SB]: “Three Chinamen held by customs officers at San Pedro, suspected of being smuggled from San Clemente Island, are well known here, where they have resided twenty years, and been engaged a long time abalone gathering on Channel Islands. Their certificates are in the hands of an attorney.”
September 9, 1896 [LAT]: “The junk Acme has returned from San Clemente Island with Chinamen and abalone shells.”
September 17, 1896 [SanDU]: “San Clemente is frequented by Chinese abalone fishermen from Santa Barbara and San Diego, and on the second night we came upon a camp of five Chinamen from San Diego who treated us with great hospitality.”
December 1, 1896 [LAT]: “San Pedro, Nov. 30.—The schooner Freia, Captain Martin Bernson, put in here for shelter to await the subsiding of the heavy seas. The vessel is from Washington and is getting a cargo of abalone shells and meat, which she will carry back north. Her cargo is to be loaded aboard at San Clemente Island.”
May 14, 1897 [NYT]: “Hunting otters and abalones… Another singular California industry in the hands of the Chinese is the collection of abalones, the Haliotus of science, several species of which are found on the Pacific coast… A crude, high-pooped junk, with a big eye forward, was the source of supply, and had landed a band of ten men on San Clemente Island… She had deposited another band at San Nicolas… providing the men with provisions and carrying the shells to the coast. The men were in camp on as little bay, and near by were great gunnysacks of abalones, ready for shipment. Every morning the hunters started out, some wading along the rocks at low tide, armed with a long pole, on the end of which was an implement like a chisel, intended for prying off the shells from the rocks. The majority of abalones are found just below tidewater, some in water ten feet deep, and in a sea way they are difficult to secure. The men are sometimes bruised by being thrown against the rocks, and an occasional death by drowning has been known… Abalone pearls are found loose in the folds of the animal or attached to the shell…”
May 25, 1897 [LAT/Red]: “The schooner yacht Manatee, used for carrying provisions to abalone gatherers on San Clemente Island, and bringing abalones and Indian relics back, parted her anchor and drifted ashore in front of the bathhouse. But little damage was done as the water was not rough.”
April 6, 1898 [LAT/SD]: “The schooner Restless sailed today for Catalina and Clemente islands with a lot of Chinamen who go to gather abalone shells and meat.”
June 19, 1898 [SBMP]: “The Restless brought over a cargo of abalones and shells from San Clemente Island yesterday.”
June 20, 1898 [LAT/SB]: “The sloop Restless returned from San Clemente Island yesterday with 220 sacks of abalones.”
December 18, 1898 [LAT/SD]: “The schooner Amy, Captain Jenkins, arrived yesterday from Catalina and Clemente islands, after being out sixty days. She was given up for lost by her owner. She brings twelve tons of guano and a lot of abalone shells and meat.”
November 15, 1899 [LAT/SP]: “Japanese abalone divers. The abalone industry is to be carried on by more modern methods. Recent advances in the price of the shells have brought about the change. Heretofore the abalones gathered from along this part of the coast and the shores of the neighboring islands, have been taken almost altogether at low tide. But the range of high and low water does not compass all of the hunting ground. The abalone is somewhat of a deepwater creature, and may be taken from far beneath the surface if the means are at hand wherein to take them… The schooner Edith has just returned from a trip to San Clemente Island, where she went with a number of Japanese who will collect abalones. The little brown men are equipped with diving apparatus, and will take the much prized univalves from submarine grounds which have hitherto been undisturbed by man.”
May 18, 1902 [LAH]: “From the depths of the sea. Abalone fishing at White's Point and what becomes of the product... Only recently an abalone cannery has been established at San Pedro, and canned abalone meat is now one of the delicacies of American trade, and it is delicious. All the meat was formerly dried and shipped to China, where it was boiled until tender before serving. It sells for 10 cents a pound, and from White's Point one hundred thousand pounds a month are shipped there...
...Abalones are brought from San Clemente Island in the power boat Alta. Some have been removed from the shell and are sent over in tubs, while the balance are sent shell and all. The beat is brought into the cleaning room and turned over to three Japs, who trim off the dark edges, clean it and cut it up into cubes about two inches square. The meat before cutting is oval shaped, varying in size from four to eight inches across, and is from one to two inches in thickness. It is so fine and tough as to appear almost like white rubber, and requires the sharpest knives to cut it. The reason the Japs are employed to do this is that they understand just how it should be done, and then white help cannot be employed who are willing to undertake the job,as it is about as disagreeable as the beheading rooms of a salmon cannery. AS soon as the meat is cubed it passes out of the Jap's hands, and no other foreign help is employed. It is taken to a steam cooker and cooked until tender, when it is removed to the packing room. Here it is packed in cans, eight ounces to the can, and to it are added eight ounces of the abalone juice, which forms in the vessel where they are cooked, making one pound in all. The tops of the cans are then soldered on, and they are sent to another department where the cans are placed in a retort and baked for a time, then removed to be punctures and resoldered while hot, so that the air may escape. After this every can is tested to see if it is perfectly air tight and then given a final baking. When cold the cans are packed in cases, four dozen to a case, and shipped to San Francisco, to the Eno-Laba Canning company, where Japanese labels are placed on the cans and they are exported to that country. The average output per month for this season, first in the history of the business, is one thousand cases. They are shipped north in ten-ton lots. Besides the export trade a small domestic is kept up. The chief restaurants of this city are supplied with the abalone in gallon caps. Those put up for the domestic trade are cut into smaller pieces and pounded to make them more tender. The flavor of the meat and soup is similar to that of the Chesapeake bay oyster, only, if possible, more delicate, and if more of the people could be supplied with a sample the home trade would soon outgrow the foreign.”
September 20, 1903 [SBMP]: “Violations of the State Fish Law... The conditions which exist at San Clemente and which the San Pedro officers are doing their best to stamp out, also exist at Santa Cruz Island, in which fishermen in the employ of the Yamada Company, a Japanese corporation doing fishing business on the island, landed over 60 sacks of undersized abalone shells, and stored them in a vacant house, where they were confiscated by the officers. Some of the shells measured only three inches in circumference, whereas fifteen inches is the minimum size allowed by law.”
May 9, 1904 [LAT/SCat]: “Avalon. A couple of Japs came in from Clemente yesterday with a small schooner loaded with abalone shells. There were two tons of them, which they disposed of to local dealers.”
December 9, 1911 [LAT/LB]: “Would limit abalone catch. C. B. Linton who controls the abalone and pearl concessions of San Miguel and San Clemente islands, is much interested in the application of the Catalina Tuna Club to have the Board of Supervisors limit the daily catch of abalones to fifty pounds each day for each fisherman. Mr. Linton believes the catch should be limited so far as red and green abalones are concerned, but will protest against its application to the black abalones, which he says, are in no danger of extinction since 20 percent of them live within the lines of the surf and are not within the reach of divers or ebb workers. He says that the green and red abalones are easy pickings for the Japanese divers, most of whom are no respecters of the Fish and Game laws, but denude the localities in which they work. The Linton concessions have shipped sixty tons of shells to eastern manufacturers this year. They also have a plant, or bed, of 3000 abalones which are engaged just now in making abalone pearls. The plant is soon to be moved nearer the mainland. The process is new, pearls being developed in the course of one or two years around a composition nucleus that is planted inside the abalone shell. Some of these have been removed from abalones after being planted eight months, and show the scheme is a success. The pearls can be produced in any color of the Oriental pearl, and will be very valuable.”
December 11, 1911 [LAT]: “Information has been received by President Newbert of the State Fish & Game Commission, that an abalone pearl farm established on San Clemente Island by private enterprise has proved successful and that several of the islands of Southern California may be devoted to the production of the pearls, which are said to be unusually large and beautiful… The abalone farm was established on San Clemente Island over a year ago by C. B. Linton of Long Beach, who has abalone concessions on that island, also San Nicolas, Santa Barbara and San Miguel islands. For years the abalones wree almost cleaned out by Japanese divers, who were not generally known to have secured pearls. They sold the meat and shells and pocketed the pearls without ostentation, and it is only of late years that it has been discovered that the brown men have carried off fortunes in pearls.”
August 27, 1912 [LAT]: “Islands denuded. Clarence B. Linton of Long Beach, who was here today, and who has the abalone concession on San Nicolas and San Clemente islands, says that the accessible parts of the Channel Islands have been almost denuded of abalones, and that it will not be a very long while until the abalone shell and meat industry in Southern California will be a thing of the past. There are portions of San Nicolas and San Clemente islands where the mollusks are as thick as bees in a hive, but it is impossible to reach them , from either sea or land, owing to the threatening rock-bound coast. It is rumored, says Linton, that P. Sandoval is losing his hold on the abalone and fishing concession on the Lower California coast, and that several Californians are after the concession from the Madero government.”
September 17, 1912 [LAT]: “The chief topic of conversation today among Long Beach boatmen was the death at San Pedro of a Japanese abalone fisherman from the effects of a blow delivered in self-defense last week by young Frank Paschall, son of the owner of the launch Panama. The trouble occurred last week during a trip of the launch from San Clemente. According to the information available the Jap was drunk and had been put below decks. Paschall was talking to some of the crew when he heard a shout of warning and turned in time to see the Jap rushing toward him with a drawn knife. Paschall seized an iron bar and hit the Jap over the head, knocking him unconscious. The boat came on to the mainland and the Jap was put ashore at San Pedro, where he died. Paschall, it is understood, is now at San Clemente, having returned there Saturday night with the launch. His brother went to San Pedro today to investigate.”
