The start of Mendocino’s lumber history is closely tied to the wreck of Frolic, a 97-foot-long two-mast ship built in Baltimore in 1844. The August Heard Company of Boston owned the ship and used it to compete in the opium trade. Under the command of Captain Edward Faucon, the Frolic travelled to Bombay, India, where opium was loaded into the ship’s cargo hold and delivered to the Gulf of Canton in south China. Less than a decade later, however, steam-powered ships had overtaken Frolic, and the ship’s owners looked to put it to a new job.
The discovery of gold in the California hills drove many west for new opportunities. California’s growing population created a significant demand for goods, and a fortune greater than gold could be made in this trade. In June 1850, the Frolic, loaded with porcelain, hardware, silk, and 6,009 bottles of beer, left China and headed to San Francisco.
Captain Faucon’s maps of the Pacific Coast were old and inaccurate. Faucon wrote in his captain’s log that while the coast was obscured by fog, he could see a northern mountain range and assumed the ship was a good distance away from the shore. But Frolic was much closer to shore than Faucon realized, about 200 yards. On the night of July 25, 1850, Frolic’s rudder hit a reef hidden under the water and began to sink just north of today’s Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. Most of the crew abandoned ship. Some crew remained and managed to maneuver the water-logged hull into a nearby cove.
Faucon traveled overland to San Francisco, where he reported the shipwreck to the August Heard Company and made an insurance report. The ship’s cargo sank with it, but slowly began washing ashore, where it was salvaged by Pomo people on the coast. Soon after, news of the shipwreck was published in San Francisco papers. Harry Meiggs, the owner of a wharf in the bay and a lumber mill in Bodega, sent his employee Jerome Ford to investigate the wreck and salvage its cargo. Ford went north, but by the time he arrived he found no cargo left. Ford did, however, find the redwood trees lining the coast and returned to San Francisco with news that treasures worth more than Frolic’s cargo grew along the Mendocino Coast. Mendocino’s first sawmill arrived on the ship Ontario soon after.
Kelley House Museum curator Averee McNear writes a weekly column on Mendocino County history for Mendocino Voice. To learn more, visit kelleyhousemuseum.org.