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In the late summer of 1984, the author and a group of his
archaeology students excavated fragments of Chinese porcelain at
the site of a Pomo Indian village a hundred miles north of San
Francisco. How did these ceramics, which were more than a hundred
years old, find their way to this remote area? And what could one
make of local legend that told of Pomo women wearing Chinese silk
shawls in the 1850's? The author determined to find the answers to
these questions, never dreaming that his quest would eventually
involve the lives of nineteenth-century Boston merchants, Baltimore
shipbuilders, Bombay opium brokers, and newly rich businessmen in
gold rush San Francisco.
The author soon learned that in 1850 the clipper "Frolic," a
sailing ship built specifically for the Asian opium trade, had
wrecked on the Mendocino coast, a few miles from the Pomo village.
He unearthed the business records of its owners, A. Heard &
Co., which showed that respectable Bostonians had made their
fortunes running opium from India to China. The family histories of
the firm's two most influential partners are traced from the
American Revolution to their joint decision to order a custom-built
Baltimore clipper for the opium trade. In describing the design,
construction, and outfitting of the "Frolic," the author was aided
by a stroke of luck--a slave named Fred Bailey, later known to the
world as the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, worked in the
"Frolic"'s shipyard in 1836 and wrote detailed descriptions of the
building of such ships.
The "Frolic," under Captain Edward Faucon (who was depicted as the
"good" captain in Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast")
plied the opium trade from Bombay to China from 1845 to 1850. The
author describes the political, financial, and logistical aspects
of the profitable enterprise before 1849, when the introduction of
steam vessels into the opium trade made the "Frolic" obsolete as an
opium clipper. However, the California gold rush created a
lucrative market for Chinese goods, and the Heard firm dispatched
the "Frolic" to San Francisco with a diverse cargo that included
silks, porcelain, jewelry, and furniture. When the "Frolic" wrecked
on the Mendocino coast, the Pomo Indians salvaged its cargo, and
the vessel's history passed into folk tradition.
The subsequent lives of those intimately associated with the
"Frolic" are profiled. The owners' families preferred to forget the
source of their fortunes, and prior to her death in 1942, the
daughter of the "Frolic"'s captain burned her father's papers to
preserve his reputation. She could not know that in 1965 sports
divers would discover the remains of her father's opium clipper,
and that 134 years after its wreck, the "Frolic"'s story would
inspire an archaeologist-anthropologist to pursue its colorful
history.
In a prior volume-The Voyage of the "Frolic": New England Merchants
and the Opium Trade (Stanford, 1997)-historical archaeologist
Thomas N. Laytontold the story of his excavation of an ancient Pomo
Indian village site in Northern California, where, to his surprise,
he recovered Chinese porcelain potsherds. Tracing those sherds to a
beach on the rugged Mendocino coast, he then followed them out to
the submerged remains of the Frolic, a sailing vessel wrecked in
the summer of 1850 with a rich cargo of Chinese goods bound for
Gold Rush San Francisco. In that volume, Layton used the vessel's
earlier role, transporting opium from Bombay to Canton, as a
vehicle to tell the story of American participation in the opium
trade. Although the Frolic's career as an opium clipper was ended
in 1849 by the introduction of steam vessels, the almost
simultaneous discovery of gold in California suddenly created
enough purchasing power to support direct commerce with China-and
thus a new career for the Frolic. In this sequel volume, Layton has
two objectives. First, he employs the Frolic's ill-fated first, and
final, cargo to San Francisco to tell the broader story of the
beginnings of direct commerce between China and California. Second,
he attempts to explore the potential of contextual archaeology-the
intellectual process of "transporting" artifacts from their resting
places back to the behavioral contexts in which they once
functioned. Layton accomplishes his objectives by describing the
full trajectory of the Frolic's final cargo from four different
perspectives: from that of John Hurd Everett, the California
merchant who assembled the cargo in China; then from the
perspectives of the sailors and Pomo Indians who pillaged the cargo
immediately after the wreck; then through the eyes of
twentieth-century sport divers who plundered it yet again; then,
finally, through Layton's scientific perspective as an
archaeologist. To augment his quest for context, he employs
carefully documented vignettes to fill the interstices between the
facts. Throughout, he discusses his research-replete with visits to
archives and antique shops-and in so doing introduces readers to
the practice of modern historical archaeology.
In a prior volume--"The Voyage of the "Frolic": New England
Merchants and the Opium Trade" (Stanford, 1997)--historical
archaeologist Thomas N. Laytontold the story of his excavation of
an ancient Pomo Indian village site in Northern California, where,
to his surprise, he recovered Chinese porcelain potsherds. Tracing
those sherds to a beach on the rugged Mendocino coast, he then
followed them out to the submerged remains of the "Frolic," a
sailing vessel wrecked in the summer of 1850 with a rich cargo of
Chinese goods bound for Gold Rush San Francisco.
In that volume, Layton used the vessel's earlier role, transporting
opium from Bombay to Canton, as a vehicle to tell the story of
American participation in the opium trade. Although the "Frolic"'s
career as an opium clipper was ended in 1849 by the introduction of
steam vessels, the almost simultaneous discovery of gold in
California suddenly created enough purchasing power to support
direct commerce with China--and thus a new career for the "Frolic."
In this sequel volume, Layton has two objectives. First, he employs
the "Frolic"'s ill-fated first, and final, cargo to San Francisco
to tell the broader story of the beginnings of direct commerce
between China and California. Second, he attempts to explore the
potential of contextual archaeology--the intellectual process of
"transporting" artifacts from their resting places back to the
behavioral contexts in which they once functioned.
Layton accomplishes his objectives by describing the full
trajectory of the "Frolic"'s final cargo from four different
perspectives: from that of John Hurd Everett, the California
merchant who assembled the cargo in China; then from the
perspectives of the sailors and Pomo Indians who pillaged the cargo
immediately after the wreck; then through the eyes of
twentieth-century sport divers who plundered it yet again; then,
finally, through Layton's scientific perspective as an
archaeologist. To augment his quest for context, he employs
carefully documented vignettes to fill the interstices between the
facts. Throughout, he discusses his research--replete with visits
to archives and antique shops--and in so doing introduces readers
to the practice of modern historical archaeology.
In the late summer of 1984, the author and a group of his
archaeology students excavated fragments of Chinese porcelain at
the site of a Pomo Indian village a hundred miles north of San
Francisco. How did these ceramics, which were more than a hundred
years old, find their way to this remote area? And what could one
make of local legend that told of Pomo women wearing Chinese silk
shawls in the 1850's? The author soon learned that in 1850 the
clipper Frolic, a sailing ship built specifically for the Asian
opium trade, had wrecked on the Mendocino coast, a few miles from
the Pomo village. He unearthed the business records of its owners,
A. Heard & Co., which showed that respectable Bostonians had
made their fortunes running opium from India to China. In
describing the design, construction, and outfitting of the Frolic,
the author was aided by a stroke of luck - a slave named Fred
Bailey, later known to the world as the abolitionist Frederick
Douglass, worked in the Frolic's shipyard in 1836 and wrote
detailed descriptions of the building of such ships. The Frolic,
under Captain Edward Faucon, plied the opium trade from Bombay to
China from 1845 to 1850. The author describes the political,
financial, and logistical aspects of the profitable enterprise
before 1849, when the introduction of steam vessels into the opium
trade made the Frolic obsolete as an opium clipper. However, the
California gold rush created a lucrative market for Chinese goods,
and the Heard firm dispatched the Frolic to San Francisco with a
diverse cargo that included silks, porcelain, jewelry, and
furniture. When the Frolic wrecked on the Mendocino coast, the Pomo
Indians salvaged its cargo, and the vessel's history passed into
folk tradition. The subsequent lives of those intimately associated
with the Frolic are profiled. The owners' families preferred to
forget the source of their fortunes, and prior to her death in
1942, the daughter of the Frolic's captain burned her father's
papers to preserve his reputation.
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