Safe Anchorage

---

Maritime History

Richardson's Bay is rich in California lore and legend. Early map makers named it for the enterprising pioneer William Richardson who established a port on his 19,000 acre Rancho del Sausalito in the 1840's. The trading vessels and whalers that plied the coast stopped here in the sheltered cove to take on provisions and fresh water. Later, bootleggers found it a safe haven for their own provisions. World War II saw a thriving shipbuilding enterprise--some 90 Liberty Ships, oilers and tankers were launched in Sausalito's Marinship waters. Over many years, numerous small boat builders and marine repair services found a natural home along the edges of the Bay.
As times changed, new uses evolved. Then, in the early summer of 1998 the Sausalito Boatbuilder's Co-op closed--one of the last vestiges of the fast-disappearing working waterfront. Recognizing the importance of the Bay's maritime industries and traditions, three local residents, Barry Hibbin, Charlie Merrill and Cameron Dorsey, formed an organization to protect and promote its heritage and history, adopting the name of the Richardson's Bay Maritime Association--RBMA

---

Sausalito has a long history of wooden boat building. The first Spanish explorers arrived here in the late 1700's aboard the wooden boat, San Carlos. The indiginous Coastal Miwok tribes built the equivalent of sit-on-top kayaks out of the tule reeds that grew along the bay. These same Indians were taught how to sail, build and maintain wooden boats by San Francisco Port Captain, William Richardson in the mid 1800's. Richardson himself arrived on the wooden boat, Orion and was followed by Portuguese fishermen and wooden boat builders. “El Rancho del Sausalito” (grove of little willows) was granted to Richardson in 1845 by Governor Pio Pico and ships arriving in port would come to Sausalito for review by the Port Captain to pay levied taxes and to get game, water, and wood.

In 1914 a young man by the name of Donlon Arques followed in the footsteps of his father Camillo Arques, a long-time Sausalito boat builder. By 1948 Donlon had acquired and inherited much of the Sausalito waterfront. Arques believed that anyone with two hands and mind to build something should be provided with the necessary work and living space to fulfill their dreams. It was Donlon Arques who owned the waterfront and Donlon Arques who dragged the retired ferry boats and arks onto his mud flats so people could live in them. This eventually gave birth to Sausalito's famous houseboat and floating home communities
The Nunes Brothers, Madden and Lewis, The Pasquinucci family, Easom Boat Works, Reliance Boats and Ways Company, Stone Boat Yard, Atlanta Boat Building Plant, Crichton & Arques and Bob’s Boatyard all played a big part in Sausalito’s wooden boat building history. Most of the boats they built were work boats, service boats, and tug boats like the 1938 45-foot Telco now in the San Francisco Maritime Museum or the wooden sub chasers built by Madden and Lewis during WWII, but they also built recreational day sailors like the San Francisco Bear class boats, Bird class boats, Golden Gates, Hurricanes, Clippers, and Mercuries.

Errol Flynn’s Zaca is perhaps the largest and most famous wooden boat ever built in Sausalito. The Zaca is a 1930 118-foot gaff-rigged schooner built by the Nunes Brothers for Templeton Crocker. This boat was then and is now considered to be one of the finest yachts in the world. Other famous boats have sailed into Richardson’s Bay and obtained new life at the hands of Sausalito’s fabled shipwrights. Harold Sommer’s Wanderbird, a German pilot schooner engaged the entire waterfront as people donated time and materials towards the project. Sterling Hayden’s Wanderer was also restored at Galilee Harbor prior to Hayden’s infamous flight from the Golden Gate.

During the WWII the Sausaltio Marinship was created. Here 93 Libertyships, tankers and oilers were built over a four year period. Many of the original buildings and ship ways are still in use today. The Arques Marina and Spaulding’s Wooden Boat Center are both located inside the Marinship where traditional wooden boat building is still taking place today. The Arques hosts a number of small wooden boat shops and the Arques School of Traditional Boat Building, founded by the Arques Trust.

For more information visit the Sausalito Historical Society or take the Sausaltio Wooden Boat Tour