❖ PASSAGE FROM SAIL TO STEAM ❖ With Captain Harold Huycke

By Captain L.R.W. Beavis 

Book Review
Passage from Sail to Steam. Beavis, Capt. L.R.W. Edited by M.S. Kline,
Documentary Book Publishers Corp. Bellevue, WA. 1986 210 pgs.

A long-dormant manuscript has come to light, thanks to the foresight and patience of Capt. L.R. W. Beavis' granddaughter, and the good efforts of editor Mary S. Kline. This autobiography of Capt. Beavis may be one of the last first-person accounts of the age of sail in the Victorian era, where a British boy climbs from apprentice to master, to ever be published, simply because of the obvious fact that the ships are long gone and so are the men who sailed in them before the turn of the century.
      The names of Basil Lubbock, a prolific author, and historian of British sailing ships, and Capt. H.H.Morrison are well ensconced in the archives of maritime history. Both were contemporaries and friends of Capt. Beavis. Basil Lubbock, who died after WW II, used many photos in his numerous books credited to both men. Thus, Capt. Beavis is to be remembered both, for his entertaining and perceptive writing style and his photographic record keeping.
      Born in England in 1864, Lancelot R. Waldron Beavis (he didn't use his first name in later years) joined the old three-decker training ship CONWAY as an apprentice at the age of 12, eventually being apprenticed in the iron full rigger STAR OF FRANCE which took him around the world a number of times until his time was up. From there he went to the full-rigger MICRONESIA in which he served at third mate, followed by the clipper TITANIA, rigged down to a bark; the full-rigged ship EURASIA, ship MYLOMENE and once again as master in the MICRONESIA. In 1897 this big ship was lost to a devastating fire and thereafter Capt. Beavis went into steamships.
      After pounding across the N. Atlantic as cattle steamers for a few years, Capt Beavis moved to Canada, and by 1910 had settled in B.C. with his wife and daughter. Thereafter, for the next twenty years, he continued in a variety of steamers, as mate, master, pilot, and going offshore and coastwise as fortunes allowed. During WWI he returned to sail, for a half voyage, going master in the big, new five-masted JANET CARUTHERS from B.C. to Australia, via Hawaii. But her leaking seams, erratic diesel engines and a measure of other sources of grief burdened him down, and he left the ship in Australia to return to B.C. as a passenger.
      Finally, in 1930 he retired to a remote island, after his wife died, and settled down to a rather simple and primitive existence. He died in Portland, OR in 1940.
      Capt. Beavis was a kind of non-conformist, albeit a life-long professional seaman, if we read his words carefully. But he had a knack for remembering and documenting the humorous side of his life at sea. Besides describing the succession of ships he had served in, their voyages, arrival, and departure dates, he offers colorful observations of the ships themselves, the ports visited––and how they changed over the years––and men of the sea with whom he sailed and conducted his business. The transition from sail to steam was not pleasant, but it was practical, and he made the change much earlier in his life than did many of his contemporary British shipmasters.
    The book is well illustrated with good quality photographs of sailing ships and steamers. For this, the publisher must take credit, and the overall layout of the book, including artwork, arrangement, and clarity of detail elevates it above the ordinary coffee table reader.
      The editing is thorough, if erratic, and Mary Kline provides footnotes which will serve, if not confusing in some cases, the most uninformed land-locked reader. Some of the footnotes and editor's notes are appropriate and others are redundant.
      Unhappily one is left uncertain as to whether the misspelled words in the text are those of the author, editor or the printer. Likewise, the use of well-known photographs are occasionally misnamed and so the wrong identification, coming and going is perpetuated again in this book. Numerous photos were chosen which have no direct relationship to the author's story, and serve only as good examples of the photography of Capt. Beavis' skill, or those persons with whom he traded pictures over the years.'         
      Nevertheless, the book is a good and worthwhile contribution to the preservation of the age of sail. Capt. Beavis' name and his era is well illuminated within its handsome covers. 
Reviewer: Capt. Harold D. Huycke (1922-2007)
The Sea Chest, September 1986. Journal of Puget Sound Maritime, Seattle, WA.
      
Captain Huycke worked for c. 45 years in the shipping industry, at sea as mate and master and onshore as a cargo supervisor and later marine surveyor. His duties found him in San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest, Central America, British Columbia, and Hawaii, working for various shipping companies including Weyerhaeuser Steamship Co, States Marine Lines, Puget Sound Tug and Barge Co and Foss Launch and Tug Co.
      Between assignments at sea and ashore, Huycke was tapped by the State of California to purchase, refit, and deliver the lumber schooner C.A. THAYER. This year-long project culminated in a coastwise sailing voyage from the Puget Sound to San Francisco for which Huycke acted as bosun.
      For 60 years, Huycke's avocation was maritime history. He was part of the first generation of maritime historians on the West Coast. He has written and contributed to several books on maritime history. His largest published project was the book, TO SANTA ROSALIA FURTHER AND BACK, a detailed history of a dozen German sailing vessels detained in a remote port in Mexico during WWI. He researched and wrote extensively on commercial sailing vessels including the Star Fleet of the Alaska Packers Assoc, steam schooners, Liberty and Victory ships, fishing barges and maritime businesses. He served as mentor and editor to many individuals, helping them to write and publish stories that would otherwise not have been told. He conducted oral histories to preserve the stories of seafaring men and the vessels that they sailed.      
Captain Huycke died in Edmonds, WA., on 12 February 2007.