Oral Histories

Interview of Fred K. Klebingat

Sailor and advocate for the preservation of the ship Falls of Clyde.
Subtitle:
Pacific Coast Shipmaster
Series:
Z: Orphan Interviews pre 1999
Topic:
Community History
Biographical Note:
Sailor and advocate for the preservation of the ship Falls of Clyde.
Interviewer:
Tweedale, Dellene M.
Interviewee:
Klebingat, Fred K.
Language:
English
Copyright:
Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Abstract:
Going to sea in D. H. Wätjen from Bremen, Germany, 1905; sailing around Cape of Good Hope to West Coast; signing on five-masted American schooner Crescent; work in South Sea trade to Marquesas, Tahiti, Western Samoa, and American Samoa; trips from San Francisco to San Diego, Ventura, Gaviota, Redondo, and other California ports, 1911-12; citizenship papers, 1914; shipping in Falls of Clyde to Gaviota, Honolulu, San Pedro; Star of Poland wrecked on voyage to Nagasaki; seven years as skipper of four-masted American schooner Melrose, running to Hawaii and South Seas; skipper of Zane Grey's yacht Fisherman; captain of liberty ships and oil tankers during World War II; working ships for movies; Otto Mathies and John Barrymore; restoring Falls of Clyde; shipping lumber to San Pedro; yachting business in San Pedro; Prohibition; shipowners' attitude to unions before 1934 strike; shipping oil to Redondo; rum running; whaling; whale sharks; big-time yachting; Howard Hughes; origin of longshoremen.