When State Parks and State Lands announce in the near future our newest underwater park, the most researched Gold Rush shipwreck site in California history becomes the 20th such park. And no one will be more delighted than John Foster, the senior state archaeologist, whose 1986 memo first proposed the shipwreck was worth researching and preserving.

Early on, Foster explained, the Frolic was an obvious choice for a state underwater park, with tremendous historical importance and "a great deal of informative relics on the ocean floor. This important site deserved then to be protected and appreciated and, after eighteen years, I must say the wait has been worthwhile."

Becoming an underwater state park has benefits beyond public awareness, namely attracting funding for further research, restoration, and monitoring. "Joining the Parks system makes finding money and resources more likely," Foster says, "and, even with tight budgets, we usually find money for good projects. For example, conserving one of two Frolic cannons will take up to three years to protect it from deterioration, which is why we only retrieve artifacts which we can preserve."

Local Enthusiasm the Difference

That the site north of Point Cabrillo became a state park at all is no small achievement, according to international park expert, Charles Beeker, director of Indiana University's Underwater Science program. "I wasn't that optimistic in the late '90s," he reported, "when I first saw the site. But what drove this park is the commitment and knowledge of locals, beginning with the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse board, staff and volunteers, plus from South Caspar and around Mendocino."

Beeker distinguished this community from so many others. "Strong local enthusiasm is not just unusual but opposite to what we often find elsewhere. Routinely in Florida, we meet either apathy, suspicion of government, or threatened commercial interests profiting from salvage activity. Here, not only was local resistance absent, many were willing to work hard to get a park in their backyard. Equally unusual is for many sports divers to be so generous in donating more than a few items, but entire collections. Mendocino knows what it means to preserve historical resources before they are degraded. Thus, I am optimistic other key park components - buoys, site plaques, diver guides, kiosks and outreach -- are on the way."

Frolic Park a Model

Foster agrees, "Local enthusiasm was critical, helping State Parks and State Lands to come together, aided by Tom Layton's extraordinary historical research and excellent maritime archaeology co-ordinated by Sheli Smith and Charles Beeker. It's a terrific story, making the well-documented Frolic Park a good model for developing other deserving places for public management."

"In fact, parks don't stop at the water's edge" he continues, "because California history doesn't stop there. Transferring 83 acres from State Lands to State Parks allows us to take an active role. We foresee working with Point Cabrillo to train 'site stewards,' both on land and in the water, to monitor usage. We'd like to see a local dive group taking periodic photos for feedback about changes over time, especially after storms."

In short, getting park designation is an important first step but more local resources, especially funding, will be required to finish the important components that define an outstanding underwater park. But Foster and Beeker agree the hard work has already been done so Frolic Park is about to become another rich jewel on the North Coast.

Two Brothers, One Big Coincidence

Postscript: However exceptional is the 18 year history that produced Frolic Park, there's a remarkable side story. John Foster's brother, Dan, works for the California Department of Forestry. Early in the 1980s, before Tom Layton, the subsequent father of Frolic research, knew anything about the shipwreck, he sought a clean site to train graduate students. It was forester Dan who just happened to introduce him to Three Chop Village.

So what brother Dan innocently started -- Layton's quest to resolve why mysterious, Asian-looking ceramics "contaminated" his supposedly untainted Pomo site, his brother John at State Parks brought to fruition - preserving the very source of key ceramics,. How intriguing this modest unintended consequence resolved a dramatically more significant unintended circumstance -- the crash landing of a clipper brig, on a fateful 6000 mile voyage to supply San Francisco '49ers-, but overcome by night time visibility, a misty shore and an unreliable map.

Who says reality doesn't outdo fiction and with ongoing ripples?

DAY 7