Point Cabrillo Adds New Frolic Cove Interpretive Sign
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Frolic Interpretive Panel at Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park.
On a walk to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse yesterday, I discovered that a large interpretive panel, with cement still drying, had been installed on the bluff above Frolic Cove. The sign’s headline is “History Pivots on a Rock.” The story goes like this: Capt. Faucon was guiding the clipper brig Frolic on her final voyage — after years operating as an opium runner between India and China to Gold Rush-frenzied San Francisco — with ale, silks and household goods.
It was probably a foggy summer day on June 10, 1850 when the Frolic hit the rocks damaging the rudder. Capt. Faucon managed to pivot on the rocks and with the power of his sails push his wounded vessel into Frolic Cove. No one was injured, but the ship was lost. He eventually made his way to San Francisco where he reported the incident. When Jerome Ford arrived weeks later to recover the cargo, he found nothing left.
The Pomo Indians has snatched up everything that had washed ashore. What Ford did find was another kind of treasure: virgin redwoods. That find led to settlement of the coast and lumber operations in nearly every cove on our coast. The new panel is a must-see. The remains of the Frolic at lowest tide are only about 10 feet below the surface.