According to the AFI Catalog entry for this film, the three-masted, square-rigged sailing ship was named the "Santa Clara". She was built in 1876 in Bath, Maine. She ended up in San Francisco as part of the fleet of the Alaska Packers Association from 1896 to 1926, sailing yearly to participate in the salmon fishing season. After that, the Santa Clara was sold and moved to Los Angeles where it was used in the movies and possibly as a fishing barge. Sometime in the early 1930s it sank in San Pedro Harbor. Many attempts were made to salvage her, but she wasn't raised until 1964 when she was moved to a spot off of the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes and sunk on the order of the Coast Guard. For the film, the ship's crew consisted of forty Norwegian sailors, who were the only men left on the West Coast who could handle such a vessel. Filming aboard took six or seven days on Santa Catalina Island off California. The cast and crew endured three days of heavy rain and both the steam heating and plumbing system of their accommodations failed. Their only cooking facility had been reduced to one stove with soaked wood for fuel.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
