2020 Lighthouse Lecture Series
Please note that due to the COVID-19 situation we have cancelled the lectures scheduled for March through August. Depending on how the Mendocino County Health Department Orders are updated we may have to cancel the remainder of the Lecture Series. Kitty will be working with the cancelled presenters to re-schedule in the future.
Spotlight On Our Next Lecture
This presentation will review the history of the IL’mena, formerly the brig Lydia out of Boston, highlighting her role in the emergence of a global trading system which impacts our economy still today. In addition, we will review the status of Dr. Jim Allan’s search for the IL’mena which many believe is buried in the sand in the surf line on Manchester Beach. The timeline of this ship will be reviewed and her story told through her involvement in seven historic events:
- Designation as the “Hell Ship” Lydia (1804)
- Rescue of the American Ship Boston (1805)
- Relay of Lewis and Clark’s Letter to Jefferson (1806)
- Rescue of the Russian Ship St. Nikolai (1810)
- Massacre of the Nicolenos (1814)
- Service to the Russian American Company (1820)
- A Local Connection – The Indians at the Ross Settlement (1820)
Richard will detail some of the people involved in these events and the overall history of the IL’mena. This will include:
John Jewitt
Chief Maquiinna
John Jewitt, who was a survivor of the ship Boston massacre in 1803 and was held captive by local natives for two years before being rescued by the Lydia in 1805. He later wrote a best seller of his experience.
Chief Maquiinna, who led the attack on the Boston and was Jewitt’s slave master during his captivity. He was himself later held captive on the Lydia in a prisoner exchange for John Jewitt.
In 1805, anchored twelve miles from the Lewis and Clark encampment on the Columbia River, the Lydia received a request from the explorers to relay a letter to Thomas Jefferson to let the president know they had reached the Pacific.
Purchased by the Russian American Company and renamed the IL’mena, the brig was a workhorse for the company until it went aground at Point Arena in 1820.
Over the past 10 years Richard Sequest has produced a number of documentary shorts on climate change and homelessness. In 2012 he became involved in the bicentennial celebration of the founding of Fort Ross and produced a short film, “Grounded”, on the loss of the Russian American Company brig IL’mena, the first shipwreck at Pt. Arena.
Future Lectures
On Saturday, October 17 at 4 p.m. Scott Sewell will present “Point Arena and the Mendocino Coast: How to See and Shoot the Coastal Landscape“ as part of the Lighthouse Lecture Series.Scott Sewell is a photographer in love with the Pacific Coast, the High Sierra and Black and White photography. He is a fourth generation Californian whose grandfather was a forest ranger in the Central Sierra during the Great Depression. His mother, who grew up there, introduced him and his siblings to the natural beauty of the California mountains and coastline through years of family vacation travels. He has been hiking, riding and shooting both as an amateur and a professional for most of his life. His work is on sale at Point Arena Lighthouse and on his website. This presentation will detail the many facets of photographing the rugged and beautiful Northern California coastline, including:
- Introduction: a fantastic and unique landscape
- Shooting conditions and tools: the weather, sun, tides, waves and apps to gauge them
- Where to shoot, how to get there and what to expect
- Your Eye: the keys to good landscape photography
- The Finished Product: how to improve your shots after you’ve taken them