Zaca: 1933 Templeton Crocker Scientific Expedition
Classic Sailing Documentaries
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5m 35s
A short film by Luther Greene.
In the spring of 1933, Templeton Crocker and a team of scientists sailed his schooner, Zaca across the Pacific from San Francisco, California to the Solomon islands. There, they visited two outlying isolated islands: Rennell and Bellona. Basically untouched by western civilization the inhabitants were "20,000 years behind modern history." After departing the Solomons, Zaca continued east, circumnavigating the globe. This was the first of three circumnavigations and 8 scientific voyages Crocker made aboard the Zaca.
In the second part of this short, filmmaker Luther Greene travels to the Solomon Islands and visits with the island descendants of the 1933 Zaca expedition. Some traditions remain the same, but much has changed.
Crocker documented the Solomon Islands expedition on 35mm black & White film with sound. For nearly fifty years, the film lay forgotten in Templeton's San Francisco mansion until its accidental discovery by filmmaker, Luther Greene. Greene incorporated some of this historic footage in his award-winning documentary about the legendary California schooner and those whose lives it touched.
ABOUT TEMPLETON CROCKER
Templeton Crocker belonged to one of San Francisco's most prominent and wealthiest families. He was the grandson of Charles Crocker, a railroad tycoon and investor in the transcontinental railroad. 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the railroad's completion.
In 1933, Crocker published his book, The Cruise of the Zac describing his circumnavigation. The book captures an adventure at sea combined with scientific exploits under sail. Now out of print, hard copies can be be found, but are very expensive. However, you can read a free online version provided by the Hathi Trust Digital Library. Here is the link...
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b556582
BTW, college alums and other members of other organizations can qualify for a Hathi membership and gain access to a large digital library of hard to find titles.
An EXTRA for Luther Greene's documentary, In the Wake of the Zaca. Watch at https://www.sailflix.com/in-the-wake-of-the-zaca
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