Docents introduce Amtrak passengers to the California coast

Curtis Blankinship: Amtrak has been awarded nearly $3 billion in U.S. Department of Transportation grants to buy new trains and improve service nationwide.

The California Coastal Commission has docents on the Coast Starlight line. From native plants to naval vessels, a lot is going on in the coast of California and you can see it from the train.

Docent: So we have all this coastline that basically nobody can get to. I’m okay with that. As somebody who’s done habitat restoration, most of us don’t pay any attention to where we put our size 6 or size 8 feet. So we damage the environment.

And so then all of this, there’s about 25 endangered species that are up in this area, from lizards to badgers to plants to birds. We have the snowy plover and the California least tern. And there are some deer out there.

So what I will tell you in this area, I’ve actually seen pictures. There are mountain lions, there are tons of coyotes. I’ve seen coyotes running on the beach. We saw some deer. There are wild boars out here.

All right. I’m not sure what Marty’s passed around, but this here is what was the Coast Guard rescue station, it’s now part of the Space Force base.

But this area right here, you can see this jetty here. Elon Musk uses this. They bring their boosters back and dock here. And then you’ll see the long road we’re going to be going by SpaceX. So you’ll be able to see where they launch from.

They launched I believe early this morning. It was after midnight. And that’s too bad it wasn’t canceled because if it had been canceled, we’d have got to see the rocket on the base.

So interesting. I always want to go stay there. This is my kind of territory. You are getting to see some pristine California coastline.

A lot of this, some of the grasses that you see out there are California natives. They’re California native bunchgrass.

The difference between California natives and all the invasive grasses and other species, they all die. The invasives get big and woody, the wild mustard, which we can still see some of when their lifespan come September, it’s hot. They die. They’re great fodder for fires.

We have lots of fires in California and a lot of wind. California natives go dormant and they just hunker down. So then when the next rain comes, they pop back. But because they’re dormant and not dead, they don’t burn as fast.

Docent: Okay, so we have a one-second highlight for you to look at coming up. It’s called Arch Rock. I consider it good luck. And I test myself every time to make sure I can point it out to you.

So I want you in about—when I give you the signal, look back. Look back towards the rear of the car, out the window and in the ocean will be this very beautiful, very small arch rock with water coming through it.

And it’s right there. The top of it is right there. You see out the window right now, it’s white. It’s white. We’re going to go around two hills. And I want you to look back towards this white rock.

And if you look carefully and you follow my every move, you’ll have one second to see the Arch Rock, and then it’ll disappear, and you can say, ‘I saw it. He didn’t make it up. I saw it.’

So we’re cruising along. We’ve got one more hillside. You see the top of that grayish rock behind us now it’s going to come up right after. Get ready right after this hill. Get ready right now and look between the—look at the Arch Rock. Boom.

Right here is, we’re coming up on the greatest or the worst, infamous, the most infamous U.S. Navy peacetime shipwreck disaster in naval history up to 1963 and going on to—

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Docent: It happened in 1923. The shipwreck. We just passed a radio station. Look out the window right there, see those buildings? In 1923, Navy sailors were manning the radio. That was a new technology 103 years ago.

And they were saying to this single-file line of U.S. Navy destroyers, 14 coming at 22 knots in the middle of the night from San Francisco to San Diego: ‘Don’t come any closer. ‘We’re the Navy radio station at Honda Point.’

And the lead skipper said, ‘I know where I’m at. I’m not going to go into Devil’s Jaw, which is San Miguel Island and the mainland. I’m too close to San Miguel Island.

And the radio transmitter guy said ‘No.’

And you see this rock out here, this little island off the point? We call that Destroyer Rock. Because five minutes after this phone call, the Navy skipper said, ‘Hard to port. Let’s avoid San Miguel Island.’

San Miguel Island is 18 miles out to sea. He was 18 miles off course. He crashed. Destroyer No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7. All on that rock and in that channel. And to this day, they’re down there. The seven Navy destroyers sunk.

Two ran aground. No. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 stayed away and didn’t get into disaster.

But on those seven Navy destroyers, 744 men were in the water at 2 a.m. Some of their ship—one ship had turned upside down, capsized. The train we’re riding on now was a rescue train then, 1923.

It came from Lompoc with doctors, nurses, helpers, and they helped get the men. Honda Point is what we’re looking at. There’s Destroyer Rock. It looks pretty peaceful now, doesn’t it? But not when you’re in the middle of the night and not when you’re sleeping in a destroyer.

The bottom line: All the men got out except 23 died, 23 fatalities.

Three of the skippers got written up for court-martial, but the lead skipper of the (U.S.S.) Delphy took complete ownership of the navigational error, and they rescinded his court-martial. They just never promoted any of them again.

We’re going over Honda Trestle. A little bridge now about eight stories tall.

There’s one last bit of story that I find interesting. If there’s any Navy buffs in the car, is that there was an ensign (which is a junior grade officer) at the helm of one of the Navy destroyers that did not sink, but they faulted him for following the leader, which was the order.

They gave him a second chance, and it’s a good thing they gave him a second chance because he went on to have an aircraft carrier named after him that’s been in operation for many years. He became the chief of naval operations.

His name was Chester Nimitz and he was an ensign, the skipper of one of those 14 destroyers that didn’t sink. Give somebody a second chance.

Okay, so we passed—we went probably by (SLC-)6 already because I was talking. But now we’re going to go by SLC-4. They just changed the colors. On a train ride, you get a very good view shortly. They changed the building from white with black letters to black with white letters, two weeks ago. The letters spell ‘SpaceX,’ Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar company.

I’ve been following it. Last year, when we did this tour in March, it was $400 billion.  Last March it was $800 billion, and it just went public for $1 trillion. So it’s quite a company.

Curtis Blankinship: Amtrak’s new era of rail continues to advance…

Founded in 1971 as a quasi-public corporation to operate many U.S. passenger rail routes, Amtrak receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit organization.

Amtrak is headed by a board of directors, two of whom are the secretary of transportation and chief executive officer of Amtrak, while the other eight members are nominated to serve a term of five years.

With strong federal support, Amtrak can continue investments in American infrastructure and jobs, strengthen the economy, and make America a world leader in rail once again.

Images courtesy Wikimedia Commons.