Obit of a pirate at heart

[Red Maria]

I wish I had known this guy. He sounds like a true pirate. From my friend Capt. Thomas Tucker

Here is someone I remember from my seafarin days in the Pacific, may he rest in peace for the true seaman he was!

Capt. Tom

CAPTAIN HOWARD THOMAS

1919 - 2007

SAN DIEGO - He was friends with Errol Flynn, he took Charles Lindbergh sailing on San Diego Bay, he was considered the fastest man in America in 1940, and he helped Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discover San Diego Bay 21 times.

Howard Thomas was known along the waterfront as the "Ancient Mariner," he was a man for all seasons, and friend of all the world. He died June 3 from natural causes at the age of 87 in the comfort of his home, with family nearby.

Looking as though he stepped right off the pages of a Joseph Conrad novel, or off the label of an Old Spice bottle, Captain Thomas was a natural gentleman and extremely credible. He mentored people of all ages, was devoted to his wife and three sons, but still managed to indulge in his love of the sea, often to extremes.

Howard Thomas worked for the Auto Club of Southern California for 36 years and was Regional Manager for the Auto Club of San Diego County for a decade before his retirement.

He was chairman of the San Diego Rotary Club Yachting Committee, and Commodore of the International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians.

He was a loan executive for United Way, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the City of San Diego, President of the San Diego Public Safety Committee, and President of Cabrillo Festival. But that just scratched the surface.

Walter Mitty fanaticized about being larger than life. Howard Thomas was larger than life. He lived out adventures on land and at sea to the fullest, collecting the most unbelievable chapters in his long life, and an even longer list of friends who admired the man for a lifetime of honesty and integrity.

As a young man, living in Tujunga, California, he was fast as the wind. Thomas captained the San Fernando High School track team, the Glendale College track team, and the Fresno State University track team.

He was named to the All-American track team for high hurdles and held the 120 high hurdle national record. He qualified for the Olympics in 1940 but WWII dashed his dreams of a Gold Medal when the Olympics were cancelled.

He took first place at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the 120 hurtles and was greeted at the finish line by movie mogul Jack Warner (of Warner Brothers Studios), who promptly signed Thomas up with his acting agency.

Thomas was 6'3", had chiselled good looks, and was a tremendous athlete -- all the tools needed to succeed in Hollywood in those days.

The agency paraded him around town with the young starlets in their stable. He dined with Katherine Grayson, Lana Turner, and Esther Williams, and always at restaurants where gossip columnists Heda Hopper or Louella Parsons could see the budding actors.

The grooming of his new public image was well underway when Thomas decided to chuck the whole concept of acting. He would say years later, "Those people were not real, and six months was all I could stomach."

Right out of high school he and a pal stowed away on a tramp steamer headed to the South Seas via San Francisco. They were discovered by the ship's captain in San Francisco and unceremoniously put ashore. Time and again Howard's plans to see the tropics were dashed on a lee shore.

His interests turned to football and fencing, but always involved a traditional sailboat. He married Dawn Eldridge right after high school. She was from a three-generation Vaudeville acting family. Her stage name was "Baby Dawn." She died in 1993 after more than 50 years of marriage. That hole in Howard's life was never filled.

After missing the chance for Gold at the 1940 Olympics, and failing in his plans to explore the South Pacific, Howard joined the US Navy. During this time, and while walking along the docks in Sausalito, he saw what he described as, "The most beautiful schooner I'd ever seen."

He paced up and down the dock, and even jumped into the bay to swim her length for a closer look. "She was a gaff-rigged beauty," he would recall years later. As he was swimming around her stern a man stuck his head out of the hatch and said, "If you really like her that much, come on board." It was the swashbuckling actor himself, Errol Flynn.

The two became friends. Flynn eventually asked Thomas to join him on a sail to Jamaica through the Panama Canal. The moment nearly won the decision, but Howard's wife reminded him rather quickly that they had two young sons at home, and a third on the way. He decided it would not be prudent to up and leave at that moment.

Still, he and Flynn remained in touch over the years with Thomas visiting him on the set and at his home various times. When Flynn died, his widow, Patrice Wymore, personally drove to San Diego to give Howard the news.

As his three sons, Baron, Drake, and Lance grew, their father craved a larger boat. He had been sailing since 17, and owned several small gaffers and luggers. But he wanted something special. He found her in San Francisco, not far from where he first saw Flynn's schooner.

From 1969-1980 Thomas ran San Diego's first sailing charter aboard their 80-foot brig Rendezvous. Howard was already quite a sailor, having won the 1960 Newport to Ensenada Race at the helm of the 1906 schooner Martha, but this ship with the large Maltese cross on the fore top, was to become legendary in sailing circles up and down the coast. To Howard, she was his pride and joy.

His sons became mates on the Rendezvous, and Drake acted as skipper for many years. They logged many seagoing adventures with their salty father. And, like sailors' wives of old, Dawn had to compete with the sea for time with her men. She would exclaim years later, "I wouldn't have had it any other way."

On Rendezvous the Thomas family frequently entertained celebrity guests. Among his passengers and crew were Charles Lindbergh, Arthur Godfrey, Reza Shah Pahlavi (the last Shaw of Iran), Lloyd Bridges (and his sons Beau and Jeff), among others.

Over his long career Howard Thomas was tasked with finding a traditional sailing vessel to recreate the annual "discovery" of San Diego by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo for the San Diego Cabrillo Festival.

Howard got a kick out of telling people that he helped Cabrillo discover San Diego 21 times. Captain Thomas would arrange for the sailing ship (intended to be Cabrillo's San Salvador), the row boats to get Cabrillo, his priest and soldiers ashore, and often Howard would have to point them to shore or give rowing lessons just to help the re-enactors reach their destination.

He was a respected wooden boat owner and sailor until just two years before his death, organizing tallship festivals (before it was popular to do so) and schooner races on the bay. He helped with traditional boat restoration projects and organized educational programs,

Thomas once told a reporter at Sea Magazine that at one of his events the officers and crew of a Japanese Class-A tallship were so impressed with the hospitality he provided, that they arranged to name a mountain after him in Japan, "Mt. Thomas."

The name "Captain" was not a military rank. And yet, everyone who ever worked the San Diego waterfront will tell you he is, "Captain Howard Thomas."

"The boats he loved were really his communication devices for sharing with others," said Ray Ashley, executive director at the Maritime Museum. "They were the theatre stages, if you will, for performances that were more important and far reaching than any roles he might have played on the silver screen.

"On land, many of Howard's 'voyages' were achieved through public service, his 'landfalls' in the success he helped others achieve, and the pride he took in their accomplishments.

"His daring 'rescues' could be found in the interest he took (and role he played) as mentor and generous friend and advisor to the many young people who worked with him, sailed with him, adored him, and incorporated him into their own concepts of integrity, honesty, and the proper way to live a life."

During his long career Thomas was Port Captain for the state tallship Californian. During construction of the ship at San Diego's Spanish Landing, he arranged for numerous large donations to help build the vessel, and served as political liaison to various city agencies throughout.

Captain Thomas would later become Port Captain for the large Gloucester schooner named Star Pilot, and consult with numerous charter schooners and ancient mariner vessels. His last boat was an Angleman ketch named Sea Waif. It was designer Hugh Angleman's personal yacht for many years.

Howard Thomas lived in La Jolla for 18 years, and Point Loma for 32 years. His wife Dawn predeceased him in 1993. He is survived by a sister Jane of Orange County; sons Baron of San Diego, Drake of Maui, Hawaii, and Lance of Coronado; seven grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren.

A celebration of life for Captain Howard Thomas will be held at the San Diego Maritime Museum, Friday, June 29, at 6:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the San Diego Maritime Museum "In Memory of Captain Howard Thomas."

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[Black Hearted Pearl]

Thanks for the info, Red Maria. Sounds like he had a wonderful adventure of a life.