Sherman Library & Gardens honors 100th anniversary of the Great Rescue

Los Angeles Times

21-06-2025

It was June 14, 1925 and gold medal Olympic swimmer, legendary Hawaiian surfer and actor Duke Kahanamoku was at Corona del Mar beach camped out with friends.
A fishing boat, Thelma, missed the warning flags that it was dangerous to go out through the harbor mouth.
'At that time there was only the remains of the jetty on one side of the harbor mouth and the waves that day were very, very big,' said Paul Burnett of Huntington Beach, who co-authored 'Surfing Newport Beach: The Glory Days of Corona Del Mar' with his wife, Claudine. 'The captain of the little fishing boat had had engine trouble since they had left their dock, and he was down below trying to tinker with the engine and left the piloting of the boat to one of the fishermen.'
The boat's motor was malfunctioning. And then the Thelma ran into the surf.
'The waves hit the boat, and there were 17 men aboard, and the first wave that hit them knocked over 15 of the men,' Burnett said.
Kahanamoku grabbed his surfboard and paddled out. A group of others also went out into the ocean to assist in what is now known as the Great Rescue. Twelve fishermen were saved that day.
'Duke himself probably brought in about four people the first time on his board, and three the second and one on the third time,' Burnett said. 'So by the time it all ended, unfortunately, five people were drowned.'
Sherman Library & Gardens in Corona del Mar hosted an event on June 14 commemorating the Great Rescue on its 100th anniversary. Irvine resident Scott Holt, who helped coordinate the event, said about 200 guests attended.
Holt said that in addition to commemorating the rescue, the event also served as a fundraiser to help cover the cost of a bronze plaque telling the history of the rescue to be placed in Corona del Mar. He said they're about halfway to their goal of $11,000 to cover the costs of the plaque.
Holt said he hadn't heard about the Great Rescue until about three years ago when he read the book 'Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku,' by David Davis, and saw a premiere of an American Masters on PBS episode called 'Waterman — Duke: Ambassador of Aloha' while in Hawaii.
It's been a long process, but Holt said he hopes to have the plaque installed within the next two to three months. It's currently in production at the foundry.
'This was an amazing feat of life-saving that Duke Kahanamoku and the others took part in,' Holt said.
Burnett noted Kahanamoku didn't act alone in the Great Rescue. There were many others who helped, including Gerard Vultee, Owen Hale, Bill Herwig, businessman William McElhannon, meterologist Antar Deraga, Chief Lifeguard Charlie Plummer, Thomas Sheffield and Chief of Police Jim Porter.
He said an interesting side note he learned is that the Los Angeles Athletic Club awarded gold wristwatches to Kahanamoku, Vultee and Hale to honor them, because they were all members of the club.
'Jerry Vultee was an aircraft engineer and he founded Vultee Aviation,' Burnett said. 'He died in a plane crash with his wife in 1938, and it was actually the wristwatch that he was wearing that helped identify his body.'
Burnett said three of the people who were rescued met with Kahanamoku in 1957 when he was on 'This Is Your Life.'
'Three of the fishermen that he had rescued came up on to that show and personally thanked him for having been rescued,' he said. 'You can actually watch that on YouTube.'
Burnett said he and his wife previously gave a talk at Sherman Library & Gardens after they published their book in 2013. They returned in 2015 for a talk during the 90th anniversary of the rescue. They also just did a talk on June 11 at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside about the rescue prior to the June 14 gala at the Sherman.
He said part of the talks at the Sherman Library and at the California Surf Museum included a special element — the Makai surfboard said to have been the one Kahanamoku used in the rescue.
'The surfboard that Duke used in the rescue is owned by a nice guy, a nice fellow named Dale Smith,' Burnett said. 'He was kind enough to have the Makai board there for … people to see.'
Kevin Olds, of Anaheim, said he's currently working with Smith on acquiring the Makai board for his soon-to-be nonprofit, the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Legacy Foundation.
'The mystery of the Makai is one of those things,' Olds said. 'There are some surf professionals that will say that there's no way that Duke used that board — because of this, this and this — and myself and Dale were going, 'Well, why wouldn't it be that board? You know, it's in the pictures in the L.A. Times.''
Olds said he grew up with the Kahanamoku family on Waikiki Beach. He organized an event in Corona del Mar on the morning of June 14 also to commemorate the anniversary of the Great Rescue. He said two members of the Kahanamoku family attended.
'We did a prayer. We had a paddle out with them,' Olds said. 'All of my canoe [club members] … and some other canoe clubs came out to pay honor to Duke and the fallen.'
He said once the foundation is officially a nonprofit, the goal is to begin fundraising to build a statue honoring Kahanamoku.
'He was [a] very humble man, very humble man, and a lot of people don't know his story and he never bragged about anything,' Olds said. 'After the rescue, he got in his car and drove away. He met his friends and they ate breakfast, but I guess the story already got around town.'
Donations for the plaque can be mailed to Surfside Sports, 233 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627, Attn: Paul Burnett. Checks can be made payable to: Surfside Sports, in the memo section note 'Duke plaque donation.'