Part One of Two Updates on the Progress in Building a Historically Accurate Replica of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s Flagship
Vince showing where the molding will go
By Judi Curry
There are not many times in life that you meet a person you don’t want to say goodbye to. This was not a romantic endeavor, but rather a person that is so genuine, so humble that you obtain energy just from being with him.
I recently met one of those extraordinary men – a Sicilian, who has worked in the boat business for 50-odd years, learning the trade as a teen in Sicily. He is a wonderful craftsmen and you can’t help but marvel at the finished product he creates.
Who is this man, you ask? A little background first. A while ago I did a story of the “Women volunteers of the San Salvador.” This is the ship that you can see being built just west of the airport on Harbor Drive. I was going to go back and do a story of the men volunteers but never got around to it.
Luckily, I’m on the mailing list of the San Salvador and had received a message from the volunteer coordinator regarding the stepping of each mast for measuring shrouds, or the rigging that secures the mast on either side. This involves holding the masts and their crow’s nests in place on the boat with a crane while temporary lines are used to measure the distance to the deck.
The message went on to say the event would also include the firing of one of the cannons, and remarked that it “should be a great day to come by if possible.”
And…it was possible. This article is two-fold; I’ll first introduce you to this extraordinary man. Next time I’ll show you what the San Salvador looks like now.
Vince working the wheel
Vince Sardina began working on boats when he was 10 years old in Sicily. His father owned a boat yard and when Vince was finished with school for the day he helped his father at the yard.
By the time he was 16, he was managing the yard when his father was not there. And even though it was his father’s boat yard, he still became an apprentice first; and a journeyman later on. He was one of three sons and three daughters. Only he became interested in the boat business.
In 1933 his maternal grandparents moved to San Diego while his paternal grandparents moved to Buffalo, New York. By 1955 the entire Sardina family was in San Diego. Vince settled in Buffalo originally, and his second day there he was employed at the Richardson Boat Yard.
Later on in his life, he met his wife and they lived in Chicago, where, again he worked in a boat yard. He constructed many different kinds of boats from yachts to large sailing vessels.
When he and his wife moved to San Diego with their three children, Vince began working for the Kettenberg company. When they sold out, he went to work for the company that bought the business. Throughout his entire life he has worked in boatyards and you should see his finished product.
Everyone I spoke to talked about this man, primarily how he did not want to take credit for what he had done, but everyone knows he did the work. While I was there, he was creating the instrument panel and working on the molding of the windows. He said the most exciting part of working on the San Salvador was laying the planking – and lest you think that didn’t amount to much, there are more than 1,000 planks that bear his workmanship, each one set beautifully next to each other.
Vince standing where he made the doorway
If you look at these pictures it will give you an idea of just what type of man Vince is. You can see the strength in his face and hands. He is gentle but firm, confident in his ability, quiet in his demeanor.
All of this while being humble at the same time. He is respected by those he works with and they admire him and his ability. There does not appear to be any jealousy from his co-workers. Rather, they enjoy working – and learning – from him. He told me that he loves getting up in the morning and coming to the San Salvador. There is something new happening each day, and he is proud to be part of the building of the ship.
He works from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and loves every minute of the day. I asked him if his wife resents the time he puts in at the San Salvador and he told me that she owns her own Italian Deli – BMH on the 7600 block of El Cajon Blvd. They only live a few blocks from it so Maria is there almost as much as Vince is at the San Salvador.
I would suggest that you go visit the San Salvador and for a $5 donation take a closer look at what he, and all of the workers are doing. They hope to launch the ship in March or April. Look at it now and see the “inner workings.”
I can’t thank Vince enough for spending the time with me; it was a enlightening and joyful. I hope I get another chance as they get closer to launching the ship.
Vince in his workshop
Judi Curry
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As a settler, I think it’s my responsibility to say this: The San Salvador was a weapon of genocide and, today, is a symbol of genocide.
“A Historically Accurate Replica”
How accurate are we going to get with the San Salvador? Are we going to use African and indigenous slave labor to build it? Are we going to use human tallow? Cabrillo, of course, caught his big break when he melted indigenous Mexicans for their body fat to use in constructing the canoes that served to carry conquistadors in a surprise attack on Tenochtitlan that left hundreds of thousands dead.
Are we going to fund the project with gold from Guatemalan mines? Are we going to enslave indigenous Guatemalan men to work the mines? Are we going to give indigenous Guatemalan women and children over to our soldiers to be raped as thanks for good service? I mean, that would be the historically accurate version of the Women of the San Salvador, right?
We’re not going to be THAT historically accurate, are we? No, settlers just want to build a replica of an interesting part of history. Settlers just want to celebrate a moment in history that brought them to this beautiful land. What’s so wrong with that?? Can’t you just get over the past, Will?
Well, even if it was only in the past, I’d have a hard time forgetting the world’s worst period of holocaustal genocide. It’s not in the past. Genocide continues right now. North America’s indigenous peoples have been cornered into reservations, indigenous women are being forcibly sterilized, in Canada 1200 indigenous women are missing and the government refuses to look into it because the evidence suggests the RCMP is implicated, whenever corporations want resources on the last little bit of land left to indigenous peoples they have to fight tooth and nail to keep corporations off it, and settlers in man camps along pipeline routes in places like South Dakota continue their rape and murder.
This is not about the past. This is about right now. The genocide continues and the San Salvador is its propaganda in San Diego.
Will, this story was not about what has happened in the past re: the San Salvador. This story is about a humble man, loved by all, that has a work ethic that should be modeled by everyone. I can’t help but feel that you used your own agenda to lessen all that this man has created, and you did him a disservice. I wonder how many other men can have the same thing said about them by the very people they work with. If you were of the same caliber as Vince Sardina, you would send him an apology.
I want our park back.
I want MTV to play music videos again.
And if MTV belonged to you as our public parks did to us then I would support you in that. As it is I’d suggest maybe Paladium. Some would even say that MTV never has played music…
And now that I’ve read it all right on Will.
I wanted to put a plug in for Vince’s wife’s deli. BMH is just a few blocks away from me. They have the most delicious food there. Judi, we need to go there for lunch.
I admire hard-working people and I very much admire what Vince represents. If there were more men like him in this world, we would be a better population.
Will–
No, the San Salvador replica isn’t going to replicate any of those horrors of our Genocide.
To me, the important question is, once the ship is completed and attracts school classes and tourists, will it be used as a springboard to tell those stories, to tell that part of our history as well? Or, will those topics (not just events but the cultural underpinnings) remain untold in our local history curriculum for students, as the related stories were (and to a large extent still are) in the curriculum on the Missions and Father Serra? How do we get the more complete picture of history in our regional historic-centric tourism (Missions, Old Town, etc.)?
I respect the work of Vince as a boatwright and carpenter. For me the jury is still out on the replica San Salvador as a symbol _for_ (not “of”) good or evil. Please help advocate and organize for the fuller, non-whitewashed picture. To the extent you can, be the Vince of valid historical interpretation.