"The Sand Pebbles Topic" Asiatic Fleet - In 1965 The Sand Pebbles producers offered a $1,000 reward for a picture of USS Villalobos

[aerialbridge]

Surprisingly, more than 50 years later, there are only a few pictures on the internet of USS Villalobos (PG-42), the Spanish American War- era river gunboat, and none of the Villalobos underway. Maybe “The Sand Pebbles” production company never found a photo and that’s why the fictional USS San Pablo looks as much like the Yangtze Patrol river patrol gunboats USS Palos (PG-16) and her sister-ship USS Monocacy (PG-20) as she resembles the Spanish-built Villalobos, the declared inspiration for Richard McKenna’s Yangtze Patrol river gunboat in his 1962 novel.

[aerialbridge]

During the period setting of the movie, “The Sand Pebbles”, from June 1926 when Machinist Mate 1c Jake Holman steps aboard San Pablo through March 1927, when Holman meets his tragic hero end in Hunan Province at the China Light Mission, by fictional Paoshan on Tungting Lake, downriver on the Siang (north) from Changhsha, there were only four bonafide river gunboats on the US Yangtze Patrol: The Spanish American War prize-ships (spoils of war) Villalobos and Elcano (PG-38), and the WWI era sister-ships Palos and Monocacy (redesignated as PR-1 and PR-2 in 1928). While sometimes referred to as “gunboats”, USS Pigeon was a converted Lapwing-class minesweeper and USS Isabel, often the flagship of COMYANGPAT during the 20’s, was a converted yacht. Note- the below photo of Palos with a wooden wheelhouse was a post 1927 modification.

 

 

Excerpt from “The Sand Pebbles”-

 

 

Palos and Monocacy, launched and commission in 1914, were built to plans prepared by Yarrow & Co., Ltd. a Scottish firm that had built gunboats for the Royal Navy. They were constructed at the Mare Island (California) Navy Yard, then broken down for shipment to China, where they were reassembled at Shanghai. They closely resemble the Royal Navy Yangtze River gunboats, sister ships HMS Woodcock and Woodlark, launched in 1898. Funding for Palos and Monocacy was obtained in June 1912, as a result of the recommendation two years earlier by Naval Shipbuilding Board president, Admiral George Dewey, for a new class of river gunboats for the Yangtze, with 3-foot draft, 14-knot speed, twin-screws, "several rudders for extreme handiness," combined coal- and oil-fueled boilers, bulletproof protection, and a battery of two 6-pounders, two 3-inch mounts, and six machine guns. Dewey also suggested building these ships as double-enders - fitted with screws and rudders at both ends - since they had to operate in narrow channels, although this feature was not in the ultimate design for Palos and Monocacy. With a shallow draft of only 29 inches, the gunboats could navigate areas on the Upper Yangtze (between Ichang and Chungking) never before traversed by US gunboats. Palos became the first U.S. warship to reach Chungking, 1,300 miles (2,100 km) from the sea, in August 1914.

 

Map of Central China:

 

 

 

The 150-foot steel-hulled gunboat, “USS San Pablo” being built by Vaughn & Jung Engineering Ltd. of Hong Kong for “The Sand Pebbles” in 1966.

 

 

The 165-foot steel-hulled gunboat, “USS Palos” and sister ship “USS Monocacy” being built at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in 1913. The ships were then disassembled and transported across the Pacific to be rebuilt at Shanghai for service with the Yangtze Patrol starting in 1914.

 

 

Map of Hunan Province China, Tungting (Dongting) Lake, Siang (Xiang) River and Changsha. Ichang, where the "Upper Yangtze" starts would be at the top, and off the map:

 

 

Yangtze Patrol river gunboats USS Villalobos and Palos and other reinforcement war ships at Hankow, China, in January 1927.

 

Excerpt from “The Sand Pebbles”-

 

...

 

...

[Brian Keith]

Very Interesting, thanks for posting this.

BKW

[Dirk]

Great thread! Here are two photos of the original Sand Pebbles. McKenna mentions the potted plants and sure enough they are there. These came out of a great collection from a sailor who served on her before WWI and was broken up on ebay

[warroom1]

Great info, for a great movie, still holds up to this day.

[patches]

Indeed, what a great topic.

[bummer]

Great Movie

[bobgee]

Super topic _ great film! Thanks for posting.

[Kurt Barickman]

I too still love that movie!

 

I still showed that movie in class until around 1999 or so; great teaching tool about imperialism/colonialism.

 

Kurt

[aerialbridge]

Thanks for your comments. I'm working on a post about the historical events in China during 1926-27 that are the background for the “The Sand Pebbles”. Dirk, thanks for posting photos of Villalobos from your personal collection. With the potted plants, fancy chairs, and the relaxed attitude of the sailors and pre-WW I “Ensign Bordelles”, they could be gathered on a breezy verandah waiting for the mint juleps - except for the 3” gun on the fantail and the sailor taking the bead with the Springfield ‘03. Anyone else with China river gunboat, or crew photo from the teens and twenties-- or "Sand Pebbles" images, your photos are welcome and appreciated here.

 

"Sand Pebbles" historical trivia question (and no googling): Who were the "gearwheels" and how did they get their name?

[MastersMate]

Photo and information from the movie San Pebbles website.

 

San Pablo with the alterations roughly edited out..

[kanemono]

Here is an old China hand, Finn W. Outler. He served with the Yangtze Patrol from 1929 to 1939 on the gunboats USS Panay and USS Luzon.

[Dirk]

Aerial looking forward to your post. I have a large photo/paper grouping to a River Rat on the Monocacy 1927. Who joined the ship upriver in Chungking and later sailed her down to Shanghai and back to include going to Changsha on the lake which was the Sand Pebbles patrol area.

[patches]

The Deck Gun used on the San Pueblo, a 3"/23 caliber gun. Must of been firing blanks during the Battle of the Boom, cause we see no recoil, would be correct? this gun when firing ammunition, like Common Shells would have a recoil? I think it would right.

 

Anyway two superb fotos here.

 

 

[aerialbridge]

Aerial looking forward to your post. I have a large photo/paper grouping to a River Rat on the Monocacy 1927. Who joined the ship upriver in Chungking and later sailed her down to Shanghai and back to include going to Changsha on the lake which was the Sand Pebbles patrol area.

 

 

It’s a shame that “The Sand Pebbles” producers or the studio didn’t have the foresight to keep it as a “museum ship” (as the makers of “Master and Commander” did with “HMS Surprise”, actually built in 1970, and which can be seen by the “Star of India” in San Diego) rather than sell it off to be scrapped less than 10 years later. I’ve no doubt it would have been a popular tourist attraction and what they could have charged as admission over the past 50 years would have more than paid for its upkeep and delivered a nice profit.

 

Dirk, if you have any records of the periods when Monocacy was at Changsha during 1926-27 that would be great. From what I’ve found so far, she was pretty much upriver at Chungking during that time, while her sister-ship, Palos, was at Hankow, and after February 1927, at Changsha replacing Villalobos that had been there for several months. Contrary to Richard McKenna's “The Sand Pebbles” book and movie, where Changsha had been the home-port of USS San Pablo for more than twenty years, there was no station ship at Changsha during the teens and 20's, though only Monocacy and Palos with their true, river-gunboat 29” drafts (compared to nine or ten foot drafts for the old Spanish American War gunboats, Villalobos and Elcano) could navigate the Siang River and Tungting (Dongting) Lake year-round, even when the water levels dropped during the winter.

[Dirk]

Aerial you are correct the Monocacy spent a good chunk of 27 upriver then left to come down to Shanghai. I have some of the deck logs for that year. My sailor passed through Changsha because he got his portrait done at a local photo studio there in his whites. But when the photo was taken I can't say.

[aerialbridge]

Dirk, did your 1927 Monocacy photo group include any photos of Palos and/or her crew and officers? On Christmas Day 1919, when the “Yangtze Patrol” formally was organized under that name and based at Shanghai, Captain Thomas A. Kearney commanding, the original gunboats were “Division Two” Elcano, Monocacy, Palos, Quiros, Samar, and Villalobos. (By the mid-20’s the old Spanish prize-ships Quiros and Samar had been decommissioned) “Division Three” was the large Wilmington-class gunboat (250’ long, 9’ draft) Helena and the Spanish-American war prize-ship, Pampanga. The following February, Asiatic Fleet Commander Albert Gleaves made the patrol a flag-officer command, and Helena and Pampanaga became the South China Patrol based at Canton and Hong Kong.

 

Monocacy was up at Chungking and Palos and Villalobos were at Hankow at the beginning of January 1927 when things were getting pretty dicey.

[Salvage Sailor]

Another USS MONOCACY crew member, First Class Electrician 1938

 

I've shown these on some other forum topics about USN landing parties and China fleet gunboats

 

USS MONOCACY (PG-20) 1938 at Shanghai watching the Japanese air raids prior to her loss due to damage from mining a few months later

 

 

Monocacy was at Kiuklang protecting American neutrality during the Japanese invasion of China, when on 29 August 1938 several mines exploded within 80 yards (73 m) of the ship, showering the gunboat with fragments. She was then held at the port until the Japanese completed sweeping operations some days later. She was decommissioned at Shanghai on 31 January 1939. The veteran gunboat was towed to sea and sunk 10 February 1939 in deep water off the China coast.

 

 

 

 

MONOCACY at the German Norddeutscher Lloyd docks putting her landing party ashore to protect the Shanghai international settlement 1938

 

 

 

 

 

MONOCACY at the German Norddeutscher Lloyd docks putting her landing party ashore to protect the international settlement

 

 

 

 

Guarding the dockyard and YMCA entrance gates

 

 

 

MONOCACY street patrol and guard detail Shanghai International Settlement 1938

 

 

 

 

Guarding the Chinese entrance gate to the International Settlement in the rain

 

 

 

Guarding the Chinese entrance gate to the International Settlement in the rain

 

 

 

MONOCACY crew on guard detail 1938

 

and the air raid trenches and shelter at the docks

 

 

[Dirk]

Here is the Monocacy's crew at Chungking 27. I don't know if I have any Palos pix as the collection is 3 albums plus hundreds of loose photos from this man's career and there are tons of gunboat shots to include those gunboats who they passed during their travels as well as in Shanghai....but I can't tell the Palos apart from the Monocacy

[Dirk]

Salvage those are great shots!

[aerialbridge]

Great shots, Salvage Sailor- thanks for taking the time to post them. Dirk, that's a lot of photos! Yes, I can't tell Palos apart from Monocacy, either. Too bad they didn't put a big vertical stripe on one of their stacks like they did for Saratoga to tell her apart from Lexington-- or at least paint the machine gun shutters different colors. .

[Wharfmaster]

Yangtze Patrol Vets.

[aerialbridge]

Since today is the 2^nd Monday in October, since 1971 it’s Columbus Day, a national holiday (for now) that became a holiday in 1937 and was once popular and observed by other than federal workers and the post office. Few probably know that USS Palos (PG-16) and the Civil War era gunboat that preceded her were named for Palos de la Frontera in Spain, the place where Christopher Columbus started the first voyage to America. Happy Columbus Day.

 

 

[aerialbridge]

USS Palos (PG-16) during river trials on May 27, 1914 on the Yangtze River. Note the apparent lack of any U.O.D. (Uniform of the Day) with sailors in dress whites, dress blues and various forms of utility work uniforms, while the C.O. , X.O. and the chiefs are in dress blues, with white covers. Very China sailor, very Sand Pebbles.

 

[ItemCo16527]

This is such a great thread. I wish I found it sooner. For those who have only watched the movie "The Sand Pebbles", I can't recommend the original novel highly enough. It is without a doubt one of greatest novels of all time, and it became my favorite novel ever as soon as I read it.