Charles Borden

{{Short description|American sailor and writer}}

{{other people}}

Charles A. Borden (1911–1968) was an American sailor and writer. Born in Oakland, he received little formal education and first went to sea at the age of 13. Throughout his life, he sailed extensively throughout the Pacific and South Pacific, earning the trust and acknowledgment of many on the islands which he visited. He circled the globe four times and crossed the Pacific numerous times in his 17-foot boat called Confucius.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18328804/article-about-charles-borden-and/|title=Borden Home but Sloop still in Kauai|newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=12 April 1942|page=6|accessdate=28 June 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://shellbackslibrary.dngoodchild.com/index.php?rt=product/product&path=68_83&product_id=782|title=Confucius--A 17-ft Auxiliary Sloop|website=shellbackslibrary|accessdate=28 June 2020}}

Charles decided to settle down with his wife, Rosalie, in 1960Charles A. Borden Finds home in Marin'. Daily Independent Journal. 6 August 1960 at Spindrift Point near Muir Beach, California. When he died in 1969 he willed the four-acre plot to a conservation group.{{cite web|url=https://www.kenlayne.com/post/13858672381/i-have-a-terrible-time-completing-book|title=I have a terrible time completing book|website=Kenny Layne|accessdate=28 June 2020}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXekDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Charles+A.+Borden%22+spindrift&pg=PT224|title=Battle For The Wilderness|author=Michael Frome|date=13 March 2019|isbn=9780429716409|accessdate=28 June 2020}} His masters license is held in the Online Archive of California.{{cite web|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c87w6gg0/|title=guide to the Charles A. Borden Master's license, 1940|website=Online Archive of California|accessdate=28 June 2020}}

The small house Charles and Rosalie lived in was modeled on the interior of a ship, and constructed by noted architect Henry Hill.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7b69r6cf/|title = Inventory of the Henry Hill and John Kruse Collection}} Of this special spot, Charles Borden proclaimed "Thoreau has always been my bible, and the Pacific has been my Walden--until I found this place.""Charles Borden", San Francisco Maritime Museum, 1968