❖ GOING FOR GOLD ❖ By Sail San Francisco to Alaska

Schooner FRED J. WOOD
121109
Built in 1899 by George H. Hitchings,
Mathews Yard, Hoquiam, WA
181' x 38.1' x 14'
681 G.t. 601 N.t.
Preparing for castoff from San Francisco,
July 1923.
Click image to enlarge.
Original photo from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

"After chasing the golden rainbow, and finding no bag of gold at the end, seven modern Argonauts, including Capt. Nicholas Borgeson, members of a gold-seeking expedition which sailed from San Francisco 6 July, returned to Seattle from the Seward peninsula district of Alaska aboard the Alaska Steamship Co liner VICTORIA.
      Many men, women, and children were in the party which voyaged to the northland where they expected to find gold on the shores of the Bering Sea, but ill-fate ended their adventure and they returned disillusioned and determined never again to seek the rainbow's end.
      Just as they were ready to land on what they had been told were the 'golden beaches of Port Clarence Bay,' their ship, the schooner FRED J. WOOD, was wrecked in an 80-mile gale and they were left destitute on the barren shores of Alaska.
      Fortunately, they had been shipwrecked near an Alaska missionary station and were taken in by Elmer Dahl, who lives at this isolated spot on the coast. For 3 weeks the stranded Argonauts lived on the shores of Port Clarence Bay, and then the power schooner BOXER, Capt. S. Whitlam of the US Bureau of Education, hove in sight. She was a welcome rescue ship and the gold seekers were soon aboard the government vessel bound for Nome. All those who arrived in Seattle aboard the VICTORIA were members of the crew of the FRED J. WOOD. The other members of the expedition are aboard the steamship DUFORD of the Alaska-Siberian Navigation Co and are due in Seattle next week.
      Members who arrived are, Capt. Nicholas Borgeson, master, Mrs. Borgeson, Karl Klenke, mate, H. Anderson, Joseph Conley, John Stuth, and J. McDay, sailors.
      On 27 Sept we anchored in Port Clarence Bay to await lighters when a great storm arose. It was soon blowing 80mph and although we anchored two miles offshore, we were driven on the beach. The ship went ashore dragging her anchors, so fierce was the gale.'
      A.H. Moore of Los Angeles, head of the expedition was formerly an expressman at Nome. He went to San Francisco and Los Angeles to organize the expedition. They were all stockholders in the venture. Moore told the members that he had 50 miles of beach and 5,000 acres of gold-bearing sands and a large dredge on the bay which would net at least $40,000 per day. There were 105 adults and children in the expedition. The FRED J. WOOD was equipped with radio, phonograph, games, and carried a cow, sheep, horses, an airplane, and an automobile.
Above text; The Seattle Times 7 Nov. 1923
      
1902, 30 July: Capt. Jorgen J. Jacobsen, age 43, well-known shipmaster was stabbed to death while in command of FRED J. WOOD on the high seas on a voyage from Astoria, Oregon, to Kau Chow, China. The mixed crew of French, Portuguese, and Norwegians bestowed upon the captain their asseveration that he was unusually kind towards his men in both language and actions.
      The murderer, the ship's Japanese cabin boy, Tanbara Gusaburo, was held in custody and delivered to the authorities upon the schooner's arrival at Honolulu. Mrs. Jacobson and the crew on watch at the time of the crime were also left as witnesses, the vessel continuing her voyage in charge of the mate Henry Meyers. 
1902, 14 August: Tanbara was hanged at 12:30 for the murder of Captain Jorgen J. Jacobsen. A reprieve was granted by Gov. Dole to allow an appeal to Washington but President Roosevelt refused to exercise executive clemency. 

H.W. McCurdy's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Gordon Newell, editor. p. 85.
Hawaiian Star. 6 August 1902. Condensed from a gruesome full-page report.