❖ S.S. BUCKEYE Woodburning through the San Juans ❖

S.S. BUCKEYE,
ON 2474
Built in Seattle, 1890.
43.06 G.t./ 24.78 N.t. 
60.4' x 14.7' x 6.9'
Click to enlarge.
Inscribed verso: Capt. Charles Wallace, 1890.
Original 5" x 8" photo from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

This photo was taken before the BUCKEYE was restored at Newhall yard on Orcas, after the damage from the 1894 wreck (as described below.) The Cummins survival story, from an old scrapbook on loan from the late Robin Paterson did not arrive with this photo, but it seems a fine pairing.
      
      "The steamer BUCKEYE, on which I served many years ago, was a wood burner like all the boats on the Sound.
      On the morning of 4 September 1894, we left Friday Harbor with passengers and freight for Bellingham. Capt. Oscar Hahn was master, Capt. C.E. Bowden was mate, and I was fireman. We arrived at Anacortes where a stop for mail and passengers was made. As that was my home town, I went up on the dock and met some of my friends who gave me a handful of agates that later in the day were as good as money.
      We left Anacortes and about midway between Eliza Island and Wild Cat Cove an extra heavy sea hit us on the aft quarter. The boat went over on her port side and the cargo shifted to port, which caused her to fill with water. I was in the engine room with Mr. Snyder, the chief, and the only way to escape was to go hand over hand up the main steam pipe that came by a little open hatch on the upper deck with no covering on it. Up I went, water on my heels all the way up.
      When the chief and I got up on deck, the ship had a heavy list and the lower deck was under water. Some passengers were standing on the boat deck and the captain, mate and two of the passengers were trying to get the lifeboat free. At last it was in the water, and it was a case of jump at the right time. We got away from the wreck but water began to come into the boat –– keep reading below–––