WRECK; HOOSIER BOY~~1911

 HOOSIER BOY

96409
Built in 1898 for Coast Fish Company of Anacortes, WA.
31 G.t.. 58' x 12.4' x 5.5'

Scanned photo courtesy of J. Canavit.
From the archives of the 
Saltwater People Historical Society.

San Juan Islander newspaper, 9 June 1911.
From the archives of the S.P.H.S.

WRECK; HARVEST HOME ~~1882

 HARVEST HOME

Capt. A. Matson
Built for Preston & McKinnon
San Francisco, CA.
Lost: 18 January 1882
About 8 Miles north of Cape Hancock.

HARVEST HOME 
Possibly a reproduction by the esteemed 
photographer/historian Charlie Fitzpatrick 
a resident of this  North Beach area, WA.
Click image to enlarge.
Photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

"If it is possible for a shipwreck to be a happy affair, perhaps the loss of the bark HARVEST HOME would fall under this classification. The date was 18 January 1882, and the bark was beating up the coast under a pleasant breeze in a calm sea shrouded by a white sheet of fog. Her destination was Pt. Townsend, WA, and she rode low in the water with a full load of general cargo. Under the command of Capt Matson, the bark was skirting along in a northwesterly course in the early morning hours while most of the crew were asleep. Only the sea water caressing the hull of the vessel broke the silence of the nearing dawn. Then came another sound, a sound quite divorced from those of the sea. The helmsman cupped his hand to his ear and then pinched himself––had he heard a rooster crowing or was he dreaming?
      Suddenly the vessel began to pitch and roll as though it had been struck by a tidal wave. The crew was tossed from their bunks and in a matter of minutes the ship was deposited on the sands and suddenly became motionless.
      Capt Matson stormed up on deck and leaped upon the poop, but before he could get his mouth open, the helmsman informed him that the vessel was aground.
      "Aground you say, Mister, why we're six miles to sea, I set the course myself," bellowed the Old Man.
      Fog was all about the stranded ship, but there was little doubt about her being aground, and before the flood tide had decided to go back to sea again the HARVEST HOME was bogged down in the sand up around the driftwood area.
      Several hours later the bewildered skipper discovered that he had been navigating with a defective chronometer which was responsible for the stranding.
      When the fog lifted around noon, the helmsman sighted a big barn a few hundred feet from the beach, and it was then that he knew that the rooster he had heard crowing had not been a figment of his imagination. The wreck was lying eight miles north of Cape Disappointment, on the sandy beach of the peninsula.
      Later the crew walked ashore and the wreck remained stationary while the tides swished around her, more firmly entrenching her in the sands. The cargo was salvaged but the bark was left to die a slow death.
      In the months that followed, tourists paused at the wreck to have their pictures taken under the summer sun or to picnic on her rotting timbers. Some of the shipwrecked sailors found themselves peninsula belles and tied the legal knot of matrimony.
      Meanwhile, Preston & McKinnon of San Francisco, owners, collected $14,000, the amount for which the vessel was insured."
Above text from Pacific Graveyard. Gibbs, James A..Binfords & Mort. 1950 

WRECK; GROMMET REEFER ~~1952

 GROMMET REEFER

246509
Blt. 1944, Duluth, MN
G. t. 3,805.
323.9' x 50.1' x 26.5'

GROMMET REEFER
246509
Seattle, WA. 1948
This year this vessel was moored in
Seattle, classed as a 
US Navy ship but under US Army jurisdiction.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

GROMMET REEFER
Four US Navy helicopters hover
over the disabled ship.
Leghorn, Italy,
16 Dec. 1952.
AP Wire photo via radio from London,
Archived with S.P.H.S.©

GROMMET REEFER,
Italy, 1952.
From the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

On 16 December 1952 the freighter,  GROMMET REEFER, supplying food to servicemen, ran aground on a rocky reef on the coast of Leghorn, Italy, splitting in two during a violent storm. The first operation involved breeches buoy, small boats, and swimming, with the rescue of 26 crewmen. 
      Next, the Navy helicopters rescued the remaining 13 crew during a daring aerial rescue from wave-lashed decks, as viewed in these two dramatic APWire photos from the S.P.H.S. archives.

WRECK; GOVERNOR ~~1921

 

GOVERNOR

April 1921
Capt. F. P. BartlettCapt. Thomas Marsden.
Pacific Coast Steamship Co.
Near Port Townsend, WA.
Loss of life: 7 passengers and 3 crew.

S.S. GOVERNOR
One photo and one lithograph postcard 
from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©
Click images to enlarge.

The Sinking of the Steamship GOVERNOR

A letter from E. W. Horsman to author R. H. Calkins of Seattle:
      "The memory of the collision is especially vivid in my mind as I had the unique experience of actually seeing the impact of the WEST HARTLAND on the starboard beam of the GOVERNOR. I was employed at that time by the Pacific Steamship Co. and was working out of the office of A. F. Haines on special assignments and happened to be on board the GOVERNOR in a deluxe stateroom directly under the bridge. I had retired but was not yet asleep and on hearing the danger signals, jumped up and went to the starboard railing. I saw the dark outline of the WEST HARTLAND about 20-ft from the GOVERNOR.
      One or two minutes after the collision, the lights on the GOVERNOR failed. This made a particularly dangerous situation on the starboard side, as the nose of the WEST HARTLAND had pierced considerably into the promenade deck of the GOVERNOR, leaving a large hole that extended into the engine room. This, I fear, may have caused some of the loss of life.

Captain F.P. Barlettt
Master of the GOVERNOR on this day. 
He was a graduate of the famed New York
nautical school ship St. Mary's and one of 
 the senior masters under H.F. Alexander.
Bartlett was exonerated of any blame;
he was not on watch at the time of the wreck.
Original photo from the archives of
 the Saltwater People Historical Society©

      Immediately after the collision, I reported to Captain Bartlett and was instructed to assist in getting the passengers out of their rooms and into lifeboats, which I did with all of my energy. After we had checked all of the staterooms and no other passengers seemed to be on board, I again reported to Captain Bartlett near the bridge and he instructed me to slide down the boat falls. He followed immediately behind me. To the best of my knowledge, we were the last persons leaving the ship.
      Our lifeboat pulled a safe distance from the sinking GOVERNOR and we watched her slowly settle by the stern. Finally, when the deckhouse was just about submerged, a bulkhead collapsed and the stern settled very fast. The bow of the ship rose high in the air and as she took her final plunge, there was much noise of escaping steam and crashing wood.
      One of the peculiar incidents the next days was the attitude of a well-known Seattle man, the president of one of the railroads. He had two valuable horses on board the GOVERNOR and they, of course, were lost. The Seattle railroad president threatened steamship company officials with everything but murder because of the loss of his horses."

WEST HARTLAND
Capt. John Alwyn
Original photo from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

Above text by R. H. "Skipper" Calkins. High Tide. Marine Digest Pub., 1952.
For an excellent in-depth report by Douglas Egan with fine drawings from the pen of Ron Burke, see the Sept. 1993 issue of The Sea Chest, the quarterly membership journal of the
Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.

And then the salvage crews––
Here's a link to read more about the divers' efforts over the years.

Maritime Venture, Inc., Aug. 1987.
Two divers in a pressurized bell 
drop into the water off Pt. Townsend, WA.
An effort to recover an estimated $9 million
 in gold coins, fine wines, and other goods
that went down with the luxury liner 
SS GOVERNOR.
From the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

WRECK; GRACE ROBERTS ~~1887

 GRACE ROBERTS

ON 10870
269.91 G.t. Barkentine
129.5' x 32.' x 9.'
Blt Port. Orchard, WA. 1868
Home Port in 1886 was listed as San Francisco.
Wrecked Oysterville, WA.
8 Dec. 1887 Capt. M. Larsen

GRACE ROBERTS
Photo by Charlie Fitzpatrick.
From the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

      The American barkentine stranded two miles south of Leadbetter Point, 8 Dec. 1887, without loss of life. The vessel, commanded by Capt. M. Larsen, was feeling her way along the coast in a thick fog when she drifted into the breakers, knocking several holes in her hull. The crew had to take to the boats. Shipbreaker Martin Foard purchased the wreck for a small sum and salvaged the cargo and equipment. The ROBERTS was built at a cost of $30,000. It was said that the owners of the barkentine had run the vessel hard, overlooking badly needed hull repairs which may have caused her to bilge on the sands. Parts of her barnacle-encrusted remains could be seen on the peninsula as late as 1953. They are the oldest visible ship's remains in the Pacific's Graveyard.
Above text from:
The Pacific Graveyard. James A. Gibbs, Jr. Binfords and Mort, 1950