POINT SUR STATE HISTORIC PARK Shipping & Ship Wrecks Presented by: Doug Williams date Welcome to Shipping and Ship Wrecks Class. 1 Rocky Central Coast • This rocky coast has very few places for ship to land and lots of rocks to wreck them. • Shipping was use for the transport of Commerce in early California because there were very few roads and took a long time to traverse. • With more shipping came more ship wrecks which is obviously bad for Commerce. 2 Monterey Co. Early Explorers Juan Cabrillo - Punta de los Pinos Francis Drake Thomas Cavendish and the SANTA ANA 1595 Sebastián Cermeño 1542 Cabrillo landed with two ships at San Miguel Island, where he would die from an infected broken arm. His ship return to Mexico. 1572Sir Francis Drake sailed the waters off California harassing the Spanish ships but never posed a threat to their claim. 1573Thomas Cavendish and Santa Ana 1595 Sebastian Rodriquez Cermeno anchors near Pt. Sur. His boat the Buenaventura was a redwood dugout, having wrecked a Manila Galleon at Drake’s Bay. 3 Monterey Co. Early Explorers Sebastián Vizcaíno – Punta que parece Isla (Pt. Sur) – El Pais Grande del Sur (Big Sur) Gaspar de Portolá .with Father Junípero Serra Richard Henry Dana (“Pilgrim”) Commodore John Drake Sloat, USN 1602 Vizacaino mapped California Coast and rediscovered Monterey Bay. 1769 Potola along with Junipero Serra traveled by land establishing northern Mission. 1770 Richard Dana 1848 Cmd. John Sloat sails into Monterey Bay and claims it for USA. No resistance was encountered. 4 Monterey Co. Historic Periods 1542 -1769 Discovery and Exploration From Cabrillo to Portola 1770 – 1822 Mission Era - The Spanish Years 1822 Mexican Independence from Spain Fresnel Lens developed in France 1822 – 1846 Secularization of Missions Mexican Land Grants 1834 Rancho El Sur Jaun Bastista Alvarado & John Rogers Copper 1846 – 1849 American Conquest 1849 Constitutional Convention, Monterey 1850 Statehood 5 El Sur Rancho • Red Circle shows El Sur Rancho on the Map. 6 Creeks Offered Poor Shelter Notice all the little rivers and creeks on the map. But there are very few good landing spots for making a port. 7 Rainbow Bridge Construction The Bridge would later be renamed Bixby Bridge. 8 Opening of Rainbow Bridge 9 Early Roadhouse This was an early roadhouse right at where the turnout Is for Bixby Bridge. It is suspended over the cliff. There was a murder of workers at the site. 10 Bixby Brother’s Lime Smelting Industries down the Central Coast included: • Lumber • Lyme • Sandstone • Whaling • Otter Pelts • Gold and Silver 11 Lumber Shoot Bixby Landing • This is a lumber shoot used to logs down to ocean. 12 Place of Commerce • This was a meeting place. It likely that the early Keepers, ranchers, and lumbermen would have relaxed here at the dance hall. It supported all the workers in the area by Palo Colorado Canyon. • This small village housed the Redwood and tanbark worker in the area. 13 Ship Wrecks • A lot the information on ship wrecks was taken from this source by Randail A. Reinstedt.. 14 Ship Wrecks This map highlights the location of 41 ship wrecks in the Central Coast area. From Pescadero Point to Pfeiffer Point 15 Ship Wrecks • Numbers 32 to 41 are clustered around Point Sur. • Three ship wrecks you should be the most familiar with are: • The Los Angeles • The Ventura • The Macon 16 S. S. Ventura Pacific Coast Steamship Co. N of Pt. Sur: 20 April, 1875: 9pm The Ventura set sail from San Francisco in 1875. It was a wooden hull ship originally built for the navy. It was traveling south when it struck the rocks, call the “Ventura Rocks” two miles north of the Rock. It was a foggy night and the captain was drunk. The sound of the rocks ripping up the hull convinced the crew that the ship was going down and they abandoned the ship in the life boat. When they got to shore at Little Sur river they turned around to see all of the hundred or so passengers standing at the rails. They returned to the boar and all of the passengers off safely. Newspaper reports conflict as to the sinking. 100 + knock down wagon carts floated off the deck. 17 S. S. Los Angeles 1894 Pacific Coast Steamship Co. The Los Angeles was traveling North in 1894. The captain had come aboard and ask the 1st mate to wake him at Copper Point to make the course correction. The 1st Mate made the correction, then thinking better of his actions started toward the captain cabin when the ship wrecked. The course change was to be made at Point Sur to due north not Copper Pt. There were 49 passengers and 6 deaths. Dr. Roberts was fetched from Seaside to attend to the injured. An aid station was set up in the meadow by the barn. The Dr. work a week and submitted a bill to PCS who refused to pay it. The put a lien on there next ship to arrive in Monterey, and was paid the next week. 18 Gypsy 1901 Pacific Coast Steamship Co. The Gypsy was known as “ Perpetual Motion” because of its regular schedule for over 15 years. On a dark and cloudy night the captain thought that he had spotted the red harbor light in Monterey and turn in. Unfortunately, it turn out to be a red construction lamp on a sewer project on Hoffman street! It crashed on the rocks on Macabee Beach, where it began to sink. The crew was rescued as was most of the cargo, 100 kegs of beer which was salvaged by eager spectators. The Editor of the Monterey New Era paper, commented that this is a dangerous coast for navigators who like to sail their vessels overland. 19 Majestic 1909 • The Majestic was built as a lumber carrier for the Ira J. Harmon & Co. of San Francisco. In 1909 a severe storm drove the Majestic on to Pheiffer Point. When the storm abated, the crew was able to get to shore and 12 hours after the wreck the crew was able to the farm of John Pheiffer, who with the ships captain made their way to Monterey for help. The Revenue Cutter, McCulloch was dispatched but effort to salvage the Majestic were unsuccessful. 20 USS H-3 1915 • This was an early Navy submarine, that went a ground on the rocks off the Point Sur in 1915. • It has a wooden tower? • You can see the South Side Tram in the back ground of this picture. 21 USS H-3 1915 • The crew was praised for bravery! • They managed to push it off the rocks at high tide and made it back to port on its own. 22 Shna-Yak 1916 • This wreck occurred off of Pheiffer’s Point in 1916. • The wreck resulted in the installation of telephone service to the Lighthouse. 23 S.S. Thomas Wand 1922 • A steam schooner, the Wand, was stranded south of Pheiffer’s Point in heavy fog about 700 feet from where the Majestic and Shan Yak had come ashore. • The crew of fifteen reached shore safely. Captain Svendsen remained on shore until the very last in order to prevent scavengers the lumber stacked on deck. 24 Rhine Maru 1930 • The 400 foot Rhine Mare steered straight into the rock off mouth of the Big Sur River, just south of the Lighthouse in a dense fog. The crew was rescued by a near by ship. • Efforts to salvage the cargo and refloat the ship were denied by foul weather. Two salvage vessel were lost in the attempt to refloat the Rhine Maru 25 S.S. Howard Olsen 1956 • In 1956, the Howard Olsen was rammed by the 10,000 ton Marine Leopard, in clear weather and calm seas near Pt. Sur. • The stern section sank in three minutes; the bow section in a few hours. Four crew members were lost. 26 S.S. Frank Buck 1924 Associated Oil Co. Tanker Point Pinos: 3 May, 1924 9 am In 1924 the Frank Buck on a clear and calm night went on the rocks of Point Pinos. Captain of the empty oil tanker had set the course leading to Monterey Harbor and gone below. The 3rd Mate sighting the light at Pt. Pinos, ordered a change in course and then went below to check with the Captain. There were no fatalities. She was refloated after two weeks and continues her service, until she collided with the American Presidents Liner, Coolidge near the Golden Gate in San Francisco. 27 Reasons for Wrecks 28 Reasons for Wrecks 29 Shipping and Shipwrecks Sources Chapter 6: Big Sur Early history of Monterey County especially Big Sur. Discovery and Exploration From 1542 (Juan Cabrillo) to 1850 (Statehood) Mexican Land Grants, especially Rancho El Sur (1834) Early pioneers Chapter 12: Shipping and Shipwrecks Shipping on the Central Coast, Commercial activities Hazards, "Dog-hole" ports, e.g., Notley's and Bixby's Landings (Chap 6, page 9) Pacific Steamship Co. Shipwrecks of the Big Sur Coast General knowledge, with details of at least two, SS Ventura(1875) and SS Los Angeles(1894) Graveyard of ships-Pfeiffer Beach USS Macon Dirigibles-spies in the sky. Men on the flying trapeze Details of the crash (1935) and discovery of debris fields, 55 years later. Later expeditions 30.