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Historic Shipwreck Profile

clipper ship drawing
Clipper Ship. Courtesy of U.S. Lighthouse Society (in Perry 1999).

Sir John Franklin

Medium Clipper Ship

shipwreck location map

Casualty Location: Franklin Point, San Mateo County, California, USA

Location Status: Located (see Important Note)

Casualty Date: 1865 (Jan 17)

Owner: Lambert Gittings

Home Port: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Length: 170 feet 8 inches Beam: 35 feet 8 inches

Gross Tonnage: 999 Cargo: dry goods, lumber, pianos, 300 barrels spirits

Builder: John J. Abrahams

Launched: 1853 (Dec 30; Baltimore, Maryland, USA)

Official Number: 2402

Description: The medium American clipper ship Sir John Franklin (Captain John J. Despeaux), sailing from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to San Francisco (California), went ashore in the fog at Middle Point on the night of January 17, 1865. In a few minutes after striking the rocks, the vessel parted amid-ships and the cargo escaped (including 300 barrels of spirits, coal oil, candles, pianos, and other dry goods). Of the original 20 crew, twelve drowned; including the captain (Leventhal and Jurmain 1987, Hylkema 2018). Only six of the victims were recovered for burial. The bodies of Captain and Supercargo were taken to San Francisco. And, four sailors were buried in the sandy dunes of an ad-hoc cemetery, referred to as the Franklin Point Cemetery (Hylkema 2018).

Two other sailing ships wrecked at Franklin Point, resulting in casualties; the British Bark Coya (1866) and American ship Hellespont (1868). Victims of these wrecks were also buried at Franklin Point. Over time, dune erosion at the site exposed human remains and coffin fragments. Since 1983, California Department of Parks and Recreation has authorized several projects aimed at site stabilization, including archaeological surveys, excavation, reburial, and construction of a pedestrian boardwalk to protect the site (Hylkema 2018).

Early charts of the Coast Survey labeled the cape, between Pigeon Point and Point Año Nuevo, as Middle Point. After the ship Sir John Franklin wrecked there on January 17, 1865, the geographic name was changed to Franklin Point (Gudde 2010).

Nature of Casualty:

Newspaper clipping from Daily Alta California 19JAN1865 p1 col2 of shipwreck Sir John Franklin

Source: Daily Alta California (San Francisco, CA), January 19, 1865, p.1, col.2.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Transcription:

DISASTROUS SHIPWRECK AND LOSS OR LIFE—THE SHIP "SIR JOHN FRANKLIN" LOST—THE CAPTAIN AND ELEVEN MEN DROWNED.—First Officer Boyd, of the American ship Sir John Franklin, arrived in this city last evening from Pigeon Point, between thirty and forty miles south of Point Lobos, where the ship went on shore in the fog on Tuesday night. He reports the vessel and cargo a total loss. His statement is that owing to the prevailing fog no observation had been taken for twenty-four hours, and it was supposed that the vessel was about seventy miles off land. She was standing in shore, and about nine o'clock, when the fog lifted, it was discovered that she was close in on the breakers. Orders were given at once to wear ship, but before they could be carried out, she struck with great violence on the rocks, outside the bar, staving her bottom and carrying her masts overboard. In a few minutes after striking, the vessel parted amid-ships and the cargo went out of her. The wreck floated over the rocks and went ashore on the beach, the sea making clean breaks over her. When she broke in two, Captain Despeaux and the crew, twenty in all, were standing near together, amidships, with the exception of two men on the forecastle, and all clung to the vessel until it struck the beach. Then they commenced washing overboard, the undertow carrying them out from the land repeatedly, and after being nearly two hours in the water, struggling among the drift and pieces of the wreck and cargo. First Officer Boyd, Second Officer Ball, Third Officer Jefferson Welch and five seamen, gained the shore alone, all the rest having perished. The survivors wandered on the shore for some hours, wet, and nearly perishing with cold and exhaustion, before reaching a farm-house, where they were cared for as well as circumstances would permit. The survivors, with the exception of Mr. Boyd, remained at the farm house last evening, having no means of coming up to the city save by footing it. The Sir John Franklin was owned by Lambert Gidden of Baltimore, and was rated as a first-class ship. She was loaded, in part, with the cargo of the ship Charles Pennell, which put into Rio in distress and was condemned, and in part with general merchandise, consigned to Brooks & Co. Captain Despeaux was a native of Baltimore, and leaves no family. Mr. Boyd believes that the ship and cargo were insured, but it is not positive of the fact. This in the second disastrous shipwreck in that locality, the Carrier Pigeon having left her frame and name there some year since.

Additional Information: Wreck Event
(click headline to access full article)

Newspaper headline from Daily Alta California 20JAN1865 p1 col1 of shipwreck Sir John Frankln

Source: Daily Alta California (San Francisco, CA), 20 January 1865, p 1, col 1.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Transcription:

THE WRECK OF THE SHIP "SIR JOHN FRANKLIN."

Newspaper headline from Daily Alta California 23JAN1865 p1 col2 of shipwreck Sir John Franklin

Source: Daily Alta California (San Francisco, CA), 23 January 1865, p 1, col 2.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Transcription:

FROM THE WRECK.—Captain J. W. Sayward, who left the wreck of the Sir John Franklin on Saturday evening, informs us that up to that time six bodies had been recovered, and an inquest had been held by the Coroner of Santa Cruz county.

Newspaper headline from Daily Alta California 24JAN1865 p1 col2 of shipwreck Sir John Franklin

Source: Daily Alta California (San Francisco, CA), 24 January 1865, p 1, col 2.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Transcription:

THE WRECK OF THE "SIR JOHN FRANKLIN." PESCADERO, SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, January 22d, 1865.

Newspaper headline from Sacramento Daily Union 24JAN1865 p3 col3 of shipwreck Sir John Franklin

Source: Sacramento Daily Union (Sacramento, CA), 24 January 1865, p 3, col 3.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside

Transcription:

BY TELEGRAPH TO THE UNION.

Additional Information: Vessel
(click headline to access full article)

Newspaper headline from Baltimore Sun 31DEC1853 p1 col7 of medium clipper ship Sir John Franklin

Source: Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD), 31 Dec 1853, p.1, col.7.
Courtesy of Newspapers.com.

Transcription:

Launched--A little before four o'clock yesterday afternoon the elegant ship "Sir John Franklin,”

Referenced and Additional Resources

Important Note: Section 922.132 of the sanctuary regulations prohibits or restricts several activities in order to safeguard sanctuary resources, including: Moving, removing, injuring or possessing historical resources.

For a complete “official text" of MBNMS regulatory prohibitions, see Title 15, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 922.132 published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Reviewed: April 11, 2024
Web Site Owner: National Ocean Service

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