Historic Shipwreck Profile
 |
|---|
| Casco (steam schooner) wreck at Piedras Blancas light, California, 1913. Courtesy of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, W.R. Evans Collection. |
Casco |
|
Steam Schooner |
Casualty Location: Point Piedras Blancas, San Luis Obispo County, California, USA
Location Status: Located (see Important Note)
Casualty Date: 1913 (Jun 27)
Owner: Swayne & Hoyt
Home Port: San Francisco, California, USA
Length: 160.8 feet Beam: 36.4 feet
Gross Tonnage: 533 Cargo: Ballast
Builder: Kruse and Banks
Launched: 1906 (Marshfield, Oregon, USA)
Official Number: 203452
Description: The steam schooner Casco, en route to San Francisco from Redondo (where cargo was discharged), was caught in a strong gale and struck a submerged rock three miles north of Port San Luis. A hole ripped into bottom of the vessel, and pumps were unable to keep the hold free. Captain Oscar Jacobsen ordered the ship beached. No lives were lost. Machinery and boilers, wenches, tackle, and all useful equipment was loaded onto the power barge Bonita, in tow of the tug Priscilla, and shipped to San Francisco. Powder was used to blow up the wreck and the beach was strewn with wreckage. The master was negligent in navigation and his license was suspended for one year.
Nature of Casualty:
Source: San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram (San Luis Obispo, CA), 30 June 1913, p.1, col.6.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.
Transcription:
SCHOONER CASCO IS WRECKED UP COAST
Strikes Sunken Rock and is Beached Near Arroyo La Cruz Creek. No One is Injured. Striking a submerged rock three miles north of Port San Luis shortly before noon yesterday, the Casco, a two mast schooler, knocked a big hole in her bow and Saturday night was on the beach at the mouth of Arroyo La Cruz creek. It was the opinion of Capt. Jacobson that owing to the high seas always running at this point that it will be impossible to get the boat off and that she will be pounded to pieces.
The Casco had been to Redondo, where she had discharged her cargo and was on the return trip to San Francisco. Without cargo for ballast she was running high and caught in a strong gale struck the rock before the pilot could avoid it.
Water began pouring in her hold but the ship’s pumps were used to good advantage and she was taken off the rock on her own steam. It was decided best to beach the craft and she was headed for shore.
There were nineteen aboard, constituting the crew. No one was drowned and none was injured. The captain and crew Saturday night came to San Luis Obispo and left on the midnight train for San Francisco. The Casco is 530 tons gross and valued at $65,000.
Yesterday afternoon the tug Liberty and a derrick barge of the San Francisco Bridge Co. were sent to the relief of the disabled vessel, but could not get near the wreck owing to stormy weather; the relief vessels putting into Morro bay for safety. An effort is being made today to reach the wreck and if nothing else can be done, it will be salvaged by the derrick barge, which will remove the engines, etc.
Eight members of the crew of the Casco, who have been at the Hotel Marre at the port, left this afternoon for San Francisco.
Additional Information: Wreck Event
(click headline to access full article)
Source: Daily Telegram (San Luis Obispo, CA), 31 July 1913, p. 1, col. 1.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.
Transcription:
STEAM SCHOONER CASCO WRECK IS NOW SALVAGED
Source: Pacific Marine Review (San Francisco, CA), August 1913, Volume 9, Issue 8, p. 48.
Courtesy of Hathi Trust (Google-digitized).
Transcription:
Additional Information: Vessel
(click headline to access full article)
Source: The World (Coos Bay, OR), 29 August 1906, p. 1, col. 2
Courtesy of Newspapers.com
Transcription:
Referenced and Additional Resources
- Anonymous. 1913. Marine Mishaps. Pacific Marine Review 9(8):48.
- Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation. 1913. Seagoing Vessels of the United States with Official Numbers and Signal Letters. Part VI of the Forty-fifth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States. Washington, Government Printing Office. p.60.
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.