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Historic Shipwreck Profile

schooner Celia at Point Joe
With her masts falling over and a deck-load of lumber the steamer Celia is stranded at Point Joe. Courtesy of Robert Schwemmer Maritime Library.

Celia

Steam Schooner


shipwreck location map

Casualty Location: Point Joe, Del Monte Forest, Monterey County, California, USA

Location Status: Located (see Important Note)

Casualty Date: 1906 (Aug 28)

Owner: Swayne & Hoyt

Home Port: San Francisco, California, USA

Length: 118 feet Beam: 29 feet

Gross Tonnage: 173 Cargo: Lumber

Builder: Matthew Turner

Launched: 1884 (Benicia, California, USA)

Official Number: 126224

Description: The steam schooner Celia, en route from Santa Cruz to Monterey with a cargo of lumber, experienced foggy weather causing the vessel to become stranded off Point Pinos. The crew immediately took to the boats, ultimately landing in Monterey. No lives were lost. Salvage was sold to the highest bidder. The captain was later found guilty of negligence and incompetence, and his master’s license was suspended.

Nature of Casualty:

Newspaper clipping from San Francisco Call 30AUG1906 p5 col4 shipwreck Celia

Source: San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), 30 Aug 1906, p. 5, col. 4.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Transcription:

LUMBER SCHOONER GOES ON ROCKS.

MONTEREY, Aug. 29.— The steam schooner "Celia," with a cargo of 160,000 feet of lumber, went on the rocks two miles south of Point Joe last night at 11 o'clock. The cargo was for the Roderick Lumber Company of this city and was going to the Albion Lumber Company.

Captain Newman made a mistake in the fog and thought he was entering Monterey harbor when on a course toward the rocks. On the boats as passengers from Santa Cruz were S. A. Bishop and Mrs. Bishop and their three children. Bishop is superintendent of the Albion Lumber Company and re-sides at 2748 Mission street, San Francisco.

When the boat struck Captain Newman and ten men went in one boat and the first mate and the Bishops in the second. Captain Newman and his boat reached Monterey about 4 o'clock this morning. The second boat was separated from it and for a while it was feared it would be lost. It reached Monterey about 7 o'clock.

The Celia will be a complete wreck. Large numbers were attracted to the scene of the wreck, which is about six miles from Monterey.

The Celia was one of the first three steam schooners to be built on this coast and was the last survivor of the trio. The Laguna and West Coast, the other two, also ended their careers on the rocks of the shore line they skirted so long. The Celia was built in 1884 at Benicia and was of 115 net tons register.


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

Newspaper headline from Santa Cruz Sentinel 30AUG1906 p1 col3 of shipwreck Celia

Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, CA), 30 August 1906, p. 1, col. 3.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Transcription:

Steamer Wrecked Near Monterey


Newspaper clipping from Santa Cruz Sentinel 31AUG1906 p2 col3 shipwreck Celia

Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, CA), 31 Aug 1906, p. 2, col. 3.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Transcription:

GOES ASHORE POINT PINOS


Newspaper headline from San Jose Mercury 28SEP1906 p12 col5 of shipwreck Celia

Source: San Jose Mercury (San Jose, CA), September 28, 1906, p. 12, col. 5-6.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Transcription:

MONTEREY


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: September 08, 2023
Web Site Owner: National Ocean Service

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