Historic Shipwreck Profile
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| Steam Schooner Gipsy, also known as “Old Perpetual Motion” for 36 years of freight service along the California coast. Courtesy of Randle McLean Biddle Collection. |
Gipsy |
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Steam Schooner |
Casualty Location: McAbee Beach, Monterey, Monterey County, California, USA
Location Status: Located (see Important Note)
Casualty Date: 1905 (Sept 27)
Owner: Pacific Coast Steamship Company
Home Port: San Francisco, California, USA
Length: 102 feet Beam: 28.3 feet
Gross Tonnage: 293 Cargo: general, grain, beer
Builder: Middlemas & Boole for David Stoddard
Launched: 1868 (San Francisco, California, USA)
Official Number: 10982
Description: The steam schooner Gipsy hauled freight and people along the California coast between San Francisco and San Diego for 36 years; and was otherwise known as “Old Perpetual Motion”. On a dark and foggy night (27 September 1905), bound for Monterey from San Francisco, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company’s inexperienced relief captain encountered fog and mistook a red light (sewer construction light at the end of Hoffman Street) for the marker at the end of the Monterey wharf. Soon after, the vessel wrecked amid the breakers and rocks of McAbee Beach. The uninsured vessel was a complete loss, costing the owners approximately $22,500 (Reinstedt 1975, Olesen 1994). Remnants from the wreck continue to be of interest to divers.
Nature of Casualty:
Source: The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), 28 September 1905, p. 1, col. 2.
Courtesy of The Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Transcription:
STEAMSHIP WRECKED AT MONTEREY
The Gipsy Torn to Pieces on the Rocks.
Breaks Up Half an Hour After Striking on a Ledge.
Old Coast Vessel With Cargo a Total Loss — Members of Crew Saved.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
PACIFIC GROVE, Sept. 27.— Shortly be-fore 8 o'clock to-night the Pacific Coast Steamship Company's freight steamship Gipsy went on the2 rocks off McAbees Beach, a mile and a half from this city, and is a total wreck. The Gipsy was on its regular, weekly trip between San Francisco and Port Harford and was heavily laden with grain and other freight. Captain Boyd was in charge. The boat was due at 6 o'clock, but it was 7:30 when Chief Wharfinger Norton, in charge of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company's wharf at Monterey, sighted the boat, coming in. When the Gipsy, came within a quarter of a mile of the wharf she appeared to turn and go beach- ward. She drifted outward and shore- ward, finally landing on the ledge of rocks immediately in front of McAbees Beach at a point half-way between Pa- cific Grove and Monterey. The distress whistles were immediately sounded. The life-saving crew from McAbees Beach, headed by J. B. McAbee, immediately launched a boat and rescued the crew of the freighter. Five minutes after striking the engine room was flooded with water and the boat began beating on the rocks and tearing to pieces. In thirty minutes' time the beach was strewn with broken tim-bers and sacks of grain. Captain Boyd could give no clear ex- planation as to the cause of the disaster. He was promoted about two weeks ago and this was his maiden voyage. He claims the red lights displayed as danger signals off the beach of New Monterey, where a sewer is being constructed, con-fused him, and he thought he was enter-ing port when he went aground. The Gipsy was the oldest boat in use by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company and has been in a frightful condition for years. The loss is estimated at $22,500, cargo $10,000 and ship $12,500.
Additional Information: Vessel
(click headline to access full article)
Source: Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco, CA), 5 January 1869, p. unk, col. G.
Courtesy of Robert Schwemmer.
Transcription:
ENGINEERS’ TRIAL TRIP OF THE STEAMER “GIPSEY”
Source: Sacramento Daily Union (Sacramento, CA), 25 June 1869, p. 2, col. 5.
Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.
Transcription:
The California Pacific Railroad Company have perfected arrangements
Referenced and Additional Resources
- American Bureau of Shipping. 1906. Record of American and Foreign Shipping, “American Lloyds.” New York. p. 602.
- Olesen, W. 1994. S.S. Gipsy. The Compass Rose Newsletter, Friends of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum 13(1):1-2.
- Reinstedt, R.A. 1975. Shipwrecks and Sea Monsters of California’s Central Coast. Ghost Town Publications, Carmel, CA. 168pp.
- United States Department of Commerce and Labor. 1906. Report of the Supervising Inspector-General, Steamboat-Inspection Service: Summary of Casualties, Violations of Law, and Investigations for the year ended December 31, 1905. In: Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor 1906: Report of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor and Reports of Bureaus, Washington Government Printing Office. p. 322.
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.