Brother Jonathan (steamer)
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The Brother Jonathan was a paddle steamer that crashed on an uncharted rock near Point St. George, off the coast of Crescent City, California, on July 30, 1865. It was carrying 244 passengers and a large shipment of gold. Only 19 survived the wreck, making it the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the United States up to that time.
The ship was commissioned by Edward Mills, a New Yorker who tried to operate a shipping business during the California Gold Rush. When built in 1851, she was 220 feet (67 m) long and 36 feet (11 m) wide. Her route was from New York to Chagres, Panama, and on her very first journey set a record for fastest round-trip — 31 days. Passengers would cross the Isthmus of Panama and make their way north to California via another ship.
In 1852, the ship was purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt, who operated a competing line, to replace one of his ships that had been wrecked. Vanderbilt had the Brother Jonathan sail around Cape Horn and used her on the Pacific side of the route. Vanderbilt also had the steamer rebuilt to accommodate more passengers.
Vanderbilt's company had had an exclusive contract ferrying passengers across the isthmus through Nicaragua, but in 1856, the Nicaraguan government canceled the contract. The ship was then sold to a Captain John Wright, whereupon she was renamed the Commodore and put on the route between San Francisco and Seattle, Washington, as gold prospectors wanted to reach British Columbia during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush.
By 1861, she had fallen into disrepair and was sold again to the California Steam Navigation Company, who retrofitted her and restored her original name of Brother Jonathan and put her on the route between San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, servicing the Salmon River Gold Rush. Over the next several years, she gained a reputation as being one of the finest steamers on the Pacific Coast, being the fastest ship to make the run, sixty-nine hours each way.
On her last voyage, the ship had been overloaded with cargo and the captain was ordered to set sail by the company against his wishes. The ship had become so heavy that it got stuck in the mud and could not depart until high tide. A storm had settled off the coast of California and the captain decided to take shelter at Crescent City. It was at this point that the ship struck the rock, tearing a large hole in its hull. Within five minutes, the captain realized the ship was going to sink and ordered the passengers and crew to abandon ship. Despite having enough lifeboats to hold all of the people on board, there was only enough time to deploy three of them. The first capsized and the second smashed back into the ship, carried by waves. Only a single surfboat, holding eleven crew members, five women and three children managed to escape the wreck.
The ship lay undiscovered until 1993. The remains lie 250 feet (76 m) below the surface and are easily visible on sonar.
A memorial for the deceased, registered as California Historical Landmark #541, sits at Brother Jonathan Vista Point in Crescent City. The shipwreck is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The St. George Reef Lighthouse was built in response to this disaster and the rock that the ship ran aground upon is now known as "Jonathan Rock".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Del Norte. California Historical Landmarks. Office of Historic Preservation. Retrieved on 2005-08-29.
- Walker, Goodyear (1999). We’ll Find a New Captain…. The Brother Jonathan Shipwreck Exhibit. California State Lands Commission. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
