1852 — Jan 31, Steamer General Warren grounds/wrecks, Columbia Riv. bar, Astoria, OR– ~42

–45 Marshall, Don. Oregon Shipwrecks. Portland, OR: Binford & Mort Pubs., 1984, p. 117.
–42 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p, 210.
–42 Elyria Courier (OH). “Steamboat Accidents in the U. States in 1852,” Aug 17, 1852, 2.
–42 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 682.
–42 New York Times. “Distressing Disaster,” Mar 16, 1852.
–42 Snow. Great Gales and Dire Disasters. 1952, p. 168.
–42 The Friend. “Steamboat Accidents in the United States in 1852.” V. 25, no. 49, 1852, 391
–40 McCurdy. “Ocean Tragedies…Northwest Coast.” Overland Monthly, 34/202, 10-1899, 293

Narrative Information

Berman: “General Warren. St. p. 309 [tons] 1844 [built]. Jan 31, 1852. Stranded. Astoria, Ore. 42 lives lost.” (Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 210.)

McCurdy: “The first steamship wreck of importance upon the Northwest Coast took place in 1852, when the General Warren went on Clatsop Spit, at the mouth of the Columbia River. She was en route from Portland to San Francisco, and passed out January 28th, in charge of Captain Thompson. She encountered a strong head wind and carried away her foretopmast, whereupon her captain determined to return to the river. She was leaking badly and her grain cargo had choked the pumps, allowing the water to gain at a tremendous rate. She was brought back over the bar with great difficulty, Pilot Flavel of Astoria taking her in. Becoming unmanageable on account of the water in her hold, she was beached on Clatsop Spit, the waves making a clean breach over her. Before long she began to go to pieces, whereupon it was determined to launch a boat and seek assistance.

“Captain Flavel took charge of the boat, ten men volunteering to go with him. By the merest chance the boat cleared the wreck, and reached Astoria. A whaleboat from the bark George and Martha at once started for the scene of the disaster, but upon reaching the spot where the General Warren had been beached, not a trace remained of the unfortunate vessel. Forty persons perished in the disaster, none escaping save those who had gone in the boat….

“The General Warren was one of a number of rotten old tubs that had come around from the East during the gold excitement in California. She should have been condemned long before she brought her passengers and crew to such an untimely end.” (McCurdy. “Ocean Tragedies …Northwest Coast.” Overland Monthly, 34/202, 10-1899, 293)

Snow: Only ten saved. “The wreck was the captain’s fault as he insisted on crossing the bar in spite of the pilot’s warning.” (Snow 1952, pp. 167-168)

The Friend: “Jan’y 31. Steamer General Warren wrecked, at Astoria, Oregon. 42 lives lost.” (The Friend. “Steamboat Accidents in the United States in 1852.” Vol. 25, no. 49, 1852, 391.)

Newspapers

March 16: “The principal item of news by this arrival, is the account of the loss of the steam-propeller General Warren, Capt. Charles Thompson, which was wrecked at the mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon, on the 31st January, by which casualty forty-two passengers and crew, out of fifty-two persons on board, were lost. A statement published by the survivors sets forth, that the Warren had started for San Francisco, and meeting heavy weather, in which she carried away her foretopmast, she put back for Astoria, crossed the bar in safety, but subsequently struck, in consequence of the engineers not being in their stations when an order to back the vessel was given, in order to avoid the breakers which were discovered in the uncertain darkness of the storm. Soon after striking, the vessel sheared off into ten fathoms water, but was found to leak so badly that it was reported she could not live half an hour, and she was beached accordingly on Clatsop spit, at about 7 o’clock in the evening.

”Immediately upon her grounding, all hands, both passengers and crew, commenced heaving overboard the deck load, for the purpose of easing her. The surf broke over her with such violence that the main saloon was stove, and was first being detached from the hull. The starboard quarter boat was washed from the davits; the larboard boat — the only means by which the lives of so few were saved — was, by the extreme exertions and activity of Capt. Thompson, preserved. With the utmost difficulty he conveyed it forward and had it secured. At about nine o’clock, all that portion of the vessel abaft the foremast was carried away, the sea making a clean breach over the remainder.

“Up to this time no lives had been lost, the entire ship’s company and passengers having mustered on the forecastle and in the fore rigging, trusting that the wreck would hold together until daylight, when assistance might be procured from the shore. The sea was increasing in violence, and finding that the wreck was rapidly going to pieces, Capt. Thompson, at about 3 o’clock A.M., selected a boat’s crew, ten in number, from among his crew and passengers, and requested Capt. Flavel, the Pilot, to launch the boat and take command of her. He ordered the boat to pull for the shore, and procure any assistance that could be had. In the selection of the boat’s crew for this perilous expedition, Captain Thompson was cautious to choose men in whose return he could implicitly rely. As there was a strong ebb tide, the boat was doubly manned, in order to expedite her movements and assist in passing the breakers, which there was little hope of their ever crossing in safety. This last measure was resorted to by the Captain, knowing that it would be the only chance of saving the lives of those left on board. The passengers and crew who were not selected for the boat service made no effort to crowd into the boat, preferring the chance of being saved, by remaining upon the wreck, to the peril of passing the breakers in the boat. There was no excitement, no confusion; all that was accomplished was done in the most systematic and orderly manner.

“The boat encountered great difficulty in passing the breakers, having shipped a sea, from which she incurred great danger of being swamped. The weather still being very thick, she was compelled to run entirely by the roar of the breakers. After about an hour’s labor, the heights of Chinook (called Scarborough’s claim,) were discovered. The pilot, upon finding his exact position, steered for Astoria, where he fell in with the brig Francisco, lying at anchor off Tansy Point. Upon inquiry of the captain of the brig if he had a boat which could prove of assistance to the wreck, he was informed that the only boat belonging to the vessel was too small to live in the breakers. The pilot then proceeded with his crew to Astoria, where he boarded the bark George and Martha. Capt. Beard, of this vessel, lost no time in dispatching his first officer and an able crew, in a whale boat, to the assistance of the wreck. The steamer’s boat then left the shore, where the pilot and his wearied associates manned a large surf boat and proceeded to the scene of disaster, when, to their horror, they could discover no vestige of either wreck, passengers or crew….There seems to be little doubt that the catastrophe was a result of the utter unseaworthiness of the vessel, which was very ole and rotten.” (NYT. “Distressing Disaster,” Mar 16, 1852.)

Aug 17: “Jan. 31 – Steamer General Warren wrecked at Astoria, Oregon. 42 lives lost.” (Elyria Courier (OH). “Steamboat Accidents in the U. States in 1852,” Aug 17, 1852, 2.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Elyria Courier, OH. “Steamboat Accidents in the U. States in 1852,” Aug 17, 1852, 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=29967442

Marshall, Don. Oregon Shipwrecks. Portland, OR: Binford & Mort Publishing, 1984.

McCurdy, James G. “Ocean Tragedies on the Northwest Coast.” Overland Monthly, Vol. 34, No. 202, Oct. 1899. Pp. 291-300. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=otNUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

New York Times. “Distressing Disaster,” 3-16-1852, p. 1. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E07E1DF133EE13AA15755C1A9659C946392D7CF

Snow, Edward Rowe Great Gales and Dire Disasters. NY: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1952, 263 p.

The Friend (Religious and Literary Journal). “Steamboat Accidents in the United States in 1852.” Vol. 25, no. 49, 1852, 391. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JkQrAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false