1879 — Apr 20, rowboat crew, stranded steamer Great Republic, Columbia Riv. bar, OR — 14

— 14 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 211.
— 14 Gibbs, James A. Pacific Graveyard. 1993, p. 96.
— 14 Marshall, Don. Oregon Shipwrecks. Portland, OR: Binford & Mort Pubs., 1984, p. 164.
— 11 Snowden et al. History of Washington (Vol. 4). 1909, p. 273.
— 10 New York Times. “The Lost Pacific Mail Steamer…The Great Republic…” Apr 22, 1879.
— 2-3 additional names. New York Times. “The Wreck of the Great Republic.” April 23, 1879.

Narrative Information

Gibbs: “American Steamer Great Republic…side-wheel passenger steamer….

“It was a happy crowd of some 896 passengers that departed San Francisco in the spring of 1879. The Great Republic, including her crew, carried more than a thousand persons.

“At midnight on April 18, the steamer arrived off the mouth of the Columbia. The pilot boat was awaiting her arrival and pulled alongside to put pilot Thomas Doig aboard. Doig decided to await daylight before taking the steamer across but later changed his plans. At 12:30 a.m., the vessel’s course was set….It was high tide and the sea was calm. The pilot guided the steamer as far as the Sand Island buoy, where suddenly the ship came to a stop with a jolt….The Great Republic was aground on Sand Island….Unfortunately the ship hit the shoal at the extreme tide, and the ebb left her in a position that severely tested her hull….

“The sea was rising; and the bilge pumps, clogged with silt, were failing to function properly, allowing the water to gurgle through the ship’s bottom unchecked….

“On the following day, when the sea modulated sufficiently, rescue ships arrived and the passengers were immediately transferred. The crew remained aboard the Great Republic, awaiting an opportunity to refloat her. From the shore she appeared to be virtually undamaged, but the elements took only two days to begin their destruction….

“The few remaining passengers were put ashore on Sand Island at 6 a.m. on Sunday and were followed by the crew, the ship commencing to break up so that it was dangerous to remain on board. The last boat left the ship at 10:30 a.m., and in getting away, the steering oar broke and the boat capsized, drowning eleven of the fourteen men it contained….” (pp. 91-96.)

Marshall: “Great Republic 4/17/1879 Sidewheel steamer, 4750 tons…She struck at high tide on Sand Island, which proved the undoing of the huge, bark-rigged ship that measured 378’x47’x30’ with four boilers and a vertical beam engine….

“The last boat off, containing 14 of the crew, broke a steering oar and overturned; 11 drowned…” (p. 164.)

Newspapers

April 22, New York Times: “San Francisco, April 21. – The following are the names, as furnished by the purser, of those who were lost by the capsizing of a boat of the steam-ship Great Republic, which ran ashore while attempting to make the port of Astoria, Oregon:

Hugh Leulon, first officer;
R. Davis, second officer;
J. Connor, boatswain;
William Johnson, carpenter;
Peter Rogers, watchman;
Thomas McElvoy, messman;
Samuel McMurray, waiter;
Frank Mallory (body recovered);
Frank Connelly, fireman;
Alexander Scott, fireman.

“Capt. Carroll, of the Great Republic, has made a statement, in which he attributes the disaster to an error of judgment of the pilot in charge. The ship was taken so near Sand Island, that when her course was changed the tide set her on shore.

“The Great Republic was launched from Henry Steers’s ship-yard, at Greenpoint, on Thursday, Nov. 8, 1866, and was the largest ship of any kind that at that date had ever been built in this country for commercial purposes. She was the first of the ships built by the Pacific Mail Steam-ship Company for the new line between San Francisco and China, and was 380 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 31 feet 6 inches deep in hold. She was at that time considered not only the largest, but the strongest ship, ever built in this country. Her frame timbers were of white and live oak, fastened with copper and iron, and braced with straps of iron five inches wide and seven-eighths of an inch thick, crossing each other diagonally every four feet. The inner planking was also double-strapped, and outside of the iron strapping was a double planking of Georgia yellow pine. The whole was thoroughly braced, and bolted together with tree-mails of locust, iron, and composition spikes, and copper bolts. This was considered at that time the perfection of strength, in ship-building. The Great Republic had three masts, and was full ship-rigged, her foremast, however, being the highest of the three, and her mizzen-mast the shortest. She had three full decks, with an orlop deck fore and aft, extending to the engine bulk-head. She had four stout, water-tight bulk-heads, dividing the hold into five separate compartments….

“The Great Republic was of 5,000 tons burden…” (NYT. “The Lost Pacific Mail Steamer…The Great Republic…” April 22, 1879.)

April 23, New York Times: “San Francisco, April 22. – A dispatch from Portland gives an additional list of the drowned by the Great Republic disaster, as follows:

James McDevitt, sailor;
Frank Malloy, waiter, and
Christopher Mont, sailor,

all of whom were lost by the capsizing of the boat which left the ship for the island on Sunday morning. Articles of freight and baggage have come ashore on the island and along the beach to Shoal Water Bay. Fishermen and pirates broke open many of the trunks last night, but the island is now guarded by a force of marines from the revenue steamer Corwin and a detachment of soldiers from the forts. The pirates have been driven off, and much valuable baggage has been reclaimed.” (New York Times. “The Wreck of the Great Republic.” April 23, 1879.)

Sources

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

Gibbs, James A. Pacific Graveyard. A Narrative of Shipwrecks Where the Columbia River Meets the Pacific Ocean. Portland, OR: Binford & Mort Publishing, 1993.

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

New York Times. “The Lost Pacific Mail Steamer…The Great Republic…” April 22, 1879. At: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9402E6D6123EE63BBC4A51DFB2668382669FDE

New York Times. “The Wreck of the Great Republic.” 4-23-1879. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchives.com

Snowden, Clinton A. History of Washington (Vol. 4). New York: The Century History Co., 1909, p. 273. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=J4EUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false