1908 — May 2, gale, steamer Minnie E. Kelton floods, men washed overboard, Yaquina Head, OR-11

–11 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 217.
–11 Gibbs, Jim. Disaster Log of Ships…shipwrecks, California to Alaska. 1971, p. 55..
–11 Morning Astorian, OR. “Eleven Men Drowned…Kelton Caught in a Gale.” 5-5-1908, 1.
–11 Morning Astorian, OR. “Steamer Minnie Kelton Towed Into Harbor.” 5-6-1908, p. 1.
–11 U.S. Bureau of Navigation. Merchant Vessels of the United States…1909, p. 392.

Narrative Information

Berman: “Minnie E. Kelton…St.s [steam screw] …632 [tins]…1894 [built] May 2 1908… Stranded …Yaquina, Ore. 11 lives lost.”

Gibbs: “On May 2, 1908, the steam schooner Minnie E. Kelton, skippered by Captain James McKenna, was hit by a gale en route to San Francisco from Aberdeen [WA] with lumber. Off Yaquina Head the deckload shifted and smashed the fireroom bulkhead. The vessel shipped water in great quantities until the fires in the boilers went out and the vessel became waterlogged. Abandoning ship north of Yaquina Head, a huge wave carried the deckload of lumber overboard, part of the after housing and both boats. Eleven members of the crew perished. The others floundered in the seas and regained the vessel, taking refuge in the foc’scle. All through the night they held out until removal next day by the Yaquina Bay Lifesaving boat. The wreck was towed to Astoria…where she was reduced to a rock barge, and later rebuilt as the steamer Rochelle. The vessel was originally a Great Lakes ‘lumber hooker.’”

U.S. Bureau of Navigation: “St.s…Minnie E. Kelton…632 [gross tonnage]…1894 [built]…21 onboard…11 [lives lost]…stranded…May 2, 1908…Yaquina Head. Oreg.” Ten survived. (U.S. Bureau of Navigation. Merchant Vessels of the U. S…1909, p. 391.)

Newspaper

May 4: “Newport, Oregon, May 4. – Eleven of the officers and crew of the schooner Minnie E. Kelton, lumber laden from Aberdeen, Wash., to San Francisco, were killed or drowned as the result of a fearful gale Friday night [May 1]. The schooner is lying at anchor, half wrecked, about a mile off shore between Yaquina Heads and Cape Foulweather. Captain James McKenna and 11 of his crew were saved. The dead and missing (undoubtedly dead) are: Oiler Walter Peterson, Fireman Barney McVey, Steward Svend Peterson, Cabin boys: R. W. Little and George Johnson; crew; A Elososson, A. Hoske, G. H. Jensen, O. Roskurst, and F. Johnson, Chief Engineer C. R. Lund….

“On Friday the Kelton ran into a strong headwind which increased as day proceeded until by midnight it was blowing a hard gale. The vessel continually shipped large volumes of water and labored heavily in the sea. The rough weather continued until the vessel reached a point eight miles southwest of Yaquina, when the deckload shifted and started the bulkheads of the fireroom and the vessel began filling from the bunkers and the engine room to the hold. The pumps proved unavailing against the inrush of water. Captain Kenna realizing the seriousness of his position headed for the Columbia River, but his fires were soon extinguished. The Kelton filled rapidly and was soon wallowing around at the mercy of the wind and waves. When north of Yaquina Head, the captain, seeing the hopelessness of his condition ordered the craft abandoned and directed that the lifeboat which was large enough to hold the entire crew, be lowered.

“While engaged in clearing the lifeboat, the vessel suddenly shipped a tremendous sea, which swept overboard, the deckload of lumber and with it the after deckhouse, both boats and 11 of the men. Shortly afterward a squall shut out from view the lifeboat and the men on the wreckage. They were not seen again until three of their bodies had been picked up on the beach on Sunday. Meantime the men remaining on the Kelton took refuge in the rigging, but fearing they would be swept overboard they crawled along the cargo booms and in this precarious manner succeeded in gaining the forecastle, where they remained until rescued Sunday afternoon.

“They had neither water nor provisions and suffered greatly from hunger, thirst and exposure. During all this time signals of distress had been flying but failed to attract the attention of either of the life-saving station or passing vessels. The first intelligence of the wreck was brought to Yaquina Bay Life Saving Station about noon Sunday by Paul Chatterton, a farmer living near the scene of the wreck. The lifeboat was immediately sent up the coast to the Kelton and the surfman with signaling apparatus went along the shore to the craft. The life boat took the remaining members of the crew and landed them safely about to miles above the wreck.

“Search was then made for those sailors who might have been washed ashore. The boat was found a short distance further north with one man lying dead in the bottom of it. Half a mile further up the beach another body was found on the beach and a third body was found in a mass of wreckage near the second one…” (Morning Astorian, OR. “Eleven Men Drowned. Steamer Kelton Caught in a Gale.” 5-5-1908, 1.)
Sources

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

Gibbs, Jim. Disaster Log of Ships: A Pictorial account of shipwrecks, California to Alaska. NY: Bonanza Books, 1971.

Morning Astorian, OR. “Eleven Men Drowned. Steamer Kelton Caught in a Gale.” 5-5-1908, 1. Accessed 2-19-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/astoria-morning-astorian-may-05-1908-p-1/

Morning Astorian, OR. “Steamer Minnie Kelton Towed Into Harbor.” 5-6-1908, p. 1. Accessed 2-19-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/astoria-morning-astorian-may-06-1908-p-1/

United States Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce and Labor. Forty-First Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States…For the Year Ended June 30, 1909. Wash.: GPO, 1909. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=vF0uAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCNsn88028129#v=onepage&q=&f=false