1865 — July 30, Storm, Brother Jonathan hits rock/sinks off Crescent City, CA–171-225

–171-225 Blanchard estimated death toll.*

–200-286 Dubuque Democratic-Herald, IA. “The…Brother Jonathan…” 8-26-1865, 1.
— 225 Cal. State Lands Commission. California Shipwrecks. “The Brother Jonathan…”
— 225 Wikipedia. “Brother Jonathan (steamer).” July 14, 2011 modification.
— ~181 McCurdy. “Ocean Tragedies…Northwest…” Overland Monthly, 34/202, 1899, 296.
— >172 Marshall, Don. Oregon Shipwrecks. 1984, p. 9.
— estimated 170 bodies recovered
— two named individuals, bodies never recovered
— 171 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [US] 1807-1868. 1952, p.238.
— 171 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 685.
— 171 Supervising General of Steamboat Inspections. Annual Report of… 1865, p. 210.
— ~170 Belyk, R. C. “Brother Jonathan.” Great Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast. 2001, 34.
— 150 NYT. “Events in 1865; Chronicle of Noteworthy Occurrences for the Year.” 12-30-1865, p. 2.
— 146 NYT. “Another Great Disaster. Wreck…Steamship Brother Jonathan.” 8-26-1865, 1.

* Blanchard estimated death toll (171-225). *Our reading of the accounts below lead us to believe that the death toll was closer to the 171 noted in the report of the Supervising General of Steamboat Inspections (U.S.) than to the 225 deaths reported by the California State Lands Commission. We have reviewed other such CA SLC reports and found them to be less than always reliable (seeing four different death tolls for one vessel in the same document once). In reading very many Steamboat Inspection reports we find that it is rare to find an exaggerated death toll in their reporting. Thus we use 171 deaths as the low end of our estimated death toll range.

However, we do not feel we should just dismiss the California State Lands Commission document and thus use the number 225 as the high end of our estimated death-toll range. We do not believe the toll was upwards of 286 as reported possible in the Dubuque Democratic-Herald of August 26, 1865, below (or much below) the 171 reported by the Supervising Inspector of Steamboats.

Narrative Information

CA.gov: “During a summer storm in 1865, the Brother Jonathan struck an uncharted rock trying to make safe harbor at Crescent City. Of the 244 people on board, only 19 survived. Most of the ship’s cargo of gold, camels, china and other items sank with the ship in water over 250 feet deep. More than a century passed before the wreck was finally located.” (CA.gov. California Shipwrecks, “The Brother Jonathan” Home Page.)

McCurdy: “Overloading has sent many a good vessel to the bottom, the loss of the steamer Brother Jonathan being in a large measure due to this dangerous practice. This steamer was a large side-wheel vessel, built in New York in 1852, and came to the Pacific Coast shortly after her completion. She was a money-maker, and so much freight awaited her every trip that she was sent out overloaded time and again, in spite of the remonstrances of her captain, Samuel J. De Wolf. July 28, 1865, she went paddling out of San Francisco Harbor, no one dreaming that she would never be seen again. She ran into a strong head wind and high sea, but fought her way along until off Crescent City, the gale increasing and the vessel laboring heavily in the rough sea. Captain De Wolf thought it best to make for Crescent City, sixteen miles away. The boat was brought about and headed for that point, when after making about six miles, she brought up with a startling crash upon a sunken reef. As she swung around, her hull opened, and the foremast went through the bottom, the yards resting across the deck. The only salvation was to take to the boats. Two attempts were failures, the boats being swamped as they were launched. The third, however, got clear of the vessel. This boat carried nineteen persons, and miraculously reached Crescent City in this overloaded condition. These few were the only survivors out of nearly two hundred aboard the ill-starred steamer. The passenger-list included many prominent people, and all met death with a heroism seldom equaled. The wife of Brigadier-General Wright had entered the boat which safely reached land, but finding that her husband would not follow, she returned to the steamer, and both met death together…the Brother Jonathan had quite a sum of money aboard to pay off troops in the Northwest…” (McCurdy. “Ocean Tragedies…Northwest…” Overland Monthly, 34/202, 10-1899, 295-296.)

Snow: “As the steamer left San Francisco and headed northward, she encountered heavy northerly winds which cut down her speed. But she kept a steady rate of progress until after sunrise on Sunday, when the wind build up to a fearful pitch, hitting the side-wheeler with such force that less than half of the passengers appeared for breakfast. By the noontime meal the number was again cut in half and Captain Samuel J. de Wolf began to worry about the safety of his ship. Overloaded as she was, he felt that extreme caution was necessary. After taking bearings, he told his officers that the Jonathan had reached a point some seven miles to the north of Crescent City.

“By this time the waves and spray were smashing high over the bow. Soon afterwards the gale had reached such a terrifying crescendo that Captain de Wolf decided to run for the nearest haven, Crescent Harbor, which at 1:00 was about sixteen miles to the south….

“The steamer came about and started her run back down the coast, entering an area which had never been thoroughly charted. She was about halfway to her destination, when suddenly, without the slightest warning, she ran against a sharp underwater ledge and ripped her bottom to pieces. Three minutes later a large section of the ship’s keel and part of the rudder came to the surface and floated away….

“Captain de Wolf ordered a longboat filled with passengers and launched, putting the first mate in charge. After the lifeboat hit the water she was seen floating bottom-up…. Everybody aboard was drowned. Second Mate Campbell then gathered into his lifeboat most of the women still aboard…. The boat was lowered toward the raging waves below. Suddenly the Brother Jonathan have a shiver and began rolling over slowly on her beam ends. The occupants of the lifeboat were thrown into the sea where most of the women…were drowned at once….

“Only fifteen minutes had elapsed since the Brother Jonathan had crashed against the rock and already the steamer was breaking to pieces. Third Mate Patterson…now lowered his own boat and rescued the second mate and the eight passengers who were clinging to the fore chains. Ten more of the crew then leaped into the boat and the journey to safety began. Just as they pulled away from the Brother Jonathan, someone aboard the ship fired two guns and in less than twelve minutes the steamer sank beneath the waves with all hands…. The survivors, eleven men, five women and three children, went ashore, making it the most disastrous wreck in the history of the period. Captain de Wolf’s last words had been, ‘Tell them in San Francisco that if they hadn’t overloaded us we’d have got through all right!’” (Snow 1952, pp. 164-168)

Supervising General of Steamboat Inspections: “July 30, 1865, the steamship Brother Jonathan, bound San Francisco to Portland, Oregon, was lost in a heavy sea by striking upon a sunken rock, bearing about west-northwest from Crescent City, and from eight to ten miles from land. She was a vessel of about 1,200 tons, and had on board when lost, s nearly as can be ascertained, 140 passengers and 50 other persons, being officers and crew, and about 500 tons of freight. She left San Francisco July 28, and experienced very heavy weather all the way up the coast. On the 30th, about 2 o’clock p.m., she was a little to the northward of Crescent City, and was passed at 12 m. by the steamship Sierra Nevada, bound down. The sea was at this time so rough, and the wind blowing so heavy from the northwest, that it was determined by Captain De Wolf, who was in command of the steamer, to turn back and lie at Crescent City until the storm had abated. The steamer was put about, and had run some ten or fifteen minutes to the southeast when she struck a sunken rock, and was so pierced by it that she remained lodged and could not be backed off. The wind and sea was now beating very heavily on her port quarter, and she swung round and came head to the wind. It appears the rock must have been pointed or wedge-shaped, and when she came head to the wind it was found that in swinging it had burst open the bottom of the ship, and the foremast of the vessel slipped down through the opening until the foreyard lay across the deck. There was an immediate attempt made to get the life-boats cleared from the sinking ship, and the first boat cleared and cast off got away in safety with nineteen persons on board; these were all the persons saved from the vessel, out of one hundred and ninety. Several of the other boats were got into the water and loaded with passengers, but were stove to pieces against the vessel by the force of the sea running alongside. All the boats were lowered under direction of the officers, every persons behaving in the coolest manner, under the assurance of the captain that everything would be done for their safety which was possible. None of the principal officers ever left the deck of the steamer; but when the life-boats had been lost, and all means of escape cut off, they were seen, with the passengers then remaining on board, standing on the after-deck of the vessel until she sunk beneath the waves, which she did in forty-five minutes after striking the rock. During several succeeding days bodies were drifted on shore, all of which had life-preservers secured to them, and many were recognized and taken possession of by their friends, while others were buried where found by the force established to patrol the beach for more than fifty miles to the southward. It is not known with certainty whether the rock upon which the vessel struck had been previously known or not as it is impossible now to determine the exact position of the steamer at the time, but is generally believed it was further to sea than any rock or reef now laid down in the charts; and in support of this view, it is hardly possible that a commander so experienced on this route, so constant in his watchfulness, and so eminently correct in all his habits, could have been run on any known danger in broad daylight, and the weather so clear that the position and bearings of the ship must have been fully known to him. The Brother Jonathan was rebuilt four years since, and was a very staunch vessel, and was very fully supplied with boats and all other equipments required by law; she also had very able and experienced officers and a full crew. The public were very deeply impressed by this sad calamity, the ship and her officers having the fullest confidence of the people; there has not been heard, in the public press or elsewhere, the least complaint against either; but every one, with a sense of personal bereavement in the loss of so many valuable and well-known citizens, seemed, without murmur, to bow in profoundest sorrow to this fearful dispensation of an over-ruling Providence.

“There is a practical lesson to be learned from this and similar disasters at sea, which should not be passed by unheeded. It will be observed that the boats of this steamer, with one exception, were dashed to pieces alongside of the vessel, after they had been loaded with passengers, before they could be got clear of the ship. Can this danger be avoided? The difficulty arises from a want of suitable provision by which the boat my be instantly relieved at will from the tackles by which she is lowered into the water. I do not pretend to say that boats in all cases could be got clear of the ship if furnished with such means, but their adoption would, I am fully satisfied, greatly lessen the present danger of disaster from this cause; and I trust Congress will be called upon to require by enactment the application of the best form of boat-disengaging apparatus on all our ocean-going steam vessels.” (Supervising General of Steamboat Inspections. Annual Report… 1865, 210-211.)

Wikipedia: “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. The ship was carrying 244 passengers and crew with a large shipment of gold. Only 19 survived the wreck, making it the deadliest shipwreck up to that time on the Pacific Coast of the United States. It was named after “Brother Jonathan”, a character personifying the United States before the creation of Uncle Sam.” (Wikipedia. “Brother Jonathan (steamer).” July 14, 2011 modification.)

Contemporary Newspapers

Aug 25, Dubuque Democratic-Herald: “New-York, Aug. 25….The steamer Ocean Queen brings San Francisco papers of Aug. 3d. The steamer Brother Jonathan, from San Francisco, July 2d, for Portland, Oregon and Victoria, with between 200 and 300 passengers, was totally lost near Cape Lincoln, Oregon, June [sic. July] 30. Only 14 men and women were saved. Among the passengers were Brig. General Wright and family, Lt. Col. Waite, Surgeon Graham, of the army, Capt. Chaddock, of the revenue service…. Gen. Wright was en route to take command of the department of Columbia.” (Dubuque Democratic-Herald, IA. “The Steamer Brother Jonathan Wrecked…” 8-26-1865, 1.)

Aug 26, NYT: “The interruption of telegraphic communication with the Pacific coast during the last few weeks may account for the fact that we have not received any intimation of the fearful calamity recorded below. These particulars we find in the San Francisco Steamer Bulletin of Aug. 3. That paper says….

“Unless there was a very heavy sea at the scene of disaster, it seems hardly possible that only 16 persons out of 162 passengers and crew, should have been saved – especially as the wreck is reported to have occurred at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, and the passengers had an hour in which to save themselves after being notified of the danger….

“The Brother Jonathan was provided with three large surf-boats and three of Francis’ patent life-boats, so that it is not improbable that more of the passengers have been saved than we know of now. The coast in the vicinity of the accident is exceedingly rocky, and the feat of landing in a boat is a dangerous one at any time. It is not unlikely that one or more boats from the steamer might have put off from the shore with the hope of reaching Crescent City, which is only about ten miles distant….

“The official dispatch…on which the morning telegram was based, arrived late last evening, and is as follows.

“Camp Lincoln…Jacksonville, Oregon, July 31, 1865 – Received at San Francisco, Aug. 1, 1865, at 10 P.M.

To Col. R. C. Drum [unclear]

At 3 P.M. yesterday, the steamer Brother Jonathan struck a sunken rock, and sunk in less than an hour, with all on board except 16 persons, who escaped in a [unclear] boat, the only survivors of the ill-fated ship. No trace of the vessel is left. I was out last night on the beach with 14 men; shall keep a party out on the beach. Gen Wright, family and staff are supposed to be lost. Full particulars by mail. Thomas Buckley, Captain Sixth Infantry…

“As will be seen by the above telegram the disaster occurred on Sunday afternoon [July 30]. Camp Lincoln is situated about six miles from Crescent City, and four miles from the coast, where the wreck occurred.

“The Brother Jonathan left San Francisco on Friday morning last, at 10 o’clock, bound for Portland, Oregon, and thence to Victoria, Vancouver’s Island. She is one of the California Steam Navigation Companies popular steamers, plying between these points, and was built, or rebuilt, at this city two years since. She was considered a staunch boat. The crew, including officers, consisted of 54 men. The number of passengers on board, including children, was 169 [unclear]; at least this is the number…[unclear] at the company’s office in this city, but it usually happens that several passengers go on board at the last moment….” (NYT. “Another Great Disaster. Wreck of the Steamship Brother Jonathan.” 8-26-1865, 1.)

Aug 26, Wisc. State Journal: “New York, August 26. The Alta Californian of San Francisco, of the 3d inst., has been received by private hands. It contains the following important intelligence:

“Crescent City, July 30, via Jacksonville, August 2d. – The steamer Brother Jonathan struck a sunken rock off St. George’s Point 8 or 10 miles west from here at 1:30 p.m. to-day. All on board were lost except 17 persons, including three children. Boats have gone to the rescue, but there are no hopes of saving more. Two boats swamped alongside of the ship and three boats were left on board….The latest boats have returned, having seen nothing of the wreck. We give up all hope of saving more passengers….” (Wisconsin State Journal, Madison. “Loss of the Steamer Brother Jonathan.” 8-28-1865, p. 2.)

Sources

Belyk, Robert C. Great Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast. NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2001.

California State Lands Commission (Marie Burnett). California Shipwrecks. “Belle.” 2007. Accessed at: http://shipwrecks.slc.ca.gov/Articles/Belle.html

Dubuque Democratic-Herald, IA. “The Steamer Brother Jonathan Wrecked on the Oregon Coast.” 8-26-1865, 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=36103866

Lytle, William M., compiler, from Official Merchant Marine Documents of the United States and Other Sources; Holdcamper, Forrest H. (Editor, and Introduction by). Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868. “The Lytle List.” Mystic, CT: Steamship Historical Society of America (Publication No. 6), 1952. Accessed 8-16-2020 at:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018039084&view=1up&seq=8&size=125

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. “Another Great Disaster. Wreck of the Steamship Brother Jonathan.” 8-26-1865, 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=7719954

NYT. “Events in 1865; Chronicle of Noteworthy Occurrences for the Year.” 12-30-1865, p. 2. Accessed 4-15-2020 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1865/12/30/archives/events-in-1865-chronicle-of-noteworthy-occurrences-for-the-year.html

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

Supervising Inspector of Steamboats (U.S.). “Report of the Supervising Inspector of Steamboats,” in United States Secretary of the Treasury. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury of the State of the Finances for The Year 1865. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1865. Accessed 12-21-2020 at: https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/annual-report-secretary-treasury-state-finances-194/report-secretary-treasury-state-finances-year-1865-5509/report-supervising-inspector-steamboats-302219

Wikipedia. “Brother Jonathan (steamer).” July 14, 2011 modification. Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Jonathan_(steamer)#cite_note-0

Wisconsin State Journal, Madison. “Loss of the Steamer Brother Jonathan.” 8-28-1865, 2. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=116824228