1906 — June 11, gasoline schooner Corinthian grounds, Humboldt Bar, CA — 2

— 2 Blanchard.

We note this loss in that there have been a number of reports of the entire crew of twelve being lost. The earliest such reporting we have seen is the US Bureau of Navigation report of twelve lives lost – in one line in a table titled “Part IV. Loss of American Vessels Reported During Fiscal Year 1906.” We speculate this is the source used by Gibbs, noted below, and others. We do not know where the Bureau of Navigation got its information, but it is incorrect. It is clear from the lengthy description of this loss in the U.S. Life-Saving Service report cited below, and from newspaper accounts of the time, such as the Oakland Tribune account we cite, that the loss of life was two not twelve.

–12 Gibbs, Jim. Disaster Log of Ships. 1971, p. 19.
–12 US Bureau of Navigation. List of Merchant Vessels of the United States…1906, p. 385.
— 2 Oakland Tribune, CA. “Schooner is Wrecked; 2 Drown, 10 are Saved.” 6-12-1906, p. 1.
— 2 US Life-Saving Service. “Wreck of the gasoline schooner Corinthian, June 11, 1906,” p.42.

Narrative Information

US Bureau of Navigation: “Corinthian…94 [tons] 1892 [built]…12 [crew size]…12 [lives lost]…Stranded…June 11, 1906…Humboldt Bar, Cal.”

US Life-Saving Service: “The Corinthian was a 94-ton gasoline schooner, carrying a crew of 12 men, including her captain, L. E. Atwater, and hailing from Eureka, California. The estimated value of the vessel is given as $12,000, and that of her cargo, consisting of lumber, shakes, and shingles, at $1,000. The disaster, which involved the loss of two members of the crew, occurred on June 11, 1906, the schooner having stranded at about 6 p.m. of that day on the western side of the peninsula separating Humboldt Bay from the ocean, two or three hundred yards off shore, and 3 miles northward of the Humboldt Bay life-saving station. The Corinthian left Eureka in the afternoon of the day mentioned en route to San Francisco. When she set out there was a light breeze from the south and the water was quiet, but by the time she had passed out between North Spit and South Spit, the wind had freshened considerably, and there was a strong sea running.

“From Eureka down to the bay entrance the distance is 5 or 6 miles. The bay is a long, narrow body of water from one-half mile to a mile wide, with a tortuous channel, and separated from the ocean by a low, barren, sandy peninsula, from one-half to three-fourths of a mile across. The life-saving station stands on the bay side of the peninsula about half a mile from its point, called North Spit. By boat the distance from the statin down around the point and out to the bar is perhaps 2 miles. Directly across the spit westward half a mile is the station boathouse, a mile from the bar, where are stored one of the Service boats, a beach cart and apparatus, and other life-saving equipment for use in case of disast4r on the ocean side of the peninsula – this arrangement making it possible for the station crew frequently to save much valuable time in answering calls of distress.

“Ahead of the Corinthian, as she neared the bay entrance, could be seen the breakers coming in pretty high, but, anticipating no difficulty in crossing, Captain Atwater kept his course, choosing the south channel in which to make the attempt. The vessel began to encounter trouble, however, as she approached the bar, and her deck load added materially to the difficulty of controlling her. She had little more than entered the breakers when a sea swept completely over her, disabling her machinery and starting the cargo. All hands except the man at the wheel, who was lashed to his post, and a man in the galley, named A. McCory, took to the rigging. Almost instantly following the first sea came another, which tore the galley loose and swept if over the side, taking McCory with it, and also further disarranging the deck load. The galley went by the board so quickly that the shipmates of the unfortunate man could have done nothing to save him had they been on deck and dared to make the attempt, and, of course, once in the sea he was beyond all possibility of aid from aboard ship.

“Realizing that the schooner must certainly be thrown on the shore if no effort were made to regain control of her, the captain and crew undertook, at great risk, to hoist the foresail, hoping to escape through the north channel, but before they had half accomplished their hazardous task the sail was split in two by flying pieces from the deck load, which rendered it useless. With the sail destroyed there was nothing further the crew could do in an endeavor to escape from their perilous situation, and the vessel was swept rapidly northward, all the time in broken water. When she had drifted a mile or more her two anchors were let go in the hope that she might fetch up head to and ride it out until the sea moderated, or until assistance might reach her, but the anchors failed to hold, and she continued to drift, finally taking bottom in the breakers. After she struck, the waves beat over her even more violently than before, carrying away her cargo of lumber and filling the water about her sides and toward the beach with the debris. Within a few moments after the stranding one of the sailors, named Simpson, left his place in the rigging, and against the remonstrance of the captain and mate jumped overboard and struck out for the sore.

“It appears that a number of persons had observed the schooner’s plight from the village of Samoa, on the ocean side of the peninsula, and from a shipyard on the bay, and had assembled on the beach abreast of her soon after the stranding. Among them was Alexander McLean, who had formerly been a member of the Life-Saving Service, part of the time as a keeper of the Point Adams station. When Simpson jumped overboard, McLean and a man named Peterson rushed out into the surf among the threshing timbers and brought him safe to land. Another member of the crew, named Carlson, seeing the success of his shipmate, essayed, against the entreaties of the captain and mate, to get ashore in the same manner, but was swept away and drowned….” [The next three-plus pages of the account details the life-saving measures which resulted in the successful rescue of the remaining crew, with a loss-of-life of the two crew members noted above.]

Newspaper

June 12: “Eureka, Cal., June 12. – While crossing Humboldt bar last evening and attempting to navigate through the south channel the gasoline schooner Corinthian, Walter Coggeshalt, managing owner, Captain Atwater, master, took aboard a huge sea, causing her to become a total wreck. The disaster was marked by two fatalities. The Dead: Andrew McCarry, student at the University of California. Ole Carson, sailor….” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Schooner is Wrecked; 2 Drown, 10 are Saved.” 6-12-1906, p. 1.

Sources

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

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Schooner is Wrecked; 2 Drown, 10 are Saved. Corinthian, En Route to San Francisco, is Beached While Crossing Humboldt Bar.” 6-12-1906, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-jun-12-1906-p-1/

United States Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce and Labor. Thirty-Eighth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States…For the Year Ended June 30, 1906. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1906. Digitized by Google. Accessed 2-1-2022 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=ROEYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCNsn88028129&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false

United States Life-Saving Service. “Wreck of the gasoline schooner Corinthian, June 11, 1906,” pp. 42-48 in Annual Report of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1906. Accessed 2-2-2022 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=7JRIAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&vq=wreck+of+schooner+corinthian+1906+humboldt+bay#v=onepage&q&f=false