1894 – Dec 7-8, steamer Keweenaw lost in gale, Pacific, Cape Flattery WA vicinity –29-31

— 31 Gibbs, James A. Shipwrecks off Juan de Fuca. Portland, OR: 1968, p. 182.
— 29 U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service. Annual Report 1895, p. 21.

Narrative Information

Gibbs: “…the SS Keweenah [sic]…left Comox the morning of December 7, fell in company with…[collier Montserrat] on the outbound trek [down the Strait of Georgia into the Salish Sea going west past Cape Flattery, then south toward San Francisco.] Concerned with …[a] rising tempest, the lookouts at the lighthouse kept a tight watch on both ships throughout the day. At dusk on the evening of December 7, the two ships could still be faintly observed about ten miles out, doggedly fighting to hold their own against the howling southwester. Carrying overloads of coal, both steamers rode low in the water, the Montserrat about a mile ahead of the Keweenah. As darkness came on, both were shipping immense seas.

“The Keweenah, commanded by Captain W. H. Jenkins, was carrying a crew of thirty-one. Virtually a new ship, she had been built at West Bay City, Michigan, just three years earlier. Constructed of iron and measuring 271 feet in length, she was designed to trade between New York and the Pacific Coast. To win the contract for construction of the ship, the builders had to agree to some unusual requirements. The vessel had to be built with several watertight compartments designed to keep her afloat in case of collision or stranding; also with a reinforced double bottom divided into sections by the keel and bulkheads. The spaces between the bulkheads were arranged to act as tanks so that in the event of a mishap the sea cocks on the weather side could be opened to allow a steadying flow of water. Further, the Keweenah was to large to pass through the Welland Locks so she had to be cut in half. This the builders had provided for, and when the fore and after sections had passed through the locks, they were riveted back together in a Montreal shipyard….

“On reaching San Francisco, the Black Diamond Coal Company…signed to charter the ship. Thus it was that the two most seaworthy ships on the Pacific Coast, in company, were battling a driving hurricane off Cape Flattery on the bleak night of December 7 and the morning of December 8, 1894….both vanished from the face of the sea sometime during that period to time. The fierce storm that apparently claimed the two ships grew to such proportions that it continued unabated for an entire week, spreading devastation from Alaska to California.

“The most widely accepted theory…was that both ships were grossly overloaded and foundered when great head seas tore off their hatch covers.” (Gibbs, James A. Shipwrecks off Juan de Fuca. Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1968, pp. 182-184.)

US SIS: “To this date the steamer Keweenaw, coal laden, from Comox, British Columbia, December 7, is unheard of and undoubtedly foundered, carrying down all hands, consisting of 1 master, 6 officers, and 22 crew. This vessel was built at West Bay City, Mich., in 1891.” (U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service. Annual Report 1895, p. 21.)

Newspaper

Record-Union: “San Francisco. Dec. 29.—It is now twenty-two days since the steam colliers Monzerrat and Keweenaw sailed for San Francisco from neighboring ports on Vancouver island, British Columbia. Nearly all seafaring men believe that the two vessels and their crews, numbering nearly sixty men. Were lost in the recent gale which broke in all its fury on the night that the colliers put to sea. Notwithstanding that the steamers were so long out on a voyage that should have been completed within fourteen days, some of the owners, consignees and some of the families of the scores of luckless mariners still have hopes. In response to their earnest appeals the government has sent out another steamer in search of the vessels. The United State’s gunboat Pennington went to sea this evening under instructions to proceed northward and make thorough search for the missing vessels. The United States revenue cutter Grant, which was dispatched from Port Townsend on a similar errand several days ago is still at sea….”
(http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18941228.2.2 )

Sources

Gibbs, James A. Shipwrecks off Juan de Fuca. Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1968.

The Record-Union, Sacramento, CA. “The Montserrat and Keweenaw Still Among the Derelicts.” 12-28-1894, p. 1. Accessed 6-20-2022 at: http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18941228.2.2

United States Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspection Service to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1895. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1895. Digitized by Google. Accessed 6-20-2022 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JFYpAAAAYAAJ