National Marine Sanctuaries |
Channel Islands National Marine SanctuaryShipwreck
Database
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|
|
Vessel
|
Winfield Scott |
Check
out our underwater video gallery and see footage from the Winfield
Scott
|
|
|
Name
(former)
|
(Was to be launched as Placer) |
Official
Number
|
|
|
Propulsion
|
Steam |
Nationality
|
US |
|
Masts
|
3 |
Age
|
3 |
|
Decks
|
4 |
Value
|
|
|
Type
|
Side - Wheel Passenger Cargo Steamer |
Call
Sign
|
|
|
Use
|
Commercial |
Home
Port
|
CA, San Francisco |
|
Tonnage
(gross)
|
1291 56/59 |
Built
When
|
1850 |
|
Tonnage
(net)
|
Built
Where
|
NY, New York | |
|
Tonnage
|
1291 |
Built
by
|
Westervelt and Mackey |
|
Displacement
|
Hull
Material
|
Wood w/ double iron bracing | |
|
Length
(ft)
|
225' |
Cargo
|
Gold Bullion & Mail |
|
Beam
|
34' 8" |
Owner
|
Pacific Mail Steamship Company |
|
Depth
of Hold
|
29' 2" | ||
|
|
|||
|
Latitude
|
34°01N
|
Longitude
|
119°23W
|
|
WHERE
|
Anacapa
Island, Middle
|
STATE
|
CA
|
|
YEAR
|
1853
|
LAST
PORT
|
CA,
San Francisco
|
|
MONTH
|
12
|
DESTINATION
|
Panama
|
|
DAY
|
02
|
People
on Board
|
450+
-
|
|
TIME
|
2300
|
FATALITIES
|
0
|
|
CAUSE
|
Navigation
in Fog
|
| NATURE OF CASUALTY | ||
| The Winfield Scott departed San Francisco upon its last voyage on 1 December 1853, with a full load of passengers and a shipment of gold bullion. Selecting the Santa Barbara Channel rather than a passage outside the islands in an effort to save time, Captain Simon F. Blunt entered the passage as a fog developed. Evidently intending to steam between Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands the Winfield Scott piled into Middle Anacapa Island at full speed, probably around 10 knots, at eleven o'clock that evening. Amid general confusion, a boat was launched and located a nearby land place. The entire ship's company, more than 300 persons, left the vessel that evening for a small pinnacle 200 yards offshore from Anacapa Island. The following morning, the ship's boats transferred the group to the island proper. There a temporary camp sheltered most of the group for the next week. The majority of the passengers left on December 10, when the California plucked them from the beach and took them on their way to Panama. The ship's company remained on the island for two more days, concentrating on recovery of the mail and baggage carried aboard. They also recovered some furniture and "small portions of machinery." Other salvors removed foodstuffs and other items. Captain Horatio Gates Trussell of Santa Barbara salvaged wood that became incorporated into the home now preserved as the Turssell-Winchester Adobe, which also contains two brass thresholds from the ship. |
Click here for larger image and history Major salvage took place in 1894 from the San Pedro, operated by Captain Maginn and Colonel Baker. The operation removed several hundred large copper bolts and much of the iron machinery, blasting it into manageable pieces. Additional iron and brass were salvaged during World War II. |
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