National Marine Sanctuaries

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

Shipwreck Database

Vessel
*Not A Total Loss

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"
 
CASUALTY
   
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.