National Marine Sanctuaries

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

Shipwreck Database

Vessel
*Not A Total Loss

J B Stetson
  
Name (former)
Official Number
 202687
Propulsion
 Steam
Nationality
 US
Masts
 2
Age
 29
Decks
 1
Value
 25,000
Type
 Steam Schooner
Call Sign
 KJNQ
Use
 Commercial
Home Port
 CA. San Francisco
Tonnage (gross)
 922
Built When
 1905
Tonnage (net)
 521
Built Where
 WA, Winslow
Tonnage
Built by
 Hall Brothers
Displacement
  
Hull Material
 Wood
Length (ft)
 181.0
Cargo
 General
Beam
 39.4
Owner
 Gissler, William Jr.
Depth of Hold
 13.4
 
CASUALTY
   
Latitude
36°34N
Longitude
121°58W
WHERE
Cypress Point
STATE
CA
YEAR
1934
LAST PORT
CA, Long Beach (09/01/34)
MONTH
09
DESTINATION
CA, Monterey
DAY
03
People on Board
19
TIME
0100
FATALITIES
0
CAUSE
Navigation
       
NATURE OF CASUALTY

Sounding taken 1/2 hour before stranding. When bow lookout announced "Rocks right Ahead," engine ordered full astern, but too late to avoid stranding. Vessel finally abandoned by captain, only at behest of the First Officer of US Daphne, when vessel was in danger of breaking.

Wreck Report

SHIP WRECK OFF MONTEREY LEFT TO DOOM - Cutter Rescues Crew as Freighter Crushes Hull on Reef With an impact that hurled sleeping crewmen from their bunks, the old San Francisco freighter J. B. Stetson ended her life on a Monterey reef in the dark and foggy hours of pre-dawn yesterday. Consternation reigned momentarily among the 22 [19] aboard "no passengers" as the wooden ship a familiar figure in San Francisco port for nearly three decades, began taking water rapidly through a gaping hole in her bow. The gashet flooded the engine room as men in all stages of undress scrambled up from below. On the bridge stood Captain F. W. Hubner, the fog was thick he could not see shore only 100 yards ahead. He estimated he was at Cypress Point, three miles south of the Monterey harbor entrance, for which he was bound, but at that point there was only the golf links of the picturesque 17-mile drive. Distress blasts rousted Matron C. F. Cuthrie of the clubhouse. She phone Monterey police, they phoned the Coast Guard and the cutter Daphne, an hour away put to the rescue. It was then 1 o'clock. The sea was calm. Life boats could not reach shore for the rocks. At 2 arrived the cutter Daphne. Fog veiled the Stetson from her and she feared to approach. The answer was simple. The Stetson crew loaded snatched belongings, including the mongrel mascot Flossie, into the cutter. Abandoned completely, the old freighter scattered $5,000 general merchandise to the seas she beat herself to at total loss. San Francisco Chronicle [in-part] September 4, 1934.