National Marine Sanctuaries

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

Shipwreck Database

Vessel
*Not A Total Loss

Los Angeles

  
Name (former)
Official Number
 15992
Propulsion
 Steam
Nationality
 US
Masts
 2
Age
 31
Decks
 2
Value
 50,000
Type
 Passenger Steamer
Call Sign
  
Use
 Commercial
Home Port
 CA. San Francisco
Tonnage (gross)
 493
Built When
 1863
Tonnage (net)
 286
Built Where
 MD, Baltimore
Tonnage
Built by
 Fardy and Brother
Displacement
  
Hull Material
 Wood
Length (ft)
 170.0
Cargo
 wool, butter/cheese, veal, chrome
Beam
 27.0
Owner
 Pacific Coast Steamship Company
Depth of Hold
 11.1
 
CASUALTY
   
Latitude
36°18N
Longitude
121°54W
WHERE
Point Sur, south of
STATE
CA
YEAR
1894
LAST PORT
CA, Newport to San Simeon
MONTH
04
DESTINATION
CA, Monterey
DAY
21
People on Board
85
TIME
FATALITIES
6
CAUSE
Navigation
NATURE OF CASUALTY

Struck sunken rock. A passenger Captain T. J. Macgenn, was greatly surprised to find that the lighthouse was on their left and not the right. Capt. Leland was not in the wheelhouse at the time of the stranding. Third Officer Roger Ryfkoge who had the deck watch, took the vessel close to shore (in side the kelp) to find smoother water.

MONTEREY -- Word was received from Point Sur this evening that the steamer Los Angeles has rolled over on her side and now no portion of the vessel is visible except a small piece of the mast. All the wreckage that has come ashore had been picked up and stored at the lighthouse.The tug Fearless and the wrecker San Pedro will not leave here at day-light tomorrow morning, as was first reported by Captain Haskell and MacGenn the cause is that the San Pedro is not in a sea worthy condition. It is said that the San Pedro never would have arrived here had she not been accompanied by the Fearless. It seems that for some time past the San Pedro has been out of commission, and consequently is not the vest condition. On the way down she sprang a leak, and it was necessary to keep her pumps going all the time. She now lies on Monterey Beach, and the crews of both the wrecker and the tug are hard at work making the necessary repairs. San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday, April 25, 1894

Click here for a larger image

Purser Stanley gave the following list of the cargo as per his manifest, which he saved: 244 bales of wool, consigned to a A. Dibble, San Francisco. 200 boxes of butter from Cayucos. 15 boxes of cheese from San Simeon. 112 boxes of butter and 20 head of dressed veal to various consignees. 740 sacks of chrome to Goldtree Bros, 24 bales of wool to Sinsheinmer Bros, San Francisco. There were hundreds of small consignments to as many consignees and the had a full cargo. San Francisco Chronicle