Well At Least We Tried

The Seaport of Redondo Beach from 1888 to 1912

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Chapter 3: Six Days of Inconvenience

Shipwrecks at Redondo Beach, 1887 to 1912

William Hammond Hall, the civil engineer who laid out the original Redondo Beach town site, stated that Redondo Beach was: rather free of ground swells, rather well protected from exposure to wind and weather, and that ships lying at the wharf might be inconvenienced “...not more than six days in the year.” A somewhat different account of the conditions at Redondo Beach is provided by Horace Bell who states that Redondo was advertised as the safest harbor in the world. “As a matter of fact, Redondo is an open roadstead... a pocket that catches all the force of the northwest wind, bringing the rollers in with crushing violence when it blows.” Bell was not without evidence to support his criticisms of Redondo; he continues, “...a few foolhardy sea captains brought their ships to the wharf that was built into the open sea and some of these were dashed to pieces on the shore.”[71]

In the official “Wreck Reports” filed for the Southern California area one begins to notice a commonality to these disasters centering on Redondo and the actual conditions for those “few days of inconvenience” out of the year. Spanning the years 1888 to 1912, at least thirteen ships were wrecked at Redondo causing thousands of dollars in damage. Some of these ships were total losses.[72]

The Redondo Reflex described the shipping facilities at Redondo as “unsurpassed by any of the smaller cities in the southern part of the state.” The Reflex continues to describe the port:

Shipping by water is of the utmost importance at this time and is rapidly growing. All the passengers of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company stop here, and our harbor is of mammoth proportions, capable of accommodating innumerable vessels. In fact, every vessel now plowing the waves of the Pacific could comfortably find anchor within its bounds and still leave room for more.[73]

A handbook for ship owners, masters, and agents of the time described Redondo as “an open roadstead.” An open roadstead is by definition wide open to the sea, not totally protected. The manual goes on to say, “perfectly safe in ordinary weather, but with occasional gales from November to April”. A gale in an open roadstead is nothing to take lightly as there is no protection from the wind and swell which would drive a vessel onto the beach if the anchors did not hold. Though the handbook says “the holding ground is good (blue clay)”, of the shipwrecks occurring at Redondo Beach from 1888 to 1910, seven dragged their anchors before going aground. The others reported their mooring lines to the wharf parted in the strain. Furthermore, “capable of accommodating innumerable vessels” is an obvious overstatement since the manual numbers the total wharf frontage at 1,800 feet.[74]

Bell admits that on a calm day the water looks pretty smooth. He states that Redondo promoters (who called themselves “boosters”) would attribute this fact to the existence of a submarine oil well. They would claim (at least as a promotional ploy) that “this keeps the waters off Redondo as calm as a millpond.” Any mariner of even limited experience would recognize this for the absurd statement it was. There was indeed oil seepage at Redondo but the fact was that in anything less than ideal conditions and calm seas, the port of Redondo Beach was a good place to avoid.[75]

At 3:00 P.M. on the afternoon of July 9, 1888, the American bark D.C. Murray struck the shore at Redondo Beach. Minutes before her stranding, she had been lying at anchor off the wharf that had only just been built. There was only a moderate breeze that day which, in itself, presented no real threat. The problem was that there was a heavy swell caused by storms far out to sea. William Montandon, the master of the vessel noticed that the anchors were dragging as the impact of each successive swell was felt. Immediately Montandon tried to move the D.C. Murray to the wharf where she could be held by mooring lines. This attempt proved unsuccessful however, and in a short time, the vessel drifted ashore near the wharf. When she struck, a large hole was torn in her bottom and soon after, she was battered to pieces by the surf. The D.C. Murray was a total loss and on August 27, what remained of the hull was blown up by dynamite.

The D.C. Murray was 27 years old and had been in the Hawaiian trade for a number of years as a swift sailing clipper ship. Charles M. Bradshaw and M. B. Sacks of Port Townsend, Washington Territory purchased her at auction one year before for $4,500. Bradshaw and Sacks chief export was lumber from the virgin forests of the territory and it was four hundred tons of lumber, valued at four thousand dollars, which the D.C. Murray carried to Redondo. When the D.C. Murray struck, her cargo came loose and only part of it was saved (though how much is not specified in the report). Bradshaw left Portland, Oregon, on July 11 for Redondo to look after the cargo lumber himself.

According to the official wreck report, the ship was fully insured and valued at$4,500. Yet, an article in the Los Angeles Times states that the vessel was uninsured, and was valued at $5,000. For a coastal lumber vessel to be fully insured was something most owners could not afford. As shown in the wreck reports centering on Redondo Beach, most vessels on the California coast carried partial or no insurance on either vessel or cargo.[76]

On the morning of May 18, 1893, the ten-ton, wooden-hulled sloop Puritan was discovered on the shore at Redondo Beach. There was no one onboard that night and the vessel had been riding at anchor about one half mile from shore. There had been a heavy gale as well as heavy seas and her mooring lines parted a little before 1:00 a.m. A. A. McDonald, the Puritan’s owner, filed his wreck report on June 7, in which he stated the vessel was valued at five hundred dollars and sustained four hundred dollars in damage. The day McDonald filed his report, the Los Angeles Times announced: “Captain A. A. McDonald of Los Angeles has purchased the yacht Puritan. He is having her refitted [repaired, actually] and will retain her here for the summer season excursions.”[77]

Severe storm conditions at Redondo Beach on February 8 and 9, 1894, sent a number of vessels around point Fermin to seek shelter in San Pedro harbor (Figure 46). These included the schooner Jessie Minor, steam schooner Albion, and the steamer Eureka. Yet, one vessel that did not make it was the three-masted lumber schooner W.F. Jewett. Built in 1887 by Middlemas & Boole at Port Ludlow, Washington Territory, the W. F. Jewett, was one of the largest vessels of this rig on the Pacific Coast and was valued a $50,000.[78]

On the February 8, the W.F. Jewett was tied to a buoy north and west of Wharf No. 1, and also had one anchor down. The wind increased to what the Los Angeles Times described as “the heaviest gale that has blown upon this beach since its wharf was constructed.” Then, at 6:00 a.m. the next morning, her anchor and mooring lines broke and she began drifting. The schooner bore down on the wharf, struck the southeast corner, carrying away forty to fifty feet of the wharf and several piles. The collision smashed in the side of the 476-ton schooner and tore off the ship’s bowsprit and jib boom. She then went aground right below the casino in about 15 feet of water and the heavy surf broke over her carrying away her fore, main, and upper mizzen masts. A lifeline was stretched to the shore and Captain Sprague, (a part owner with one-eighth interest), the mates, and crew made it safely to shore. By 7:15 a.m., the wreck had already attracted a large numbers of spectators. Her cargo was 600,000 feet of lumber and piles and when she struck some of the cargo came adrift and was later picked up on the beach.[79]

The wreck of the W.F. Jewett corresponded with preparations for the formal opening of the Redondo Beach bathhouse. The bathhouse was scheduled to officially open the following Saturday, February 16, but since it was already heated, some people had been giving swimming exhibitions. Travel to the beach was further stimulated by the wreck of the schooner, so that on Sunday February 10, the railroad traffic resembled that of midsummer with standing room only.[80]

On Monday, several hundred more people went to Redondo Beach the see the wreck. The day was calm and clear yet the sea still ran high. The lower mizzen mast was all that was still standing and the cabins were badly shattered. Said the Times, “It is supposed her bottom is badly broken, as her keel is known to be seriously injured, but to just what extent remains for future determination.” Some of her deck load was still intact, and Captain Sprague had her cargo removed to lighten the ship. The W.F. Jewett was refloated 48 hours after going aground, though leaking badly, and towed to San Pedro for repairs.[81]

During the 1920's and 30's, movie companies were purchasing old sailing vessels at rock bottom prices to be used in films. The so called “Hollywood Navy” consisted of obsolete ships, barks, brigs, brigantines, and schooners that could be converted into pirate ships, men-of-war, and other ships such as the HMS Bounty. One of the ships purchased for the Hollywood Navy was the W.F. Jewett. Movie scripts often called for spectacular fires, sinkings, or dismastings. In one movie, the W.F. Jewett was used for all the sailing scenes and even for the recreation of a hurricane. For this, they tied the schooner alongside a dock in Catalina Harbor, Santa Catalina Island. On the dock, they rigged large wooden tanks that could be dumped onto the ship to simulate large seas washing over the deck. The W.F. Jewett’s career was finally ended when she was driven ashore by a chubasco (a tropical storm in the Gulf of California) in August of 1927 or 1928 at Magdalena Bay, Mexico, while on an expedition to catch sheep on Socorro Island. The wreck was cut up for firewood by the local residents.[82]

Over a month after the W.F. Jewett was stranded, another large three-masted schooner was driven ashore at Redondo. The Maria B. Smith grounded at about 4:30 a.m. on Saturday March 16, 1894. Said the Los Angeles Times, “The vessel rested very easy on the sands being high and dry at three quarters tide, but she settled more or less from day to day.” Harbor tugs attempted to pull her off during the extreme high tides at the full moon, but all attempts failed. The Times reported that because the schooner was situated broadside on (i.e., parallel to the shore), the suction of the sand helped to hold her fast. After she lay broadside on to the beach for five days, the owners instructed the Captain on March 22 to use whatever means necessary for getting her off. At this, the Captain ripped up the ballast floor and began to discharge the sand that had been used as the schooner’s ballast. After lightening the ship in this way, they began constructing a slipway. Using jackscrews to heel the ship over first to one side and then the other, the crew dug trenches under the ship on either side of the keel. In these trenches, they placed timber skids creating the slipway and finally succeeded in sliding her off. No wreck report was filed for the Maria B. Smith.[83]

On May 18, 1896, exactly three years after the Puritan’s mishap, another one of A. A. McDonald‘s vessels drifted ashore at Redondo. At 6:30 a.m., the nine and one-half ton sloop Bonnie Bell valued at $1,500, grounded between the two wharves and sustained $150 damage in the accident. (Wharf No. 2 had been built the previous year in 1895.) The cause given for the mishap in the original wreck report reads, “drunken sailor in a calm. No wind, slightly rough.” According to the report, the Bonnie Bell “tried to sail out from shore and dropped anchor.” The report continues, “sailor thought it was going to blow and tried to sail out for San Pedro, no wind.” In attempting to escape the dangerous conditions of the heavy swell, the sloop was becalmed. She then dropped anchor but because of the heavy seas, the vessel would heave and drag her anchor with each swell. The Bonnie Bell had a crew of two. Her master was W.F. McDonald (who filed the report), but just who was drunk or who was onboard at the time is not specified in the report.[84]

In December of 1897, the two-masted schooner Annie Gee, was wrecked at Redondo Beach. Though she not mentioned in the official Wreck Reports for the port of Redondo Beach, the Annie Gee is listed in the California Shipwreck Database by the California State Lands Commission.[85] The Los Angeles Times describes the all too familiar scenario as the Annie Gee dragged her anchor and went ashore in gale-force winds and heavy seas:

The dangers to shipping on an unprotected shore were illustrated when a lumber schooner [the Annie Gee] went ashore at Redondo. The conditions there are much the same as a Santa Monica. Though the gale was by no means an exceptionally severe one, there was nothing to break the force of the wind and waves. The captains of other vessels which had been lying at the Redondo wharf realized their danger and put off to sea, preferring the risks of being on the open ocean to the strong prospect of shipwreck near shore.[86]

The Annie Gee was built at Port Ludlow, Washington Territory, in 1874. She was “famous the length of the Pacific as being the first vessel launched by the infant firm of Hall Brothers.”[87] Logging and lumber milling was the Washington Territory’s principal industries. At the height of logging activity in the 1870s and 1880s, many huge lumber camps operated around the Puget Sound providing a steady stream of logs for local mills. This demand for logs and lumber created a demand for sea vessels to transport lumber from Puget Sound to California. In 1873, Isaac and Winslow Hall opened Hall Brothers shipyard at Port Ludlow, on the Olympic Peninsula. Hall Brothers moved in 1879 to Port Blakely, on Bainbridge Island in the Puget Sound. Between 1874 and 1879, the Hall brothers built 31 vessels at Port Ludlow, and built 88 vessels between 1880 and 1903 at Port Blakely. Most of these vessels were large four and five-masted lumber schooners. In 1903, the yard was moved to Eagle Harbor, also on Bainbridge Island where the shipyard operated until the end of WW II.[88]

On Sunday, September 1, 1901, there were several hundred people on the beach at Redondo enjoying the late afternoon sun and cooling six mile per hour breeze. The Morning Star was a two-masted, eleven-ton, gasoline launch owned and manned by John L. “Jack” Nevins who conveyed fishing and pleasure parties around the area. The powerboat was returning from an excursion and fishing trip with thirty passengers, twelve of whom were women, and three crew. At 5:30 P.M., her mooring lines parted according to Nevins’ wreck report, and there was “no time to take any measures.” The Los Angeles Times reported that as the boat maneuvered alongside the wharf to land, the mooring line was thrown to someone on the wharf but not caught. Before a second cast could be made, the Morning Star had passed the landing and was running toward the beach at a good rate of speed. Nevins reversed the engine but it was too late. In his report Nevins continues, “landing close to the beach [the] rudder post struck.” Within minutes, the heavy seas and strong undertow threw the vessel broadside onto the beach.

After she grounded. one small boat was lowered from the vessel with passengers and brought ashore. Before it could return, the other passengers began jumping overboard while people on the beach wadded in to help them ashore. After all the passengers were rescued, the crew attempted to save the Morning Star. Though it is not stated in the wreck report, it is reported in the Times that assistance was rendered by Captain Woolley of the launch Ruby. The Ruby made a few attempts to tow the Morning Star off but by this time the Morning Star had partially filled with sand and the launch could not move her. The Ruby gave up and was pulled back onto the beach. It was not long before the Morning Star’s wooden hull went to pieces. She was valued at $2,500 and was completely uninsured. The Morning Star was a total loss.[89]

On March 11, 1904, the lumber schooner Mabel Gray, went aground at Redondo Beach. Built in 1882 in Fairhaven California, she was owned by the Dolbeer and Carson Lumber Company of Eureka. There is no official wreck report for this vessel in the National Archives at Laguna Niguel, but several of other sources provide information on the shipwreck including the Los Angles Times. According to the Times, Captain Jacob Hansen, the Mabel Gray’s master, was overcome by his ill-fortune (he was a part owner) and reluctant to talk about causes with the Times reporter. This could explain why there was no wreck report filed.[90]

Twenty-nine days earlier, the Mabel Gray had sailed from Eureka with a load of surfaced redwood planks and shingles for C. Ganahl Lumber Co. making a particularly slow passage. Some of her cargo was shipped as a deckload whereby the lumber was stacked and lashed to the deck of the ship, a common practice for the coastal lumber shipping trade. Before noon on Thursday, March 10, with a slight breeze blowing, she anchored north of the wharves about a half mile out. The wind strengthened through the afternoon and evening until about midnight she began dragging her anchors. The Captain told the Times that did not feel the snap of either of the anchor chains parting. The Redondo Beach Company insisted that their mooring buoys have never been dragged by a vessel made fast to them.

At about 1:30 in the morning, the Mabel Gray went aground about four hundred yards north of Wharf No. 1. Frank Bower the mate cut the lashings of the deckload of lumber, probably to lighten the ship, and was stuck and knocked unconscious as it scattered. Shouts of distress from the crew awoke residents who emerged from their beachfront cottages to see three of the crew clinging to the rigging while two more were hanging onto the main boom. The waves smashed into the side of the ship splashing halfway up the masts as she lay broadside onto the beach. The people on the shore started bonfires for light and a trolley car of the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway was moved into position where its headlight could be shone on the vessel. The size of the waves made it impossible for the crew to swim ashore. Furthermore, lumber from the dislodged deckload tossed in and about the swirling water forming deadly missiles. After several attempts, a line was secured to the ship and one by one, the crew went hand over hand leg over leg to the shore to safety.

High tide came at 5:37 a.m. on the morning of March 12, and the heavy surf pounded the schooner until she showed many signs of breaking apart. Her cabin was awash and the main and mizzen masts were loosed from the keelson leaning over at an angel of 40 degrees. With every twist of the hull under the onslaught of the waves, the leverage of the loosened masts worked on the planking of each of the decks. The foremast, which had been stayed with new rigging, stayed vertical.

Days after the wreck, the schooner still attracted spectators. The deckload of lumber had been knocked loose and was being picked up along the shore. Yet, recovering the cargo was no simple task as the seas were still running high. Just a few days later on March 16, the strong current and high swell drove the steamer Whittier into Wharf No. 1 damaging about ten feet of the structure causing about $250 dollars worth of damage. A gang of men continued to work recovering the lumber from the Mabel Gray and nearly the whole cargo was saved. The masts and rigging were salvaged and the hull was left on the beach, almost whole. Plans had been made to blow up the hull with dynamite after the lumber had been discharged but the vessel went to pieces through the pounding of the surf on Friday, April 1. Over two months later on May 22, one large piece of the hull that had drifted down the beach menacing the wharves and shipping was blown up by the Redondo Improvement Company.

Sunday evening, May 1, 1904, another fierce gale from the northwest hit Redondo attaining a velocity of forty miles per hour. While the storm was at its height the 478-ton, wooden-hulled barkentine Gardiner City was trapped against the north side of Wharf No. 2. The Gardiner City valued at $25,000, had arrived at Redondo with $5,000 worth of lumber from Grays Harbor.

Watching the heavy seas that morning, Captain R. Walton recognized the necessity of getting the ship from the wharf as the gale set in. However, the Gardiner City being solely sail-powered, was trapped along the windward side of the wharf. The WNW gale and huge swells began to pound the ship into the wharf as the master and crew tried everything they could to get the ship away. Both the ship and the wharf itself were taking serious damage. The citizens of Redondo Beach joined in the fight and as spectators lined the wharf, some tried to work the vessel clear of her berth. The repeated pounding caused the ship to loose her foremast and mainmast, the masts falling over against the gale and into the sea. As the masts fell, the spectators scattered in confusion and panic. There might have been heavy loss of life among the people on the wharf had the ship’s masts fallen over to leeward as by all reasoning they should have. Eventually all the crew was taken off the Gardiner City safely. Captain Walton’s family arrived from the north by train shortly after all this having made plans to join him in Redondo for the voyage back to San Francisco.

While the Gardiner City was pounding the north side of Wharf No. 2, the lumber schooner Charles D. Falk was alongside the south side of the Wharf. Her mooring line parted in the strain and she seemed doomed to be run ashore perhaps to end up in the same manner as the Mabel Gray. She lost only her rudder however and had a remarkable escape. At Wharf No. 3, the large iron schooner Honolulu was riding out the storm as best she could. One launch anchored in the bay was sunk by the wind and waves.

Work began on repairing the wharves shortly. A large gang of men with three pile-driving outfits started to restore Wharf No 2 the day after, Monday, May 2. The wharf had lost about eighty feet from the end and a large section in the middle where the Gardiner City had been trapped. Wharf No 3 also sustained damage in the storm requiring two days to repair. In addition, Wharf No. 1 was damaged on the north side by pieces of the Mabel Gray.

After the storm abated, the dismasted Gardiner City and the schooner Charles D. Falk were towed to San Pedro for repairs by the tug Warrior. The storm had inflicted ten thousand dollars worth of damage on the Gardiner City, which was only partially insured, and thousands more on the wharves. Old residents said it was the worst storm ever seen at Redondo. San Pedro interests said, “Since the storm of Sunday all the shipping collected in the port of Redondo has been transferred here, to the financial and business advantage of this harbor.” [91]

Many vessels in Redondo again sought shelter behind the big government breakwater at San Pedro in the early morning hours of November 20, 1905, as a high westerly wind set in at a force of fifty miles per hour. The winds damaged some of the railway tracks of the Southern Pacific and tore down telegraph wires. The 425-ton barkentine Katie Flickenger had been lying at anchor unloaded for the last few days waiting to complete her crew of ten including Captain H. L. Nelson who was at San Pedro with two other shipmates. She was anchored about 250 yards off the wharf with four sailors and a cook on board. The vessel withstood the blow from 2:00 a.m. when the storm began, to approximately 8:30 a.m., when she began dragging her starboard anchor. After seventy-five yards, the anchor carried away completely.

Figure 53: Vessels at Wharf No. 1 (from Left to Right) the barkentine Katie Flickenger, an unidentified three-masted schooner in the distance, the steamer Corona, steamer Cabrillo, steamer Santa Rosa (alongside the wharf) and the tug Collis inshore of the Santa Rosa. On the Northern side of the wharf is the five-masted schooner The Governor Ames. (Los Angeles Public Library)

The Katie Flickenger was now only 175 yards from the shore. The mate on watch ordered the port anchor to be dropped in an attempt to halt the vessel’s progress toward the shore. The second anchor dragged at least seventy-five yards until Captain Crockett of the tug Redondo (Figure 54) passed a towline to the drifting vessel. Men on the decks of both vessels watched as the line held by the tugboat parted in the strain. By the time the towline from the Redondo parted, the barkentine was no more than one hundred yards from the shore, had lost one anchor, and was dragging another. It now looked like the Katie Flickenger was going to collide with Wharf No. 2, but the Redondo got another line across which aided in turning the vessel away from the wharf. The gale and accompanying heavy seas drove the Katie Flickenger on to the beach within minutes below Wharf No. 3 (Figure 55).

Captain Nelson returned from San Pedro with shipmates Harry Meade and Frederick Gtudike to find the Katie Flickenger settling in the sand with her foremast cracked. It was only a short time before she began to break up. Using a small boat, Nelson went to the ship and retuned with a line to the shore in order to evacuate the crew. The cook fell in to the water about halfway to the shore but was rescued by two of the crew members; Harry Meade and “Curly” Anderson. No effort would be made to salvage the barkentine since she was in poor condition, old and weather beaten even before her stranding. She had been built in 1876 by Bryant R Bielow at Beltown, Washington, and was valued at $20,000. Her owners carried $12,000 insurance. Captain Nelson filed his report on November 29, 1905, and on one page (as all official wreck reports) related the ordeal of the Katie Flickenger listing her as a total loss.[92]

November 21, 1905, the day after the Katie Flickinger was wrecked, Santa Fe Switch-engine No. 3 was slowly running out onto Wharf No. 1. At 1:36 p.m., the engine stopped about fifty feet from the end to couple a boxcar loaded with flour. Unbeknownst to the train crew, the section of the wharf where the engine had stopped had been undermined and weakened by the storm. The wharf gave way under the weight breaking off a few feet beyond the front wheels of the locomotive leaving the loaded freight car standing. The engine crashed through the wharf sinking in 50 feet of water and taking three people with it. One of these, Fireman C. C. Banks was pinned under the coal hopper and drowned. The Engineer, O. L. Hopkins, squeezed through the small window of the cab (he was about 300 pounds) and swam through the wreckage to the surface as the boiling water from the engine and oil from the tender poured out around him. Workmen on the wharf including P. F. Rice dock foreman, pulled Hopkins from the water along with Mrs. C. B. Goodrich an elderly woman who had been fishing from the wharf.

C. H. Burnett, superintendent of the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway Company, owners of the wharf, offered a statement to the Los Angeles Times concerning the cause of the accident:

The strong current simply undermined the piles at the bottom, scouring out the sand and leaving the structure without adequate support. While many of the old piles were eaten almost in two by the insects in the water, we had replaced these by new supports, which were protected by wire netting and felt.

The following day divers went down to recover the body of Fireman Banks who was unmarried but supported a mother and sister in Fullerton.[93]

Railroads such as the Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Los Angeles Terminal Railway, and Pacific Electric were in constant need of rails and ties to accommodate the growing city and county of Los Angeles. To keep up with the demand for more and more miles of track, rails and pig iron were imported from Europe and railroad ties from Hawaii and Japan. Figure 57 on page 62 shows a steamer unloading cargo at Wharf No. 1 with railroad ties stacked in the foreground.[94]

Sailing from Fort Bragg, California, with a cargo of railroad ties, the crew of the steamship National City sighted the city lights of Redondo Beach on the early morning of Tuesday, February 5, 1907. As the National City approached, bound for Wharf No 2, thick fog descended. Men working the Santa Rosa on Wharf No. 1 noticed the vessel through the fog at 4:00 a.m. but could not make out her identity. They also noticed that she did not try to make any of the wharves. According to the National City’s master, K. Fredrickson, in the official wreck report the conditions were “foggy” and “very choppy”. Instead of trying to land at the wharves, Fredrickson chose to keep his distance until daylight when visibility might be improved; all the while gauging the ship’s position by the fog whistles on the wharves.

At 5:00 a.m. the Hermosa sawmill to the north began blowing its big whistle which Captain Fredrickson mistook for one of the wharves. Judging by the difference in position between the previous whistles and this last sound, Fredrickson must have concluded that the vessel was drifting to the southwest. Perhaps to regain his position, he began to head for the sound of the whistle running the National City aground at the foot of Second Street about fifty fathoms from shore. After she struck, the heavy surf swung the ship around so that she ended up pointing toward the shore at approximately a 45º angle. The breakers washed over the ship displacing some of the deckload of railroad ties. In addition, lying at this angle to the shore caused the steam schooner to list severely to landward until her deck was awash. Soon the National City began to fill with water as the waves broke over her. In an attempt to lighten the ship, her 21-man crew began to jettison the cargo of railroad ties, weighing 550 tons.

At about 7:00 a.m. the National City’s distress whistle was heard through the fog and several power launches from Redondo came to render assistance. When word reached Captain Sorensen of the steamer South Bay, also in port at the time, he went north to the site of the stranding to render assistance. Sorensen passed a line to the National City attempting to tow her off the sand. Two attempts were made and each time the line parted in the strain. By 9:30 a.m. the water had reached the National City’s engine room and put out the fires.

Shortly after noon, the crew donned life jackets and stayed in the bow of the ship. The tug Collis from Port Los Angeles (Santa Monica) joined in the rescue efforts. The Collis passed a line to the stranded steamer and managed to straighten her out a bit, but in this position, the pounding swells caused the National City to roll so badly that her smokestack fell over her port side at about 1:00 p.m.. Yet straightening her out kept the breakers from washing over the deck and the crew could begin again jettisoning the cargo. The entire deckload of ties was thrown overboard, however approximately half of the ties were still in the waterlogged hold of the National City.

The fog cleared in the early afternoon, and as the fog lifted the Samar, which was at Wharf No. 3, sent two boats to take off the crew. Fredrickson sent six crewmen ashore in the boats of the Samar including the cook, steward, and four other crewmen with their baggage. Apparently, this evacuation gave rise to a weird story of twenty-five passengers, including women and children, being rescued. When the news got out that there was a wreck at Hermosa, stores in Redondo were closed, offices shut up, and work stopped in all parts of the town as spectators flocked to the beach. They were frustrated however since the fog was still so thick that little could be seen, and perhaps this helped some imaginations to conjure the dramatic visions of rescuing women and children. There were no passengers on the National City.[95]

Throughout all of Tuesday, Tuesday night, and Wednesday, the crew attempted to lighten the ship by throwing the deckload overboard. The ties floated ashore where they were stacked on the beach by sixty emergency laborers paid thirty cents an hour. The cargo consisted of 350,000 feet of redwood railroad ties consigned to Charles Weir & Company for use by the Los Angeles Railway. A number of residents attempted to take the ties by rolling them into their yards apparently under the idea that whatever was afloat was theirs by the law of salvage. The owners had a different view however and recovered all of the diverted ties. The cargo was valued at three thousand dollars in the official wreck report, (the Reflex values the ties at nine thousand) and was not insured though the National City itself, property of the Union Lumber Company of San Francisco, was fully insured and valued at 45,000.[96]

At flood tide, 3:00 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, February 6, another attempt to tow the National City off the beach was made by the Collis and the South Bay. During the attempt, the rescuers came closer and closer together as their towlines to the steamer pulled them toward a common center. The Collis and the South Bay were joined by the tug Warrior from San Pedro in the efforts to pull her off the sand. Special cars ran from Los Angeles bringing even more spectators to the scene. Also arriving on Wednesday was Captain Pillsbury of the Board of Underwriters of San Francisco who took charge of the National City and began directing the rescue operations. On Thursday, after Pillsbury completed his investigation, he reported his findings to the Union Lumber Company: his inspection of the hold showed that the steamer was intact proving that the water that filled her was the result of the waves that covered her. Attempts to pull her off would be made after her hold cargo was discharged and the hold pumped out. The underwriters sent for pumps and big tugs from San Francisco. The Collis, Warrior, and South Bay discontinued their efforts and left the steamer where she lay. The crew also left the ship, except for a watchman by day, and the National City stayed in the same position for three days.[97]

At 8:00 a.m., Monday morning, February 11, the tide was at the highest point for the month, 6.7 feet above low water. This presented the opportunity Pillsbury had seen for another rescue attempt. The day before, the steamer, James S. Higgins arrived from San Francisco with a cargo of empty sealed casks to be used as floats. The cargo of railroad ties having already been discharged, Sunday was spent stowing the casks in the hold of the stricken steamer. The Francis H. Liggett joined the James S. Higgins for the final attempt. With their strong tow cables made fast to the National City and their “mud hooks’” imbedded in the Hermosa Beach sand, the steamers slowly pulled the National City off the beach with their steam winches. “As the water raised, the vessel was seen to be loosening from her sandy bed,” stated the Reflex. Once she was clear of the ground, she settled into the water until only her forward rail was visible above the surface and she listed very much to port. The tug Redondo then passed a line to the bow and made her way out of the Santa Monica Bay to San Pedro. The way she settled in the water led the Reflex to conclude; “...it was evident the casks alone kept her afloat.”[98]

The ship was taken in tow to San Pedro and there beached so that she could be repaired. Though Reflex concluded that “little of value will be saved but her machinery”, it was found that through her stranding at Hermosa she had sustained only slight damage. Fredrickson filed his report eighteen days after the stranding and estimated the damage to the vessel at twelve thousand dollars. According to the wreck report, the steamship itself was worth $55,000 (the Reflex says $50,000) but carried only half the amount in damage insurance. The National City was built in 1888 by Hay and Wright in San Francisco, and would later be sold to Peru in 1918.[99]

At approximately 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 21, 1909, a moderate southwesterly gale was blowing at Redondo. The seas were also moderate according to W. Z. Haskins, the master of the American schooner Roderick Dhu. What seemed to Captain Haskins to be a moderate gale and moderate seas, were something else to the Redondo Reflex: “the rather heavy wind last night kicked up a rather heavy sea.” In any case, while the barge was tied up to Wharf No. 1, the heavy seas proved too much for her mooring lines. At approximately 7:15 a.m., her breastline slipped and the Roderick Dhu was ashore in minutes. Haskins attributed the morning’s episode, one hundred yards north of Wharf No. 1, to the “peril of the sea.” [100]

Built in 1873 at Sunderland, England, as a sailing bark, the Roderick Dhu was now in the service of the Associated Oil Company as a barge hauling crude oil up and down the coast of Southern California. She had been loaded up the previous day at Wharf No. 1 with 16,747 barrels of oil and rode low in the water. The barge had a displacement of 1,534 tons gross, 1,452 tons net, and her cargo weighed an additional 2,280 tons. The cargo, bound for San Francisco, was valued at twelve thousand dollars according to the official wreck report. Although she sailed as a bark in her earlier years, the Roderick Dhu had no auxiliary power as an oil barge. She was towed to her various destinations by a tugboat, in this case the Navigator. The barge retained her lower masts for loading and unloading cargo but they were no longer used to set sails. Though these three masts were but bare poles, they did serve to help steady or “trim” the ship reducing excessive roll by providing a small amount of wind resistance.[101]

The account of the stranding in the Redondo Reflex says that the tug Navigator made no immediate attempt to tow the vessel off. According to the Reflex (always an expert in nautical matters), the captain of the Navigator was “evidently afraid of getting his feet wet as he rendered small assistance.” This slur hardly seems fair. In fact, the wreck report states that the Navigator did indeed render assistance with the use of heavy lines.[102]

Both sources mention the assistance of a Santa Fe steam locomotive. According to the Reflex, a wharf crew, under the direction of superintendent M. T. Maddex, passed a line to the vessel and attached it to the switch engine in an attempt to pull her off the sand. The first attempt failed as the line parted, then a second line was passed to the barge and this time attached to her stern. The second attempt was successful and at 1:30 in the afternoon, she was re-floated “none the worse for her experience.” After being towed to deep water the Navigator passed a line to the barge and proceeded for to San Francisco. Haskins also mentions his ship’s crew of twelve men in the wreck report as giving assistance.[103]

The Roderick Dhu continued transporting oil on the California coast successfully for almost three more months until the foggy morning of April 26, 1909. The barge was being towed, this time by the tugboat Relief. Captain, Marshall of the Relief was guiding his vessel and the barge toward the entrance to Monterey Bay, or so he thought. In fact, he was mistakenly guiding the tug into the inlet of Moss Beach on the Monterey Peninsula just south of the bay.

Marshall realized his error in time to get the Relief free of the rocks, but the Roderick Dhu, having no power of her own was carried on to the rocks at 3:30 a.m. by the breakers. As the iron hull of the Roderick Dhu ground to a halt on a ledge of rock, Captain Haskins ordered the anchors to be dropped in order to prevent her being carried further inshore. None of the crew was injured. [104]

The officials of the Associated Oil Company were notified of the occurrence and dispatched the tug Defiance from San Francisco to aid the Relief in the rescue attempt. The Defiance arrived on the scene at 3:00 p.m. the next day. The decision was for both tugs to try towing the barge from the rocks at 6:00 p.m. when the evening tide was at full flood. The combined horsepower of both tugs only served to pull the Roderick Dhu over where she lay so that she was now listing toward the breakers, enabling the waves to fill her open hold (Figure 61).[105]

The rocks had already pierced the vessel’s hull making it impossible to haul her off. This, they found out later when Associated Oil hired a wrecking and salvage company out of San Francisco to assess if she were capable of being salvaged. Associated Oil was informed that the Roderick Dhu was beyond salvage with a large hole in her bottom. Any attempt to re-float the ship in this condition would fail. A final attempt to salvage the vessel intact was made as divers from San Francisco were brought to the scene but this too, proved unsuccessful. The wrecking crew as well as both tugboats were dismissed and the oil company officials decided to get what they could out of the vessel as she lay on the rocks. Holes were cut in the side of the hull, and a donkey engine with block-and-tackle was rigged to pull cargo, machinery, and anything salvageable out of the wreck (Figure 62). Finally, the Roderick Dhu was abandoned and gradually disintegrated under the constantly pounding surf.[106]

Another nighttime accident occurred at Redondo on April 28, 1910. At 11:30 p.m., the 814-ton wooden hulled American schooner Aloha collided with Wharf No. 1 causing one thousand dollars worth of damage to the vessel, which was only partially insured. With her crew of thirteen, the schooner was bringing railway ties from Hilo, Hawaii. The ship was valued at $32,000, but the value of her 1,500 tons of cargo was unknown to her master, E. Wertkunal, who filed the official wreck report. There was only a “little wind” that “dark and foggy” night, but due to the heavy sea, the Aloha dragged her anchor. The harbor tug Redondo rendered assistance by passing a line to the Aloha but the schooner still struck the wharf. After the collision, the schooner managed somehow to be made fast to the wharf. Wertkunal stated “I did all I could to prevent the ship from striking the wharf after she started to drag her anchor.”[107]

The Aloha’s story is a familiar one at Redondo Beach. She was the seventh ship to drag her anchor in a heavy swell. The official wreck reports filed for each of these mishaps occurring at or near the port of Redondo Beach show the true condition of those “few days of inconvenience” throughout the year. There was no breakwater at Redondo to protect the shipping. Furthermore, one could not be built even if the funds were available because of the depth of the canyon. The common factor in every one of these disasters (though the outcomes ranged in severity) was the heavy swell that occasionally hit the unprotected wharves. Other factors like thick fog, gale force winds, or drunken sailors contributed, but the main problem was the lack of protection in this open roadstead. Thick fog, storms, and high winds are a fact for mariners on any coast. The Pacific coastal trade is a dangerous one and most of the vessels wrecked at Redondo were coastal vessels. Shipwreck sites can be found every few miles along the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Mexico. The simple fact is this; in ordinarily calm weather, Redondo was safe enough, but if the wind velocity increased significantly or storms far out to sea created a heavy swell, it was time to get away from the shore or over to San Pedro. Redondo may not have been the “safest harbor in the world”, but it was convenient, and faster than unloading at San Pedro.[108]

As far as Horace Bell’s appraisal of “foolhardy sea captains” went, Bell was many things (ranger, soldier, lawyer, and editor) but he was not a mariner.[109] The reports indicate that most of these wrecks were not the result of negligence or foolhardiness (with the possible exception of the Bonnie Bell) but were attributed to the peril of the sea. The possibility of being tossed onto the shore was a chance one took when calling at Redondo. Nevertheless, the odds were pretty much in your favor, and in ideal conditions, Redondo was a quick and easy port of call for Los Angeles. Though a ship might have to wait her turn before getting to the wharf, anchoring was safe enough in good weather. After all, “six days of inconvenience” was not all that many.[110]

[71] Charles Elliot, Jr., “A History of Redondo Beach from Earliest Times to the Founding of the City,” Redondo Beach, Undated. (Typewritten.) p. 5. Elliot quoting William Hammond Hall's report; Bell, Old West Coast, p. 270.

[72] Port of Redondo Beach, “Wreck Reports,” Bureau of Customs, Record Group 36, National Archives, Los Angeles, Ca. Wreck Reports, 6, 17, 26, 34, 36, 46, 56, 64, 67, 70 and 72, are all centered around Redondo Beach, California. (See Appendix B.)

[73] Reflex, “Souvenir Fleet Edition,” April 1908.

[74] Shanahan, Old Redondo, p. 98.

[75] Bell, Old West Coast, p. 270.

[76] “Wreck Report #6;” “From Politics to Lumber”. Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1888, p. 5; “The City in Brief”, Los Angeles Times, August 28, 1888, p. 8.

[77] “Wreck Report #17”; “Redondo”, Los Angeles Times, June 7, 1893, p. 7; “Orphans’ Fair”, Los Angeles Times, September 13, 1889, p. 2. Whether McDonald was a retired Army officer or exactly what, he is named “Gen. A. A. McDonald” in the Times. Mrs. McDonald, his wife, was involved in charitable work along with Miss Maria Reyes Dominguez, one of the original owners of the Ocean Tract that became Redondo Beach. One of McDonald’s fishing excursions is mentioned in a Times article “Redondo Beach”, Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1897, p. 10.

[78] D.W. Weldt, et al, “Harbor Question”, Los Angeles Times, February 15, 1894, p. 6.

[79] “Blown Ashore” Los Angeles Times, February 11, 1894, p. 1.

[80] “Redondo” Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1894, p. 7.

[81] “Visited the Wreck” Los Angeles Times, February, 12, 1894, p. 6; “The Stranded Schooner”, Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1894, p. 3.

[82] California Wreck Divers. Charles F. Crocker. Internet. Available from http://cawreckdivers.org/Crocker.htm. [October 06, 2003]; The W. F. Jewett is also mentioned by Stormy Weather SoftWare Ltd. Films of the Sea. Picton, Ontario, August 4, 2003. Internet. Available from http://www.aandc.org/. [October 6, 2003]; Gordon Newell, “Maritime Events of 1927-28”, in H.W. McCurdy, Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. p. 392. Internet. Available from http://www.cimorelli.com/cgi-bin/magellanscripts/ship_dates_volume.asp?ShipName=W%2E+F%2E+Jewett. [October 6, 2003].

[83] “The Stranded Schooner”, Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1894, p. 3.

[84]“Wreck Report #26”

[85]California State Lands Commission. California Shipwreck Database. Internet. Available from http://shipwrecks.slc.ca.gov/. [May 15, 2001].

[86] “All Along the Line” Los Angeles Times, December 2, 1897, p. 7. Another article in the Times mentions that the Annie Gee dragged her anchor: “Sandy Shore Her Deathbed”, Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1904, pg. A1.

[87] Cimorelli Enterprises. Magellan: The Ships Encyclopedia. Internet. Available from http://www.cimorelli.com/cgi-bin/magellanscripts/. [May 15, 2003], citing E. W. Wright, ed. “Willamette River Locks Completed, Charter Rates of the Lumber Fleet”, Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. (New York: Antiquarian Press, Ltd., 1961.), p. 220; and John Lyman, “Pacific Coast Built Sailers, 1850-1905”, The Marine Digest. February 15, 1941. p. 2. According to Lewis & Dryden’s Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, the Annie Gee drops out of the ship registers just before 1900 which would fit with her being wrecked in 1897.

[88]Fredi Perry. Economic History: Kitsap County. Internet. Available from http://www.wa.gov/esd/lmea/labrmrkt/ eco/kitseco.htm. [May 15, 2003]. Excerpted from “Kitsap: A Centennial History” and “Port Madison, 1854-1889” by Fredi Perry, ed., “Manette Pioneering” by Erv Jensen, ed., and an article by Chloe Sutton published in the May 15, 1953 edition of the Bremerton Sun.

[89] “Wreck Report #34”; “Skippers ‘at home’ at Redondo”, Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1901, p. 13; “Wrecked at Redondo”, Los Angeles Times, September 2, 1901, p. 10.

[90] Los Angeles Times articles covering the wreck of the Mabel Gray include: “Schooner Pounding upon the Beach”, Los Angeles Times, March 11, 1904, p. 10; “Sandy Shore her Deathbed”, Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1904, p. A1; “Redondo”, Los Angeles Times, March 17, 1904, p. A9; “Mabel Gray Gone to Pieces”, Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1904, p. B11; “Redondo”, Los Angeles Times, May 22, 1904, p. 11. Other sources include: California State Lands Commission. California Shipwreck Database. Internet. Available from http://shipwrecks.slc.ca.gov/. [May 15, 2001]; David Muench, photographer, text by Jerry Cohen, California Coast, (Chicago: Rand, 1973).

[91] “Wreck Report #36”; “Ships Suffer in Gale”, Los Angeles Times, May 2, 1904, p. 11; “Six Lost in Stormy Sea”, Los Angeles Times, May 3, 1904, p. A1; “Cheers of Joy for Mariners”, Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1904, p. A9.

[92] “Wreck Report #46”; “Angry Waves Wreck Vessel”, Los Angeles Times, November 21, 1905, p. II1; Don B. Marshall, California Shipwrecks: Footsteps in the Sea, (Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, 1978), p. 28. Page 30 shows a photograph of the Katie Flickenger aground but is misdated 1876, when the ship was built rather than 1905 when she wrecked as shown in the official wreck report.

[93] “Death Rides Engine Plunging into Sea”, Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1905, p. II1.

[94] These commodities are listed in the “Record of Entrances and Clearances.”

[95] Reflex, Feb. 7, 1907; “Wreck Report #56”; Marshall, California Shipwrecks, pp. 39 and 41; “Sea Tragedy at Hermosa”, Los Angeles Times, February 6, 1907, p. II1. The Los Angeles Times article mistakenly lists the master of the National City as Capt. Preble and the master of the steamer South Bay as Captain C. Fredrickson.

[96] “Sticks Through the High Tide”, Los Angeles Times, February 7, 1907, p. II10.

[97] “Sea Tragedy at Hermosa”, Los Angeles Times, February 6, 1907, p. II1; Reflex, Feb. 7, 1907; “Crew Leaves Stranded Boat”, Los Angeles Times, February 8, 1907, p. II10.

[98] Reflex, Feb. 14, 1907; “National City Off”, Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1907, p. II14.

[99] “Wreck Report #56;” Marshall, California Shipwrecks, p. 28.

[100] “Wreck Report #67;” Reflex, Jan. 21, 1909.

[101] Marshall, California Shipwrecks. pp. 48 and 52; Randall A. Reinstedt, Shipwrecks and Sea Monsters of California's Central Coast, (Carmel, California: Ghost Town Publications, 1975) pp. 83-85; “Wreck Report #70.”

[102] Reflex, Jan. 21, 1909.

[103] “Wreck Report #70.”

[104] Reinstedt, Shipwrecks, pp. 83-85

[105] Reinstedt, Shipwrecks, p. 87.

[106] “Wreck Report #70;” Reinstedt, Shipwrecks, p. 86.

[107] “Wreck Report #70.” The Los Angeles Times mentions the Aloha calling at Redondo to discharge lumber on July 31, 1901: “Skippers ‘at Home’ at Redondo”, Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1901.

[108] Karr, “Port Redondo,” p. 9.

[109] A brief curriculum vita of Horace Bell appears on the jacket, written presumably by the editor, Lanier Bartlett.

[110] There were wrecks at Redondo after 1912, mostly fishing barges that either foundered or were driven ashore including: William Bowden 1926, Fullerton 1927, Thomas P Emigh 1932, Georgina 1935, Irene 1937, Novus 1940, Retriever 1951, Georgina 1966, and Sacramento 1968.

"...a few foolhardy sea captains brought their ships to the wharf that was built into the open sea and some of these vessels were dashed to pieces on the shore."

Horace Bell, On the Old West Coast

 

 

Figure 44: A map showing the location of all three wharves, tracks of the Los Angeles & Redondo Railway, and the soundings of the submarine canyon. (Ira L. Swett, Interurbans)

Figure 45: Wharf No. 1 in 1889 (Redondo Beach Historical Commission)

Figure 46: San Pedro in 1882, showing the C. L. Funk at the P.C.S.S.C. Wharf. Railroad tracks run along the docks with lumber stacked onto railroad cars parked on the docks. (Los Angeles Public Library)

Figure 47: Small craft at anchor unprotected off Redondo Beach. The Bonnie Bell was anchored in approximately the same position before she went aground. This view of the shoreline shows the Hotel and Wharf No. 2 as seen from Wharf No. 1. (The Author’s Collection)

Figure 48: A large lumber schooner under construction at the Hall Brothers Shipyard, Eagle Harbor, Washington. (Museum of History & Industry, Seattle)

Figure 49: The schooner Mabel Gray aground, masts sprung and her deck cargo of lumber washed up on the beach, 1904. (San Francisco Maritime Museum)

Figure 50: The Mabel Gray aground at Redondo Beach, 1904. (Los Angeles Public Library)

Figure 51: Another view of the Mabel Gray, 1904. (Los Angeles Public Library)

Figure 52: The Gardiner City, “Before and After” as she was depicted in the Los Angeles Times, May 3, 1904 (Los Angeles Times)

Figure 53: Vessels at Wharf No. 1 (from Left to Right) the barkentine Katie Flickenger, an unidentified three-masted schooner in the distance, the steamer Corona, steamer Cabrillo, steamer Santa Rosa (alongside the wharf) and the tug Collis inshore of the Santa Rosa. On the Northern side of the wharf is the five-masted schooner The Governor Ames. (Los Angeles Public Library)

Figure 54: The Redondo Beach harbor tug Redondo at Wharf No 1. (Redondo Beach Historical Commission)

Figure 55: The Barkentine Katie Flickenger aground at Redondo Beach, November 20, 1905. (San Francisco Maritime Museum)

Figure 56: Santa Fe Switch-engine No. 3 breaking through storm-weakened Wharf No. 1, November 21, 1905 as it was depicted in the Los Angeles Times. (Los Angeles Times)

Figure 57: Unloading cargo at Wharf No. 1. Railroad ties are stacked in the foreground. (Los Angeles Public Library)

Figure 58: The Hotel Redondo from Wharf No. 1 with the Forecastle of a steamship, possibly the Santa Rosa, in the foreground. (Redondo Beach Historical Commission)

Figure 59: Wharf No. 1 Where the Roderick Dhu’s mooring lines parted. (William A. Myers Collection)

Figure 60: The Roderick Dhu aground at Moss Beach on the Monterey Peninsula, April 26, 1909. (San Francisco Maritime Museum)

Figure 61: The Roderick Dhu’s situation worsens. (San Francisco Maritime Museum)

Figure 62: Final partial salvage of the Roderick Dhu. (San Francisco Maritime Museum)

Figure 63: The Santa Rosa wrecked off Point Arguello, California, 1911. (San Francisco Maritime Museum)