Casco

The steam schooner Casco, en route to San Francisco from Redondo (where cargo was discharged), was caught in a strong gale and struck a submerged rock 3 miles north of Port San Luis. A hole ripped into the bottom of the vessel, and pumps were unable to keep the hold free. Captain Oscar Jacobsen ordered the ship beached. No lives were lost. Machinery and boilers, wenches, tackle, and all useful equipment was loaded onto the power barge Bonita, in tow of the tug Priscilla, and shipped to San Francisco. Powder was used to blow up the wreck and the beach was strewn with wreckage. The master was negligent in navigation and his license was suspended for one year.

Ship Stats:

Vessel Type: Steam Schooner
Casualty Location: Point Piedras Blancas, San Luis Obispo County, California, USA
Location Status: Located (see Important Note)
Casualty Date: 1913 (Jun 27)
Owner: Swayne & Hoyt
Home Port: San Francisco, California, USA
Length: 160.8 feet Beam: 36.4 feet
Gross Tonnage: 533 Cargo: Ballast
Builder: Kruse and Banks
Launched: 1906 (Marshfield, Oregon, USA)
Official Number: 203452

Nature of Casualty:

Click each newspaper clipping image to view the full transcription text.

• 

  Transcription: SCHOONER CASCO IS WRECKED UP COAST
  Strikes Sunken Rock and is Beached Near Arroyo La Cruz Creek. No One is Injured.
  
  Striking a submerged rock 3 miles north of Port San Luis shortly before noon yesterday, the Casco, a two mast schooner, knocked a big hole in her bow and Saturday night was on the beach at the mouth of Arroyo La Cruz creek. It was the opinion of Capt. Jacobson that owing to the high seas always running at this point that it will be impossible to get the boat off and that she will be pounded to pieces.
  
  The Casco had been to Redondo, where she had discharged her cargo and was on the return trip to San Francisco. Without cargo for ballast she was running high and caught in a strong gale struck the rock before the pilot could avoid it.
  
  Water began pouring in her hold but the ship’s pumps were used to good advantage and she was taken off the rock on her own steam. It was decided best to beach the craft and she was headed for shore.
  
  There were nineteen aboard, constituting the crew. No one was drowned and none was injured. The captain and crew Saturday night came to San Luis Obispo and left on the midnight train for San Francisco. The Casco is 530 tons gross and valued at $65,000.
  
  Yesterday afternoon the tug Liberty and a derrick barge of the San Francisco Bridge Co. were sent to the relief of the disabled vessel, but could not get near the wreck owing to stormy weather; the relief vessels putting into Morro bay for safety. An effort is being made today to reach the wreck and if nothing else can be done, it will be salvaged by the derrick barge, which will remove the engines, etc.
  
  Eight members of the crew of the Casco, who have been at the Hotel Marre at the port, left this afternoon for San Francisco.

  Source: San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram (San Luis Obispo, CA), 30 June 1913, p.1, col.6.
  Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

Additional Information: Wreck Event

Click each newspaper clipping image to view the full transcription text.

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  Transcription: STEAM SCHOONER CASCO WRECK IS NOW SALVAGED
  Engines, Boilers, Tackle and All Useful Equipment Is Loaded on Barge Ready For Sea.
  Work of salvaging the wreck of the steam schooner Casco which has been carried on during the past three weeks under the supervision of Frank Kamp of the San Francisco Bridge Co., has been finished. All the machinery and boilers, wenches, tackle, etc., has been loaded on the power barge Bonita and will be shipped to San Francisco tomorrow. Frank Kamp, of the San Francisco Bridge Co., who has had the salvage work in charge, will return to Port San Luis with his crew.

  Source: San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram (San Luis Obispo, CA), 31 July 1913, p.1, col.1.
  Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

• 

  Transcription: KRUSE LAUNCHES SCHOONER CASCO
  
  500 Ton Vessel Turned Out For San Francisco-Coquille Lumber Trade--Viewed by Crowd
  
  The Casco, a 500-ton steam schooner built at the Kruse shipyard for Swain & Hoyt, of San Francisco was launched Monday night between seven and eight o'clock. A large crowd of interested spectators was on hand to witness the event. The launching was as propitious as could be wished and no hitch occurred. The ship rode the water on an even keel. Within the week the Casco will be loaded with lumber at North Bend and towed to San Francisco where her cargo will be discharged and the machinery installed. When she is equipped to travel under her own steam, the Casco will enter the trade between San Francisco and Coquille The schooners dimensions are; length 170 feet; beam 36; depth 12.

  Source: The World (Coos Bay, OR), 29 August 1906, p.1, col.2.
  Courtesy of Newspapers.com.

Referenced and Additional Resources

Anonymous. 1913. Marine Mishaps. Pacific Marine Review 9(8):48.

Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation. 1913. Seagoing Vessels of the United States with Official Numbers and Signal Letters. Part VI of the Forty-fifth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States. Washington, Government Printing Office.
p.60.