Harlech Castle

Bound for Iquique, Peru (modern-day Chile) with a cargo of barley, Harlech Castle experienced bad weather that crippled the vessel (owned by Richards & Company). Returning to San Francisco for repairs, the vessel struck sunken rocks during thick fog off Piedras Blancas. Vessel and cargo a total loss, including two fatalities. Rock northwest of Piedras Blancas now bears the name “Harlech Castle Rock,” located within the Piedras Blancas State Marine Reserve. Artifacts from the wreck are held by the Piedras Blancas Light Station, including ceramic tile and plate pieces, brass ladder tread, wood and iron dead eyes, and brass grill from the ventilation system.

Ship Stats:

Vessel Type: Bark
Casualty Location: Harlech Castle Rock (off Point Piedras Blancas), San Luis Obispo County, California, USA
Location Status: Located (see Important Note)
Casualty Date: 1869 (Aug 29)
Owner: Richards & Company
Home Port: Liverpool, England
Length: 174.2 feet Beam: 28.3 feet
Gross Tonnage: 600 Cargo: Barley
Builder: Evans
Launched: 1867 (Liverpool, England)
Official Number: n/a

Nature of Casualty:

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

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  Transcription: TOTAL LOSS OF THE BRITISH BARQUE HARLECH CASTLE By letter received from Captain Hughes, of the British barque Harlech Castle, we have the following account of the total loss of that vessel: British barque Harlech Castle, Hughes, sailed from San Francisco July 15th, with cargo of 14,993 ctls of barley, bound for Iquiqui, Peru; August 1st, lat. 16 N., Long. 119 W., experienced a violent hurricane which swept decks, carried away spars and sails, and badly crippled the vessel. Was on the way back for repairs, when on August 31st, during a very thick fog, struck on sunken rocks off Piedras Blancas. The vessel then drifted into the cove just northward of that point. The barque and cargo are a total loss. All hands saved. The cargo of the Harlech Castle was valued at $15,569.30, and was shipped by Gildemeister, Muecke & Co., of San Francisco.

  Source: Daily Alta California (San Francisco, CA), 7 Sept 1869, p. 1, col. 3.
  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: THE PACIFIC COAST. WRECK OF A BRITISH BARK
  San Francisco, Sept. 10, 1869. Particulars of the wreck of the British bark Harlech Castle, on the Southern coast, have been received. The vessel, during a heavy fog, struck a sunken rock not laid down in the chart and soon after disappeared. Nothing was saved. Two sailors were drowned.

  Source: The New York Herald (New York, NY), 11 Sept 1869, p. 7, col. 3.
  Courtesy of The Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

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  Transcription: "UNKNOWN ROCKS" - THE HARLECH CASTLE ROCK
  The recent disaster near Point Gorda revives the recollection of similar accidents, and especially of the "Harlech Castle," near Piedras Blancas. In his report the Captain of that vessel reported that "about 2 P.M. his vessel struck upon a sunken rock, five miles north of Piedras Blancas, and three miles off shore, * * * * and that next morning nothing of her was visible." He said the rock had a depth of fourteen feet upon it at low water, with deep water all round it, and twenty-five fathoms between it and the shore.
  
  The facts in that disaster are, that he saw the coast at daylight in the morning; the vessel struck upon a rock having five feet of water upon it at high water at 2 P.M., and lying a quarter of a mile within the line of kelp. This rock is visible at low water, and is distant about one mile from the shore, which here makes a trend of over a mile to the eastward, so that the vessel was a quarter of a mile inside the straight line between Piedras Blancas and the point five miles to the northward. There is a depth of ten to twelve fathoms, and patches of kelp for nearly a mile outside this rock; while inside the depth decreases from eight to five and three fathoms within a distance of three-eighths of a mile from shore.
  
  It will strike any one that a rock upon which a break can occur will be very apt to be known to navigators, when steamers are every day passing close along our bold shores; and disasters, such as that of the Harlech Castle, Sierra Nevada and Active must be attributed to other causes than what are known as outlying rocks dangerous to navigation.

  Source: Daily Alta California (San Francisco, CA), 14 Jun 1870, p. 1, col. 1.
  Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

• No images available.

  Transcription: The English ship Harlech Castle sailed from San Francisco for Iquiqui, Peru, on 16th of July with a cargo of barley. Experienced heavy weather most of the time until August 29th, when she struck a sunken rock off San Simeon, San Luis Obispo County, and sunk the following morning. Vessel and cargo a total loss. Two seamen were lost by swamping of a boat. Captain and survivors arrived at San Francisco on the 8th.

  Source: Humboldt Times, 18 Sept 1869, Martin.

Additional Information: Vessel

• No images available.

  Transcription: HARLECH CASTLE ROCK
  At the close of the season’s work in the Santa Barbara Channel, Assistant Cordell was directed to search for the unknown sunken rock upon which the British bark Harleck (sic) Castle was lost…He was successful in his search and identified the rock by the mast of the vessel showing above water.

  Source: Report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey During the year 1869, Washington Government Printing Office 1872, p.48.
  Courtesy of NOAA Central Library Data Imaging Project.

Referenced and Additional Resources