St. Paul

The passenger cargo steamer St. Paul, en route from San Simeon to San Francisco, experienced thick fog and ultimately struck a rocky reef south of Point Pinos just after 11:00 p.m. The sharp rocks pierced the bottom of the vessel in several places and the water began to come into the amidships compartment, flooding the fire and engine rooms. Captain Downing ordered the lowering of the boats and to make their way to Monterey. All passengers and crew safely landed ashore. St. Paul was heavily laden, having among its cargo 5,000 sacks of grain beside a great quantity of butter and cheese. More than 100 head of calves were also on board; 20 of them drowning. The freight steamer Santa Cruz traveled from San Francisco to remove cargo. Captain Downing was put on trial; ultimately losing his license as Master and Pilot.

Ship Stats:

Vessel Type: Passenger Cargo Steamer - Barkentine
Casualty Location: Point Joe, Del Monte Forest, Monterey County, California, USA
Location Status: Located (see Important Note)
Casualty Date: 1896 (Aug 8)
Owner: Pacific Coast Steamship Company
Home Port: San Francisco, California, USA
Length: 197.8 feet Beam: 31.0 feet
Gross Tonnage: 889 Cargo: calves and sheep
Builder: William Cramp & Sons
Launched: 1875 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
Official Number: 115423

Nature of Casualty:

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• 

  Transcription: FAST ON A SUBMERGED REEF,
  
  The Steamer St. Paul Goes Ashore Near Point Pinos.
  
  GUIDED TO DESTRUCTION DURING A FOG.
  
  Passengers Safely Removed in Small Boats to the Beach.
  
  SMALL HOPE OF SAVING THE STRANDED VESSEL.
  
  Water Fills the Hold and the Cargo Is a Loss — The Colombia Disaster Repeated.
  
  Drawing: The North American Navigation Company's Steamer St. Paul on the Rocks Near Point Pinos. [Sketched by a "Call" artist yesterday.]
  
  Drawing: CROWDS VIEWED THE WRECKED ST. PAUL The Scene of the Disaster to the Steamship Was Visited by Hundreds of People Yesterday. They Came in All Sorts of Vehicles, and Many From Long Distances.

  Sources:
  The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), 10 August 1896, p. 1 (cols.1-6)
  The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), 10 August 1896, p. 2 (col. 5).
  Courtesy of The Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Additional Information: Wreck Event

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• 

  Transcription: ABANDONED TO WIND AND WAVE,
  
  The Wrecked St. Paul Has Sailed on Its Last Cruise.
  
  FAST ON THE REEF.
  
  Work of Dismantling Begun After an Investigation by a Diver.
  
  LITTLE OF THE CARGO SAVED
  
  A Portion of the Livestock Aboard Drowned in the Stranded Vessel's Hold.
  
  ABOARD STEAMSHIP ST. PAUL, Ashore off Point Pinos (via Monterey, Cal.), Aug. 10.— Already the stranded St. Paul is abandoned to her fate and the crew is stripping the wreck. It is the story of the Pacific Mail steamer Colombia over again without even a variation. Like the steamship on the reef off Pigeon Point, forty miles away, the St. Paul is as motionless as when she lay on the stocks before launching. There is a sharp rock piercing into the hold just abaft of the foremast, a little on the port side, and another in the afterhold, also on the port side. On these two pinnacles of reef she hangs. To be freed from her position she must be lifted bodily, but she will never be free until the seas batter her into scrap iron.

  Source: The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), 11 August 1896, p. 3, cols. 5-6.
  Courtesy of The Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

• 

  Transcription: THE ST. PAUL IS ABANDONED.
  
  Stripped of Her Valuables, the Ship Is Now Tenantless.
  
  LITTLE FREIGHT SAVED.
  
  Damage to the Owners, Outside of the Insurance, Will Be $40,000.
  
  ENGLISH UNDERWRITERS LOSE.
  
  Startling Condition of the Southern Pacific's So-Called Aids to Navigation.
  
  ON BOARD STEAMER ST. PAUL, ashore off Point Pinos (via Monterey), Aug. 11.— The St. Paul men have worked like beavers all day and to-night, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company has practically given up the ship. Anchors, chains, winches and all manner of gear have been hoisted out by the donkey engine that remains above the water and away to the Santa Cruz, which sailed this evening for San Francisco.

  Source: The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), 12 August 1896, p. 2, cols. 4-5.
  Courtesy of The Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

• 

  Transcription: DOWNING ON TRIAL.
  
  The Captain of the Wrecked Steamer St. Paul Tells How the Casualty Happened.
  
  The official inquiry into the cause of the wreck of the St. Paul, which occurred near Monterey August 8, was held before Supervising Inspector Bermingham yesterday In all seven witnesses were examined, the testimony going to show that the steamer was lost under conditions similar to the Colombia.
  
  Captain Downing said that at 8:56 o'clock on the night of the disaster the St. Paul was off Point Sur. He took his bearings and found that he was one and a quarter miles off the regular course. At 11:08 p.m. land was noticed ahead and the steamer was backed at full speed. When she struck he again took his bearings and found he was two and a half miles from where he expected to be. Shortly after the St. Paul struck the chief engineer reported that the engines would not work. Captain Downing then ordered the chief officer to take one of the smaller boats and find land. He then loaded the four remaining boats with passengers and provisions and awaited the return of the chief officer.
  
  The other witnesses, J. J. Coleman, third officer; E. K. Knowlan, watchman; Jack Anderson, lookout; F. Nelson, at the wheel; Andrew Hall and Philip D. Ward, seamen, corroborated the testimony of Captain Downing. They said the night was dark and foggy, rendering it almost impossible to see a ship's length ahead. Captain Bermingham took the case under advisement.

  Source: The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), 15 August 1896, p. 9, col. 2.
  Courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside.

• 

  Transcription: NO LONGER A CAPTAIN.
  
  Downing of the St Paul Loses His License as Master and Pilot.
  
  Supervising Inspector Bermingham Gives Some Good Advice to Other Captains.
  
  Captain Downing of the wrecked steamer St. Paul is without legal license or title. This was decided in an opinion handed down by the Supervising Inspector of Hulls and Boilers yesterday.
  
  After reviewing the testimony of Captain Downing relative to the course and speed of the vessel Captain Bermingham says:
  
  "It was still foggy, but he thought he could see a long way. The ship was all the time going at full speed, and, without at any time getting a cast of his lead, she took the rocks and became a wreck at 11:10 P.M. The testimony of Captain Downing as to the course steered is largely corroborated by his third officer, J.J. Coleman, who had charge of the deck watch from 6 P.M. up to the time the ship took the rocks.
  
  The court at this point reviews at length the testimony of Quartermaster Wilson and then comments rather severely on the statement of the master:
  
  The court is of the opinion that the St. Paul encountered a current between Point Sur and Point Cypress which retarded her speed by the land, possibly a mile and a half between those points; in no other way can her final position be accounted for, judging from the course testified to as having been steered at 10:35 P. M. She must have passed dangerously close to Cypress Rock thirteen minutes before.
  
  Currents are not unfrequent thereabouts. Captain Downing does not seem to have given that matter proper attention, nor did he seem to bear in mind the disaster that befell the Columbia about three weeks before and only about forty miles away, but over-confident of his position as he kept on at full speed in a fog without getting a cast of his lead, which would surely have warned him of the danger he was rushing upon and saved his ship. What was the result? Another ship piled upon the rocks, from which, fortunately for the safety of the lives on board, she did not slip into deep water.
  
  The court finds that the St. Paul was valued at about $100,000, and her cargo at $15,000; that her loss was occasioned by the negligence and unskillfulness of her licensed master and pilot, J. C. Downing, who, besides violating rule 21, section 4233, United States Revised Statutes, by running his ship above a moderate speed in a fog; therefore it is hereby decreed that the license of said J. C. Downing as master and pilot be revoked, and he is hereby forbidden to exercise the duties prescribed in his said license.
  
  It is not unappropriate for the court to state, for the information of licensed masters and pilots, that it is a common remark in the office of the local Boards of Inspectors of steam vessels here that, if masters of wrecked steamers took a tithe of the pains in keeping their ships at a safe distance from danger that they subsequently do in their examinations in explaining how they ran ashore, there would be fewer disasters of the kind.
  
  John Birmingham, Supervising Inspector Steam Vessels, First District.

  Source: The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), 26 August 1896, p. 9, cols. 1-2.
  Courtesy of The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Additional Information: Vessel

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• 

  Transcription: AFLOAT.
  
  LAUNCH OF THE STEAMSHIP "ST. PAUL" FOR THE ALASKA COMMERCIAL COMPANY OF SAN FRANCISCO – DESCRIPTION OF THE VESSEL.
  
  The new iron screw steamship St. Paul, built for the Alaska Commercial Company, was successfully launched from the shipyard of Cramp & Sons, at noon yesterday. As, the vessel's bow touched the water Miss Mary Rogers, of this city, christened her the "St. Paul." Among the prominent gentlemen who were present and witnessed the launch were the following: –Mr. Henry Elliott, of the firm Elliott, Sons & Co.; J.C. Owen, son of the English Centennial Commissioner; Mr. Yskizawa and Mr. Ishi, Centennial Commissioners of Japan; Captain George Sumner, Martin Bulger, marine engineer; Mr. J.J. Hutchings, of Washington, D.C.; J.R. Bates, of New York, and many others.
  
  We herewith append a description of the steamship:
  
  The principal dimensions are as follows: –Length over all, 200 feet; beam, moulded, 31 feet; depth of hold, 16 feet; registered tonnage, 1,000. There is a flush spar-deck, with an iron waist of 4 feet in height, in addition, there is a first poop deck extending over the cabin from the mainmast aft.
  
  The cabin is on the aft part of the main deck, and is a capacious apartment fitted up with a view to comfort as well as elegance. She is remarkably well lighted and ventilated and is supplied with all the modern appliances for the convenience of passengers. The cabin will be finished in hard wood and oiled. The after part of the main deck-house, contains the captain’s room, and the rooms for the mates and engineers, and also a companion way to the cabin. The forward part of the main deck-house contains the kitchen and quarters for the crew and firemen. The wheel-house is on the after part or the poop deck. The steering apparatus is on the screw principle, similar to that used in the American steamers. There are two return tubular boilers fired from fore and aft, and a donkey-boiler for operating the windlass and capstan, and for fire and heating purposes. All the boilers have been constructed of heavy plate designed to stand a hydrostatic pressure of 105 pounds to the square inch. There it an extra number of pumps of the most approved patterns.
  
  The machinery consists of a vertical inverted cylinder direct-acting surface-condensing propeller engine, of the compound type. The high pressure cylinder is 24 inches in diameter and the low pressure 42 inches, each having a stroke of piston of 36 inches. The working pressure of steam will be 70 pounds to the square inch. The surface condenser has brass tubes pinned inside and out. The propeller wheel is 11 feet in diameter, with a pitch of 16 feet. The blades are bolted with a hub. An independent cylinder has been supplied for reversing the engine. The St. Paul will be full bark rigged, with royals and double topsail yard, and will spread a large amount of canvas No amount of labor or material has been spared in the construction of this vessel. She is not only beautiful, but substantially built in every particular, and in her peculiar service on the Pacific Coast she will undoubtedly reflect credit on Philadelphia ship and engine builders. She has been built in accordance will the rules of the American Shipmasters' Association; also, the Bureau Veritas and British Lloyds, and under the inspection of the United States Steamboat Inspectors. The contract has been executed under the superintendence of Mr. Martin Bulger, Supervising Engineer of the Alaska Commercial Company of San Francisco, California.

  Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA), 15 September 1875, p.2, col.4
  Courtesy of Newspapers.com

Referenced and Additional Resources

Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. 1894. Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping 1894-1895, Volume 1. London, England.

Reinstedt, R.A. 1975. Shipwrecks and Sea Monsters of California’s Central Coast. Ghost Town Publications, Carmel, CA. 168pp.