FACTSFACTS
In January of 1878 she needed three attempts to clear the Golden Gate on
her way to Seattle. On the first try the tow line broke in a heavy gale
and except for a wind shift at the last moment she would have been wrecked
on Alcatraz. A few days later as she was towed out the Golden Gate the
wind died just as the tow line was being released. Captain Blinn and his
mate were handling the tow line. In the process the hawser snapped taunt
and tore loose the cleat with such force it broke the captain's leg in
two places and threw him from the forecastle to the main deck where he
died four hours later. The ship was able to anchor overnight before being
towed back to port the next day. On the third try she made it safely through
the Gate with a new captain.
On her return voyage from Seattle she was making ten knots under full sail
with a cargo of 2,000 tons of coal. On the clear night of July 9, 1878,
she was just north of San Francisco when she inexplicably ran full onto
Duxbury Reef. The impact was so great that a piece of her bow flew forty
feet into the air. She sank within three hours leaving only the tops of
her masts, sails fully set, extending out of the water.
The cause of the accident was never fully learned and remains a mystery. Speculation ran from thoughts that a strong northerly current had thrown the ship off course to a suspicion of carelessness on the part of the captain, since the lights of Point Reyes and the Farallones were plainly visible. Strong seas broke the ship apart rapidly and only the sails were saved, picked from the masts by Bolinas fishermen. For the next twenty-five years 300 pound clumps of coal washed up on Bolinas beaches.
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