Howdy, As as tie-in with my recent sea-stuff postings, I am repeating an earlier posting on another list. I wish I had known when orginally composing that one of you folks had a relative who was a 1852 passenger on the steamer TENNESSEE. If I had, I would have put in something about it being the first Pacific Mail Steamer to be lost. Northward bound from Panama, the TENNESSEE got lost in the fog off SF, mistaked the Golden Gate for an inlet few miles north, and piled upon on the beach on March 6, 1853 -fortunately, with no loss life: Now to my prior posting: GOLD RUSH MARITIME DISASTERS "Howdy, The overland goldrusher had Indian attacks, being trapped in a snowbound pass, or of dying in the desert on his mind. The sea argonaut had none of these, but he had his own litany of fear. In addition to the terror of being stranded, the sea traveler contemplated the tragedy of shipwreck, fire, and other ocean perils. His concern was compounded early in 1849, when the California bound bark EXPRESS with 25 passengers on board floundered four days out of New York with the loss of all hands, except the second mate who clung to a spar until rescued. This event shocked the seafaring goldseekers, as exemplified by C. H. ELLIS on the brig NORTH BEND, lying to in the Straits of Magellan, who, when told of the loss, said, "This is melancholy news and causes us to reflect seriously on the dangers of our present situation. Had we been at sea last night, I know not but what we should have shared the same fate." The Cape Horn, with its close calls, stormy weather, and the terrifying experience of rounding, inspired the most fear. Earlier in 1833, when Charles DARWIN first sighted the Cape, he wrote in his diary that "the sight...is enough to make a landsman dream for a week about death, peril, and shipwreck." In 1849, many a goldseeker echoed Darwin when the Cape's "graybeards" - monster waves 80 to 90 feet tall, traveling at 30 knots - battered their ship. As they sailed by Cape Horn, goldrush ships were swept by seas, weighed down by ice coating their decks and rigging, and having spars snapped from the gale force wind. Bulworks were stoved and men lost. Fueling images of disasters, debris littered the high waves off Cape Horn, which caused one goldseeker aboard the bark JAMES W. PAIGE. after seeing a broken spar trailing some rigging, to lament: "What a history of suffering and disaster may there be connected with that spar! Perhaps it belonged to our acquaintances at Rio.... In their efforts to save themselves, may not some of them been lashed to this very yard! Oh! What an hour of horror must that have been to them....And may we not, even now... be reserved for the same or worse fate?" Aboard the bark ANNA REYNOLDS, one searusher surmised, "I have heard many stories about the terrors of Cape Horn, but it is more interesting to hear stories about it, than enjoy the realities." Reportedly, more than a hundred sailing masters agreed in 1849, and, seeking to avoid the Cape's weather, storms, and difficult passage, opted for the Straits of Magellan. Even in the straits, storms and shipwrecks plagued the passengers. One mariner noted that the "most difficult and dangerous feature of navigation in the straits is the encountering of sudden and violent squalls, which strike the vessel with the least warning." One telling evidence was the wreck of the California bound schooner JOHN A. SUTTER, which lay at Tamer Harbor in the straits where it had drifted after going aground in a thick fog(early 1849?). Several other goldrusher vessels met with serious accident off the Cape or Straits, causing them to turn back to Rio, Stanley, Talcahuano or Callao.. Apparently only a very few were lost in these rough waters during the Gold Rush Era, which most attribute to skilled seamansip and sturdy ships. It appears that most of the Gold Rush shipwrecks and other maritime disasters occurred in the Pacific. But a few notable disasters, such as the Pacific Mail steamer SAN FRANCISCO and United States Mail steamer CENTRAL AMERICA sinking in the Atlantic - both beaten and broken by hurricanes. Several vessels, including the steamer LAFAYETTE were lost in the Caribbean off Panama. Many of vessels engaged in Gold Rush trade and commerce were lost between Timm's Point in southern California and Trinidad in northern California. Writing in 1854, Hinton HELPER figured approximately $5,000,000 had been lost in 24 shipwrecks, along with "sundry sailers and steamers, the names of which have been misplaced." Curiously, another historian reports that most Pacific Gold Rush era shipwrecks were on REPEAT voyages, with the loss of approximately 50 vessels, including 11 oceangoing steamships, seven steamers, and various sailing craft generally in San Francisco bay or the Sacramento, San Joaquin, or Feather rivers. In addition to numerous close calls or escapes, 12 vessels were lost at the busy entrance of San Francisco Bay. An early one, November 23, 1849, was the ship TONQUIN out of Boston, which ran aground on a sandbar off Black Point opposite Alacatraz Island. With the Golden Gate wrecks involving little loss of life, San Francisco apparently worried mainly about destroyed cargoes, fortunes lost, and mercantile opportunity gone astray. While sailing ships sustained losses, relatively few were wrecked - the steamers were at the greatest peril. Why not the sailers? One author rationalized that, except for leaving or entering port, they laid a course far offshore. This meant that fixing an error in their positions was of little consequence - the danger of running around was practically nil. On the other hand, the steamers, especially those in the Pacific, were seldom out of land's sight from Panama Bay or San Juan del Sur until they anchored at San Francisco. Hugging the shoreline shortened their run and saved fuel. But it often forced the ship's officers to make faulty judgments and inaccurate navigation. Compounding this, were incomplete and often misleading charts, few lighthouses, buoys, and navigtional aids. Closing on the bright side: It is estimated from 1849 to 1860, that the Pacific Mail steamers conservatively carried 250,000 passengers - without the loss of a single life by shipwreck. EPILOGUE:: I should be shoeing my mules:-), but a listmember caught me in the backwash of her search for the ship that sunk under a relative while leaving San Francisco Bay in 1854. Not to be ghoulish, but checking into Gold Rush maritime disasters turned out to be pretty interesting, and somewhat suprising.. No warranty on the above statistics - I pass them on for what they are worth. AND the length of the CA Gold Rush continues to confuse, especially as that phrase is used for the time measure of many figures and accompanying events. I suppose if you emphasize the word "Rush", the Gold "Rush" lasted only from 1849 to 1852, or maybe 1854. But, for some up to 1860. On this, I will bow to more learned heads." Any of you folks get sea-sick :-) Bob Norris in Dallas <[email protected]>