Emily Reed (ship)

Last updated
History
NameEmily Reed
OwnerYates & Porterfield NY; Hind, Rolph and Co. San Francisco
Port of registryAmerican
BuilderA. R. Reed, Waldoboro, Maine
LaunchedNovember 1880
Completed1880
Maiden voyageNew York To Calcutta
In service1880–1908
IdentificationJVCB (LLoyds Signal Letters)
FateRan aground on February 14, 1908
General characteristics
Type Down Easter [1]
Tonnage1,467  NRT
Length215 ft (66 m)
Beam40 ft 6 in (12.34 m)
Depth24 ft (7.3 m)
CrewO.D. Shelton; Daniel C Nichols; George A Baker; William Kessel

The Emily Reed was a down Easter owned by a company in San Francisco, and well known in both American and Australian ports. [2] She ran aground in February 1908 off the coast of Oregon, with the loss of eight men.

Contents

Career

The Emily Reed was built by A. R. Reed, Waldoboro, Maine, for the San Franciscan firm of Hind, Rolph and Co. [3] She was launched on November 10, 1880; her first captain was O. D. Sheldon, and her first owners Yates and Porterfield of New York. On her first voyage, she transported a load of case oil from New York to Calcutta. [1]

In December 1890 or January 1891, while en route from New York to San Francisco (having departed approximately February 1890), a severe storm at sea caused the rudder head to be twisted clean off. The crew steered the ship by tackle over each quarter, eventually reaching port in Rio de Janeiro for repairs. They arrived in San Francisco 208 days later, on August 31, 1891. [4]

Daniel C. Nichols took command of the Emily Reed in Hong Kong, [5] until in April 1900 she was sold in Tacoma, Washington, to Hind Rolf. [6] [7]

On July 12, 1903, the ship was carrying Tasmanian timber from Hobart to Simonstown, South Africa, when it ran into distress and was forced to stop at Lyttelton. The captain, Baker, had received a serious injury to his left arm, and there was sickness on board. The vessel was quarantined for eight days. Nine crew members were charged with disobeying orders, and the captain was charged by his crew of assault. The men were convicted, but the charges against the captain were dismissed. [8]

Wreck

On February 14, 1908, the ship was heading for Portland, with a cargo of coal from Newcastle, New South Wales, when she ran aground at the mouth of Nehalem River. Captain Kessell's chronometer was faulty, and he didn't realize until it was too late that he was too close to the shore. The time was a little after midnight, and the sea was too rough to attempt to swim to safety. The first mate, the ship's cook, and two more seamen jumped into a lifeboat, and appeared to be lost as soon as they hit the water. The captain therefore ordered the rest of his crew to remain on the ship until daylight. When morning came, it brought low tide, and the survivors managed to get ashore. [9] The ship's cargo of 2,100 tons of coal was washed out to sea without a trace. [10]

It was initially reported, based on the account of the captain, that eleven men were dead. Three days later, however, the lifeboat which had been thought lost was discovered by a sloop at Neah Bay, 200 miles from the wreck. The first mate and two seamen were alive but weak with thirst and hunger, and the ship's cook was dead. [9]

The wreck still lies buried beneath the sands near the city of Rockaway Beach, and is occasionally uncovered by storms. [11]

Sightings

Further research

Related Research Articles

The West Coast lumber trade was a maritime trade route on the West Coast of the United States. It carried lumber from the coasts of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington mainly to the port of San Francisco. The trade included direct foreign shipment from ports of the Pacific Northwest and might include another product characteristic of the region, salmon, as in the schooner Henry Wilson sailing from Washington state for Australia with "around 500,000 feet of lumber and canned salmon" in 1918.

USS <i>Swatara</i> (1873)

As part of the Secretary of the Navy George M. Robeson's plans to overhaul and modernize ships of the Navy, the first USS Swatara was taken to the New York Navy Yard in 1872, ostensibly for "repairs". In fact, the "repairs" constituted construction of a new ship, for Swatara was given a new hull and unused machinery which had been in storage since 1865. Embodying only certain fittings and equipment from the first ship, the second Swatara was launched on 17 September 1873 at the New York Navy Yard and commissioned on 11 May 1874, Capt. Ralph Chandler in command.

<i>Marlborough</i> (1876 ship)

Marlborough was an iron-built two-decked merchant sailing ship which disappeared in 1890. She was built by the firm of Robert Duncan and Co., Port Glasgow and launched in 1876 for her owner John Leslie, who later sold her to the Albion Line. Marlborough disappeared during a voyage in January 1890, and has not been seen or heard from in over a century. Searches and investigations have yielded nothing conclusive, and the ship's ultimate fate, and that of her crew, remains unknown.

Cotati was a steam cargo ship built in 1918–1919 by Moore Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Oakland for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel was briefly used for the first two years of her career to transport frozen meat between North and South America and Europe. The ship was subsequently laid up at the end of 1921 and remained part of the Reserve Fleet through the end of 1940. In January 1941 she was sold together with two other vessels to the New Zealand Shipping Co. and subsequently in 1942 was transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Avocet. The ship was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 on 30 September 1942 on one of her regular wartime trips.

USRC <i>Thomas Corwin</i> (1876) U.S. revenue cutter and merchant ship

The Thomas Corwin was a United States revenue cutter and subsequently a merchant vessel. These two very different roles both centered on Alaska and the Bering Sea. In 1912, Frank Willard Kimball wrote: "The Corwin has probably had a more varied and interesting career than any other vessel which plies the Alaskan waters."

<i>Koonya</i> (1887)

The Koonya was a wood carvel screw steamer built in 1887 at Hobart, that was wrecked when it stuck the shore at Doboy reef whilst carrying passengers & cargo between Moruya and Sydney and was lost off Cronulla Beach, Port Hacking, New South Wales on 25 January 1898.

<i>Arahura</i> (twin screw ship)

TSS Arahura was a twin screw steam passenger/cargo ship built for the Union Steam Ship Company. It was launched on the Clyde on 25 March 1905 and built by William Denny and Brothers Dumbarton at a cost of £52,000. It had a gross weight of 1,607 tons. The ship had accommodation for 201 passengers.

Victory was built by Fenwick & Co, Sunderland in 1847 and owned by Willis, Gunn and Co and later owned by Wilson and Cook. She was a 578- or 579-ton barque that brought some of the first immigrants from England to Dunedin in July 1848. She also called at Wellington, New Zealand, in August 1848. There was an advertisement that gave her weight as 700 tons, but, given that her captain in 1851 was Mullens, it was unlikely to be another ship.

SS <i>President Harrison</i> Steam passenger-cargo ship built in 1919–1920

Wolverine State was a steam passenger-cargo ship built in 1919–1920 by New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The ship was initially employed on the United States to India route until its cancellation in Spring 1922. After remodeling the vessel was briefly used by the Los Angeles Steamship Company on a run between Los Angeles and Honolulu as an emergency replacement for one of their burned out steamers. In April 1922 the steamer was renamed President Harrison. In 1923 she conducted several trips between California and the east coast of South America, before being sold together with several other ships of her class to the Dollar Steamship Company. The vessel was captured in 1941 by the Japanese after she was deliberately run aground to avoid the capture. After repairs, the ship was renamed Kachidoki Maru (勝鬨丸), put under control of NYK Line and entered the Japan to Taiwan route, but soon after was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army. Under IJA control the ship sailed between Japan, Singapore and the Philippines carrying troops and military supplies. She was torpedoed and sunk on 12 September 1944 on one of her regular trips, while carrying 950 Allied prisoners of war of which 431 were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand Company ships</span>

The New Zealand Company was a 19th-century English company that played a key role in the colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principles of systematic colonisation devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who envisaged the creation of a new-model English society in the southern hemisphere. Under Wakefield's model, the colony would attract capitalists who would then have a ready supply of labour—migrant labourers who could not initially afford to be property owners, but who would have the expectation of one day buying land with their savings.

SS <i>West Cajoot</i>

West Cajoot was a Design 1013 cargo ship built in 1919 by the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co of Los Angeles. She was one of many ships built by the company for the United States Shipping Board.

SS <i>Rosecrans</i>

Methven Castle was a steam iron passenger cargo ship built in 1882–1883 by Barclay, Curle & Company of Glasgow for Donald Currie & Co. with intention of serving as cargo, passenger and mail carrier on their existing route from England to South Africa. The vessel was later sold to the North American Mail Steamship Co. of Tacoma to work on their Oriental trade routes and renamed Columbia. In 1899 the ship was chartered by the United States Army to transport troops and supplies to various overseas destinations. In 1900 the Army bought out the ship placing it in service as the United States Army Transport Rosecrans but sold it two years later to Matson Navigation Company. The vessel was then converted into an oil tanker to carry oil from the West Coast to Alaska and Hawaii. Subsequently she was sold in 1905 to Associated Oil Co. to carry oil from California to various ports along the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. In January 1913 while on one of her regular trips, the ship was wrecked off the mouth of the Columbia River with the loss of almost her entire crew.

SS <i>Canastota</i>

SS Canastota was a British-flagged, coal-burning, two-masted, steel screw, cargo steamer of 4,904 gross register tons (GRT) and 3,139 net register tons (NRT). Canastota was last seen on 13 June 1921, leaving Sydney bound for Wellington, New Zealand. Although almost forgotten today, Canastota's loss was a major news item, in Australia and New Zealand, during the second half of 1921.

<i>Lyman D. Foster</i> Cargo vessel

The Lyman D. Foster was an ocean-going, cargo-carrying, wooden sailing vessel named after the son of a provisions merchant who invested in vessels. Built at the Hall Brother's shipyard at Port Blakely, Washington (state), U.S.A. in 1892, she was 184 feet long with a 39-feet beam and 15.4 feet depth, and had a tonnage of 778 GRT.

Queen Cristina was a steam cargo ship built in 1901 by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Co of Newcastle for Thomas Dunlop & Sons of Glasgow. The ship was designed and built for general cargo trade and spent her career doing tramp trade. She was the second ship named Queen Cristina in service with the Queen Line.

Cockaponset was a steam cargo ship built in 1918–1919 by Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Company of Bay Point for the United States Shipping Board as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel was largely employed on the Gulf Coast of the United States to Europe route until 1930 when she was laid up. In late 1940 the ship together with 15 other vessels was acquired by the British government to alleviate significant shortage of tonnage due to an ongoing German U-boat campaign. In May 1941 the freighter was torpedoed and sunk on her first war trip to the United Kingdom.

SS Petriana was an iron screw steamer built in 1879 that was converted into an oil tanker. On 28 November 1903, while transporting 1,300 tonnes of petroleum from Borneo to Australia, it struck a reef near Point Nepean, Victoria, outside of Port Phillip Bay. The vessel was subsequently abandoned, but not before its cargo was released as part of efforts to save the ship, causing Australia's first major oil spill. Under the White Australia policy, the Chinese and Malay sailors crewing the Petriana were refused entry to Australia and forced to stay on a crowded tugboat for several days. Their treatment led to a political controversy in the lead-up to the 1903 federal election.

Haleakala was a steam cargo ship built in 1919 by Long Beach Shipbuilding Company of Long Beach for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel was first employed in the Pacific trade before being briefly laid up. She was reactivated in 1922 and entered the South American trade connecting the ports of Argentina and Brazil with a variety of ports in the Northeastern United States. In September 1926 while on one of her regular trips, she disappeared without a trace, possibly foundering in the hurricane with the loss of all hands.

<i>Ilwaco</i> (steamship)

Ilwaco was a small riverine and coastal steamship built in 1890 which was operated as a passenger vessel for the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company, and later served in other roles, including tow and freight boat, cannery tender and fish packing vessel. Ilwaco was originally named Suomi.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Down Easter, Emily Reed" [ permanent dead link ]
  2. "Disastrous shipwreck". The Argus. February 19, 1908. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
  3. "Emily Reed disaster". The Sydney Morning Herald. June 11, 1908. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
  4. San Francisco Morning Call, September 1, 1891; page 3 column 1, Sea and Shore
  5. American Merchant Ships, 1850–1900, Volume 1, Page 355
  6. "Pacific Marine Review, March 1929, Page 100, Two Famous Shipmasters Cross the Bar"
  7. "Morning Oregonian, April 17, 1900; Page 8, Column 5/6 Marine Notes"
  8. "The ship Emily Reed". The Examiner (Launceston). August 1, 1903. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Ship Emily Reed wrecked – survivors' thrilling experiences". Barrier Miner (Broken Hill). April 6, 1908. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
  10. "Eleven lost on Emily Reed". The Spokesman-Review. February 15, 1908. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
  11. Tobias, Lori. "Shifting sands reveal 102-year-old shipwreck off Rockaway Beach". Oregon Live, December 29, 2010. Archived from the original on April 28, 2012.
  12. "New York Times, Marine Intelligence (Arrived – second column)"
  13. Japan Daily Mail August 19, 1882, Column 1 page 1031 (google books)
  14. The Guardian, April 27, 1883 page 4, column 6, under Liverpool Shipping
  15. Daily Alta California, August 25, 1885, Page 8, Column 4, Vessels on way to ... San Francisco
  16. Pitcairn Island as a Port of Call: A Record, 1790–2010, 2d ed., Page 60
  17. Sydney Morning Herald, published May 5, 1888 page 12, column 1, Telegraphic Shipping News
  18. The Collected Writings of Walt Whitman, The Correspondence 1886–1889, Page 366, Letter dated August 24, 1889 Camden
  19. "The Morning Call, San Francisco, June 2, 1890, page 6, column 5, Sea And Shore, Coal From Japan"
  20. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, July 12, 1890, Page 6, Column 3, Movements Of Vessels
  21. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, October 07, 1890, Page 1, Column 2, A Damaged Ship", and Page 6, Column 3 Sea And Shore
  22. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, January 20, 1891, Page 6, Column 3, Sea And Shore
  23. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, February 8, 1891, Page 3, Column 6, Around The Bay
  24. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, March 19, 1891, Page 6, Column 8, Spoken
  25. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, August 27, 1891, Page 3, Column 5, Out over 100 days
  26. The Morning Call, San Francisco Calif, Sept 1, 1891, Page 3, Column 1
  27. The Morning Call, San Francisco Calif, October 11, 1891, Page 3, Column 6, Reported Charters
  28. The Morning Call, San Francisco Calif, October 29, 1891, Page 6, Column 6, Shipping Notes
  29. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif March 29, 1891, Page 6, Column 6, Foreign Ports
  30. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, July 17, 1892, Page 10, Column 8, bottom"
  31. The Morning Call, San Francisco Calif, July 21, 1892, Page 7, Column 2, Removals
  32. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif September 23, 1892
  33. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, March 2, 1893, Page 3, Column 1, Clipper Line In Full Operation
  34. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, March 28, 1893, Page6, Column 6
  35. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, July 11, 1893, Page 9, Column 4
  36. The Morning Call, San Francisco, Calif, Sept 28, 1893, Page 9, Column 5, Foreign Ports
  37. "London and China Telegraph, June 18, 1894; page 8, left side"
  38. Google Books: Seamen's Friend, Volumes 65–66, Page 128
  39. 1 2 The Morning Call, San Francisco, July 23, 1895, Page 7, Column 2, Around the Water Front
  40. "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Navigation to the Secretary of Commerce, Page 127"
  41. The Guardian, August 8, 1895 page 6, column 5, Freight Market
  42. New York Herald January 27, 1987 Page 12, Column 5 http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201897/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201897%20-%200639.pdf
  43. "New York Herald, January 8, 1898, Page 14, Column 3"
  44. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 29 October 1898, Page 4, Column 3, Advertisement
  45. New York Herald, March 10, 1899 page 14, column 2 arrivals http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201899/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201899%20-%201695.pdf
  46. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 25 September 1899, Page 2, Column 3
  47. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 28 September 1899, Page 3
  48. REPORTS FROM NATIONAL QUARANTINE AND INSPECTION STATIONS Public Health Reports Vol. 15, No. 19 (May 11, 1900), pp. 1120–1123 (Page: 1120, line 14, JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41452321
  49. 1 2 "Honolulu Republican, Sept 5, 1900, Page 4, Column 3 Shipping Notes"
  50. "State Records Authority of New South Wales: Shipping Master's Office; Passengers Arriving 1855 - 1922; NRS13278, (X268) reel 560. Transcribed by Tom Bird". Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2013-06-02.
  51. "San Francisco Call February 5, 1901, page 7, center top"
  52. "Report of the Commissioner Of Navigation, US Government Printing Office 1901, Page 346"
  53. "Honolulu Republic, Vol II, #424, Page 1, Column 8, Judge Estee Orders That Bonds Stand"
  54. "New York Herald; January 5, 1902 ; Herald Cable Reports, Page 9, Column 4"
  55. "Maui News, June 21, 1902, Page 4, Column 4, Shipping News"
  56. San Francisco Morning Call, December 30, 1902, Page 5, Column 5, Foreign Ports
  57. Sydney Morning Herald April 10, 1903, Pg 8, Column 7
  58. "New Zealand Star, Issue 7771, 31 July 1903, Page 3, retrieved on February 4, 2013"
  59. "The Mercury, Hobart Tasmania, Page 4 Column 3; Tasmanian timber for South Africa, Arrival of an American Ship"]
  60. "Sydney Morning Herald, Page 8, Column 7 Emily Reed Spoken"
  61. "The Mercury, April 13, 1903; Hobart Tasmania, Page 4 Column 3 (Shipping); Tasmanian timber for South Africa, Arrival of an American Ship"]
  62. "The Mercury, Hobart Tasmania, May 20, 1903; Page 4 Column 2 (Shipping); Tasmanian timber for South Africa, Arrival of an American Ship"]
  63. "June 22, 1903 The Mercury; Hobart Tasmania, Page 2, Column 2; Letter to the Editor dated June 15 discussing the Emily Reed departure and complaining about taxes"
  64. ["Bad Google Link – North Western Miller, October 11, 1905, Page 97, Column 3, Oregon mentioned charter shipment"]
  65. "Wiliam Fairburn's Merchant Sail, Volume V"
  66. "Penobscot Main Marine Museum Picture, Applebee Collection, catalog number LB1980.220.146"