o n each side of the engine. As the pistons One of rhe passe ngers, F. S. Crane, later Ir appears Captai n Blum intended to moved up and down, the levers were con- recalled his experience: Earlier rhar year, run the passage between Sam a Cruz and nected at opposite ends by crossh eads Crane and his parmers had left Illinois, Anacapa Island. By dinner rime on 2 D ecco nnected rn rods that turned rhe cranks. d riving a herd of 150 carde to H angtown , ember, a heavy fog set in and by nine o'clock, The cranks were connected rn port and star- California, in the gold fields. Once the cattle most passengers had retired for the night. board shafts which turned the paddle- drive was completed, C rane booked passage Captain Blunt misjudged their position , wheels. 1h e engines were assisted by sails- home aboard rhe Winfield Scott, traveling missing rhe Anacapa Pass by a wide margin. a system widely used during rhis time when in steerage because the cabins were already In nearly zero visibili ty, he altered course fo r ships were transitioning fro m sail to steam. sold our. H e fo und many returning miners what he rhoughr was open water, but instead She carried a square topsail forward and gaff- in steerage, "nearl y all of whom had specie headed the ship directly towards An acapa rigged fo re-and-aft sails o n all three m as ts. belts well fill ed . There were a good m any Island. C harles H olden reported : "On rh e The ship's first route ran between New nighr of D ecember 2"d, soon after supper, York C ity and New Orleans. On 26 Jana dense fog set in . About 10 'clock there uary 1852, now owned by the New Yo rk was a 'great commotion' am o ng rhe and San Francisco Steam ship Company, offi cers of the ship, and o rders a subsidiary of D avis, Brooks & were quickly given to the Co mpany, she left New York for man at the helm." H olden Califo rnia. She doubled Cape thought th e ship H o rn and arrived in San had altered course, Fran cisco on 28 April and then things after a record voyage of serried down 48 days, 10 hours. She again . Thar was likely offSam a C ruz began regular service to Panama with fa res Island, and passengers ranging from $35 0 fo r heard rumors that fi rst cabin rickets to the ship had nar$200 fo r steerage. They ro wly esca ped some rocks. also sold berths below rhe wa terline, usually bought At approximately 11 P M, rhe by gold seekers fo r $75 . A typ ical voyage between Panam a passengers were sudand San Francisco too k two weeks, denly aroused when the ship, under full power, and rhe ship was usually overcrowded . On 18 M ay 1853, the line ran hard aground o n rhe changedirs name rnthe NewYorkand submerged rocks just off AnaCalifornia Steam ship Company and STE AMER OEN', WINFIELD SCOTT LEAVING NJ, W YOJ1K HARBOli . capa Island. Holden recalled : then ceased business altogether in July. "Instantly, as it would seem, rhe The Pacific Mail Steamship C ompany pur- hard characters among them and life fo r deck was covered with the passengers, evchased the Winfield Scott on 8 July 1853 to the fi rs t twenty-fo ur hours was an ything ery stateroom being ar once emptied of its replace the Tennessee, one of their steamships but pleasant." inmates seeki ng fo r safety upo n rhe sh ip's that had been lost north of San Francisco. Acco rd ing to fellow passe nger Asa deck." (H ow no one was injured when rhe Between 1848 and 1869 (the year the Cyrus Call , rhe ship had som e tro uble with ship, going 11-12 knots, suddenly hi t rhe transcontinental railroad was completed), a leaking boiler, which slowed her speed rocks remains a mys tery.) the Panam a ro ute to California transpo rted until repaired . (This is no r documented Passe nger Edward Bosqui later wrote, almost 600,000 passe ngers and mo re than anywhere else.) Cap tain Blum steered fo r ''Ar midnight I was suddenly awakened from $7 10 million in gold bullion. The Winfield rhe Sama Barbara C hannel, where they a sound sleep by a terrible jarring and crashScott earned a repu tation for swift and co m- arrived the next day. Ano ther passenger, ing of timbers. Tumbling our of my berrh, I fortable voyages and became a popular choice Charles P. H olden, in an acco unt he wro te was confro nted by rhe horror-stricken visage fo r rravelers going both directions. U nder in 1883 for rhe Chicago Times, claimed that of my toothless and bald-headed stateroom the command of Captain Simon F. Blunt, the "Winfield Scott took the ro ute through companion , who had no rime to secure his SS Winfield Scott sailed fro m San Francisco the C hannel because rhe skip per saw sev- wig and false teeth and was groping about to on 1 D ecember 1853, bound fo r Pan an1a. eral ships on the o utside, and he wanted to fi nd them . Leaving him paralyzed wi th fea r, She was carrying twenty-four sacks of m ail, bear them to Panama." Cap rai n Blum would I hurried our on deck, where my attention an estimated $1 million in gold, and 500 have known rhe Sam a Barbara C hannel was fixed on a wall of towering cliffs, the passengers, 20 Ar my officers, and 73 crew well because he had hel ped to survey ir tops of which were hidden by rhe fog and several years earlier. darkness and appeared about to fall and m embers. SEA HISTO RY 130, SPRING 2010
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