Story from John Vonderlin
Email John ([email protected])
Hi June,
I’ll see if I can find out what happened to the shipwreck survivors and their boat in the article below. But, it doesn’t look good when at the time, there weren’t really any formal rescuers to come to their aid. You were on your own in the “Good Old Days.”
This is from the February 20th, 1863 issue of “The Daily Alta” in the “City Items” column. Enjoy. John
To the Rescue! — Yesterday afternoon, below Half Moon Bay, and off Point Pedro, was seen a raft or fragment of a wreck, to which were clinging some sixteen or eighteen men. The man who saw it at once rode up to town and divulged the intelligence. At ten o’clock last evening, the steam tug “Monitor,” Capt. Mark Harloe, was to leave this port in search of the wreck but did not. The unfortunate craft is supposed to be the schooner “Beeswing” from Monterey, laden with oil. She left that port some four or five days ago. Some steps should be taken by the Government to provide a suitable vessel —the Shubrick, for instance — to look after our marine interests.
USS Shubrick (1865), a steamer transferred to the Navy Department 23 August 1861;
returned by the Revenue Cutter Service to the Lighthouse Board in 1866
William Bradford Shubrick (31 October 1790 – 27 May 1874) was an officer in the United States Navy. His active-duty career extended from 1806 to 1861, including service in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War; he retired in the early months of the Civil War.Several ships in the U.S. Navy have been named USS Shubrick for him.