Savage Seas

Built in 1887, the sturdy steam schooner Point Arena carried large cargoes while remaining nimble enough for California's central coast dog hole ports. On August 9, 1913, while loading tanbark at Pigeon Point, rough seas forced the vessel onto the rocks and tore a hole in her hull, leaving the stunned seamen to watch her sink into the churning water. Because the wreckage threatened other ships, it was burned. A five-ton section of the hull later washed ashore at Año Nuevo and was uncovered by storms in 1983. The Point Arena was one of many maritime losses between Año Nuevo and Pigeon Point, a dangerous stretch that saw shipwrecks from the Carrier Pigeon in 1853 to BARC 1 in 1953, alongside the gradual development of lighthouses, fog signals, whistles, and a whistle buoy to aid navigation.

California · United States