1875 Senator Shipwreck

[Galleon Hunter]

I have another question for you scholarly gents out there...

I am trying (without success) to find out casualty figures for a particular shipwreck.

May 6, 1875. American screw-propeller steamer Senator, 298-tons, Captain Dan McGill, bound from Portland to Oregon City, exploded at Portland.

Anybody out there...

Also does anyone from NC know where the Tar River becomes to Pamlico River? My guess is Little Washington, NC, but I am not sure. I sent Richard Lawrence at the UAU an email but haven't heard back from him yet.

Thanks in Advance

galleon hunter

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[Darren in NC]

Hey bud,

I think you mean simply Washington, not Little Washington. And yes, that is where Tar River becomes the Pamlico.

Looking forward to your book!
Darren

 

[ivan salis]

try loyld's (the ship insurers) as part of the claim -- losses would have to be submitted for payment --including payments for loss of life as well as cargo.-- few if any vessels sailed without insurance -- no one wanted to "risk" shipping their goods on an "unisured" vessel because in case of accident their loss was total.

 

[Galleon Hunter]

Yes Darren...I guess living in Greenville, NC for four years rubbed off on me as it is NOT officially named Little Washington, but everyone in eastern NC calls it that to differentiate it from Washington D.C.

One of the neatest dives I ever made was diving right there in the river on the Picket, which once served as Burnside's flagship. Talk about diving in chocolate milk, you couldn't see anything.

I had a couple of wrecks where one source lists the vessel as being lost in the Pamlico River and while another list the same ship as being lost on the Tar River. WHERE DOES the TAR RIVER BECOME THE PAMILICO RIVER OFFICIALLY...Somebody once told me they had heard it was at the bridge. SO I basically need to find out if that is true and try to determine if these wrecks are up or down river from the bridge.

Inquiring minds want to know...

Rob

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Galleon Hunter:

There are the books by "Shipwreck" Jim Gibbs: Disaster Log of Ships (1971) and Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast (1957). Don Marshall wrote Oregon Shipwrecks.

And the grandaddy of them all is E.W. Wright (ed) Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest (1895) - rare enough to probably be a "library only" resource, although there was a reprint (1967).

The Annual Report of the US Life-Saving Service probably would have a summary of the report prepared by the local station (without looking it up, I'm guessing there was a USLSS Station at Portland). Copies of the original reports can be obtained from the National Archives and Records Service.

During the second half of the Nineteenth Century there was a large county history written for many of the Western states. Some of these were "puff pieces" when local folk could pay to have their photo and autobiography published. Many, however, have excellent information in them.

Then there are the local newspaper accounts if you have access to any of them.

Good luck!

~The Old Bookaneer

 

[Darren in NC]

Doh! Shoulda remembered you living out there, bro. Everything I found says the line is at the Hwy 17 bridge, but it would be interesting to know how far back that was noted.

 

[Mackaydon]

Re: The Senator:
"The count stood at seven dead and eight seriously scalded, maimed, or bruised."
Source: 'Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast' by James A. Gibbs, page 173.
Don.......