The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-08-31
WAITING FOR A CLAIMANT.
Its Owner Was a Seaman on
the Isaac Jeans.
STRANDED NEAR THE OLD FORT.
Strange Disappearance of Henry
Steward, Whose Savings Reached
Into the Thousands.

Henry Steward was a sailor and an In
dustrious one at that He saved money,
and that is more than most seRmen do. In
consequence, there is deposited in a saw
ings bank in this city a considerable sum
of money in the name Of Henry Stewardt.
The big pile of gold is unclaimed. and
Larry p. Barton, the well-known private
detective, has been detailed to try to find
Stewardt or his heirs and deliver unto
them the coin which has been rusting in
the vaults since 1869.
Interest has accumulated, too. and its
total in itself is sufficient to make an 0rdi-
nary seaman happy.
Steward was just a plain unsophiSti-
Gated mariner. but his history, blending
with that of the bark Isaac Jeans. that
was wrecked near Fort Point in 1876, is
interesting,
The Jeans was one of the old-time
''hoodoo' ships that sailed out of San
Francisco. she met with several acct
dents and was washed ashore twice dur
ing the many years of her remarkable
% career.
Steward shipped on the Jeans in 1871,
and is believed to have been on her when
she struck.
He never spent his earnings, which
amounted to a good deal, for in those days
sailors made better wages and oDportuni-
ties for investments of spare cash were
more frequent than now. he put his dol
lars away and told his companions that
some day be would go back TO Denmark,
his native land, and live quiet, lazy life
in his old age.
The ambitious sailor worked steadily
with the Jeans. After she was wrecked
he disappeared and never put in a claim
for the several thousands of dollars that
were marked to his credit at the bank.
Years rolled by and still no check signed
Henry Steward passed over the Clear.
lng-hOuSe counter.
Now the old accounts of the bank have
been advertised and the concern is anxious
10 settle with a number of unknown de-
positOTs. Steward is among that num-
ber
There wers no lives lost to all accounts
when the Jeans went ashore. but it is
strange that with the stranding of the YES
sci all evidence of the existence of Stew
aTdt seems to have ceased.
The American bark Isaac Jeans, lumber
laden from Seebeck, was off the bar on
the morning of March 9, 1876 Her cap
tain did not want to take pilot on board.
so II Is alleged, and tried to sail in himself
The bark drifted south of the fort. and
in endeaVoring TO wear ship she struck on
the south blight and went to pieces in q
short while.
The records say that all hands were
SdNSut lOi SUOU dll6T LuS DOaLS DaQ DeeQ
beached and those persons drifting about
in the surf on pieces of wreckage had been
saved by willing rescuers, the crew was
called to quarters and every man accounted
for.
Some old salts alnng the front say that
this was not done, however. and that there
never was very satisfactory accounting
for the men of the ship. There were no
means of making the men all report to the
Shipping Commissioner, as a number of
them shipped on other crafts almost i'm
mediatelY after the Jeans was stra nded.
There is just a bare possibility that Ste
Wardt was drowned.
Whether he was drowned or whether he
was not be made no application for bis
money In the bank, and never deposited
any more at other institutions.
But the theory that Stewa might have
been lost with the Jeans is not substan-
tiated, for Mr. Barton has knowledge that
the sailor was seen in San Francisco in
1878. during the month of Septsmber He
was still following the sea for living,
and apparently giving little attention TO
the fact that his bank account was still
waiting for him to draw down.
Then IT was, according to Mr.. Barton.
that the sailor disappeared and u OF before
II the heirs of Henry Steward. for the
sailor must have lost his life unknown to