The record-union., 1899-08-17
THE YANKEE BLADE WRECK.
RECALLED BY AN INCIDENT AT
SEATTLE.
Burning of the Hull of the Old
Time Sacramento River
Steamer Go1iah.
Ry Win. ]. Davis.l


A dispatch recently published an
nounced that the hull Of the oldesl
steam vessel on the Pacific Coast was
made into a bonfire on the beach near
Seattle. 1t recorded the fate of the old
steamer Goliah, that was built in New
York in 1S4S by w. II. Webb anu
brought around Cape Horn to San
Francisco to ply on the Sacramento
River Afterward she was changed INTO
an ocean steamship, and ran from san
Francisco on routes both north and
south
In 1864 she was laid up as unservice-
bic on the Mission flats, but was later
on fitted as tug and taken to Puget
Sound where she did service until five
years ago. Then she was finally aban-
doned as useless from old age. But
she did not deserve the ignominous
fate that was meted out to her on Sc
attic beach.
During the golden age of California
she safely carried thousands of ad-
venturers in and out of the Golden
Gate, and millions of treasure were
transported in her to Panama with
out the loss of a dollar But
that which should have most strongly
appealed for her preservation was her
heroic rescue of the hundreds of pas
sengers of the wrecked steamship
Yankee Blade in the autumn of 1854.
That was the time when the gold
excitement was at it's hight, long before
the construction of the overland rail-
road, and when the immense travel
between the Atlantic States and Cali
hxy csf hi iT1G
way of the Isthmus. There were four
companies running lines of steamers.
and the fierce opposition had brought
down the rates of passage to $3.50 for
first cabin, 500 for second cabin, and
500 for steerage!
At 4 o'clock on the afternoon of Sep
tember 30, 1854, four steamers left
their wharves at San FranciscO-the
Sonora of the Pacific Mail Line, the
Cortes, belonging to the Nicaragua
Company, and the Yankee Blade and
Goliah of the Independent Company.
The Sonora carried 81, ,249 40 regis
tered treasure, the Cortes $S3S, ,96S, and
the Yankee Blade S213,O00. The num-
Der of passengers is not known, but
the Blade carried about 1,200, as would
appear from the newspaper accounts OF
the disaster which befel her. 1t can
not of course be even conjectured how
much money was carried by the pas
sengers, but the amount was very con-
siderable.
The Yankee Blade was probably the
finest steamship on the coast. She was
built at Williamsburg, n. Y, and i'm
mediately on her completion sailed for
San Francisco via the Horn, arriving
early in May, 1854. In noticing her
arrival at Valparaiso, the Herald" of
that place said: For speed we should
say not only from the circumstance
of her having made the quickest pass
age on record from Rio Janeiro to here
Gin ID days 20 hours) and indeed we
might say from New York to here I'm
81 days., but also from the perfect
symmetry of her model and the power
of her engine (for she has only one),
that she is the fieetest steamship on
the west coast of America"
Her first trip from San Francisco to
Panama was made the following June,
and her performances in actual work
on the line had justly won the favor
of travellers to the East. But her phe-
nomenal speed occasioned considerable
anxiety NllCll AliC GAtcAAlACAS AIAN '~NN-@
Francisco on September Both, for it
had been reported that heavy bets had
been made on the time which might
be made by the Sonora and Yankee
Blade in a race to Panama. There was,
as a matter of fact a $4,000 bet laid,
but to allay the popular apprehension
the Mail Company announced that pos
tive orders had been issued to Cap
tain Whiting of the Sonora not to en-
gage in a race on any account what
ever. and not to carry more than the
usual amount of steam. To further
assure the public it was stated that
the steamer had only been coaled for
a nine days run, and that she would
receive the balance of her coal at
Acapulco The newspapers said that
"such being the arrangement made by
the agents of the mail steamer, the
passengers may rest easy, for they will
not be hurried into eternity instead OF
into Panama" If such an assurance
was made by the agents Of the Yankee
Blade it was not respected.
In sailing toward the Golden Gate
the Goliah kept the lead, next came
the Yankee Blade, then the Sonora
and lastly the Cortes. Before reaching
the fort the Yankee Blade stopped her
engine, allowed the Sonora to pass her,