Ear: Idaho

From The Daily Morning Astorian, Dec. 7, 1889, a tidbit from Port Townsend, Washington:

• The steam schooner Jennie arrived from San Francisco this afternoon. The captain states that he passed very close to Race Rocks (off Vancouver Island, B.C.), expecting to see the wrecked steamship Idaho, but nothing was visible. She has slidden from the rocks and sunk to the bottom of the sea …

Note: Not yet. The Idaho, a wooden steamship launched in 1866, was one of the first to provide service to the Pacific Northwest Coast. It was also infamous for opium smuggling on the Alaska route, having been caught three times in 1887 (opium in the dirty laundry, a lifeboat and the ship’s butcher shop) and once in 1889 (opium in the cabin walls).

And, there were accidents. The vessel grounded in San Francisco Bay in 1879, receiving substantial damage, and was caught in a gale in 1888, losing the mast, most of the rigging and part of the keel. Both times it was completely restored.

The stranding at Race Rocks happened Nov. 29, 1889, in heavy fog. A fire ensued and was put out. The captain and crew abandoned ship. A salvage effort removed 892 items, including a piano.

Now considerably lightened, a strong gale was able to blow the vessel off the rocks, and it was found drifting a month later. The ship was towed to Port Townsend, where it unceremoniously sank. (Photo: William H. Partridge)