National Register of Historic Places
BROTHER JONATHAN (Shipwreck Site)
Crescent City vicinity, Del Norte County, California
The record
- Listed
- May 21, 2002
- Type
- Site
- Address
- About 4.5 mi. W of Pt. St. George, Crescent City vicinity
- County
- Del Norte
- State
- California
- Period of significance
- 1850 to 1874
- Contributing resources
- 1 site
- Coordinates
- 41.75025, -124.21205
- Reference number
- 02000535
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The BROTHER JONATHAN (Shipwreck Site) is a shipwreck site about 4.5 miles west of Point St. George near Crescent City in Del Norte County, listed in the National Register in 2002, built in 1850 by shipbuilders Perrine, Patterson & Stack.
Why it's listed
It was listed under criteria A, C and D, with national significance in archeology, architecture, commerce, engineering, exploration and settlement, and transportation. Its period of significance runs from 1850 to 1865, spanning the 1850 launch to the 1865 wreck off St. George Reef.
Physical character
It was a two-masted, barkentine-rigged sidewheel steamer with a walking beam engine and a round stem. In 1852 its bow was rebuilt straight and berths enlarged to 750; in 1861 it gained new boilers and a redwood saloon. Material from the wreck includes redwood, pine, oak, copper, ceramic, glass and iron concretion.
Historical context
The BROTHER JONATHAN ran the Panama Route in 1850 and 1851, then Nicaragua Route until 1856, when Captain John Thomas Wright bought it. From 1857 to 1865 it worked the Pacific coast as a passenger and freight steamer, sold to the Oregon & San Diego Steamship Line in 1860. It carried gold seekers to Idaho in 1862, and wrecked off St. George Reef in 1865.