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Another So Cal Wreck ... Almost


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Posted by N2 Addict on September 23, 2014 at 21:21:30:

On the LAT website, there's a photo from the paper's archives of a fishing barge named the Minnie A. Caine that beached in Malibu during a 1939 storm.

http://framework.latimes.com/2014/09/23/beached-by-65-mph-winds/

I was wondering if the remains of the schooner had been towed out to sea and sunk, like many other local fishing barges, but apparently she came to a less glamorous end:

Minnie A. Caine (schooner)
The Minnie A. Caine, a four-masted schooner of 880 tons and 1000 M feet capacity, was built at Seattle in 1900 by Moran Bros. for Charles Nelson of San Francisco. She is famous as the vessel described by Miss Joan Lowell in The Cradle of the Deep, that immortal classlc of the sea of 12 years ago. The schooner was laid up at San Francisco in 1926, until sold for a fishing barge in 1931. On September 24, 1939, she was blown ashore north of Santa Monica, and was burned for her metal in December. John Lyman, Pacific Coast Built Sailers, 1850-1905,The Marine Digest. June 28, 1941, p. 2
Citation: Tacoma Public Library

Interestingly, the ship was destined to run aground in storms. From the same web source:

The four masted schooner Minnie A. Caine launched in 1900 by Moran for Charles Nelson and Capt. Caine continued a -long -interrupted voyage in 1902. As she was being towed to sea by the tug Magic in December, 1901, the famous Christmas Storm of that year broke over tug and schooner with great fury. The tow line parted almost immediately, the Caine going ashore on Smith Island and the Magic running for shelter at Port Townsend. From the time of her grounding until early May a force of 40 men was employed in trying to refloat the big schooner. Three times she was raised on temporary ways ready for relaunching, but each time a storm came up and destroyed the efforts of weeks. During April the tides were too low for successful launching, but finally in May all was in readiness and the Tyee pulled her safely to deep water. The salvage operation was handled by Robert Moran. Gordon Newell, Maritime Events of 1902, H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest., p. 85.



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