Notes on the Iron Auxiliary Barkentine ARCHER
First Commercial Ship on the West Coast Equipped with Wireless
Barkentine ARCHER in San
Francisco Bay, May
1908 at the arrival of the Great White Fleet (master: Captain MacLeod):
Iron Auxiliary Barkentine ARCHER:
History of Barkentine ARCHER (and British Bark
ARCHER):
Cite: http://www.cimorelli.com/cgi-bin/magellanscripts/ship_bio1.asp?ShipName=Archer
http://www.nps.gov/safr/local/sparks.html
Archer
(Bark) - A British (iron)
bark, 900 tons, dismasted and thrown on her beam ends in gale off Cape Flattery, Victoria for Portland, Oregon, March 16, 1894. Three crewmen drowned. Captain John Dawson and
rest of crew clung to the ship's taffrail for several
hours before a boat could be swung free. Picked up by ship
John C. Porter. Derelict found by steamer Maude and towed to Clayoquot Sound. Wreck was later towed to Victoria and then to Port Blakely,
Washington, where she was converted to a barkentine
for American owner Rufus Calhoun. Built at Sunderland, England, in 1876, she was afloat
until 1936, when wrecked in the Philippine Islands as the Marie. Jim Gibbs, Shipwrecks off Juan de Fuca,
Portland: Binfords and Mort,
1968.
Citation: Tacoma Public Library
Archer
(Bark) - The British bark
Archer, from Victoria for the Columbia River, was abandoned off Cape Flattery, March 18th. She
encountered a fearful gale, accompanied by a blinding snowstorm, in the midst
of which her loose shingle and rock ballast shifted until she was on her beam
ends. The crew hung to the poop rail for several hours before they were able to
launch a boat, Andrew Anderson, the carpenter, and Evans, a seaman, being swept
away and drowned. Capt. John Dawson and the rest of the crew escaped in a boat
and a few hours later were picked up by the ship John C. Potter, Captain Meyer,
from Departure Bay for San Francisco. The Archer was afterward
towed into Clayoquot Sound by the Canadian Pacific
Navigation Company's steamer Maude, and Capt. John Irving subsequently secured
the tug Pioneer to take her to Victoria, where she was sold to
Capt. Rufus Calhoun for about $4,000. Her new owner spent about $20,000
repairing her, and she is now sailing under the American flag. E. W. Wright. Growth of Deep-water Commerce, Great Loss of Life by Marine
Disasters, Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific
Northwest. New York: Antiquarian P
Archer
(Barkentine)
- The iron auxiliary barkentine Archer was chartered
to take a lumber cargo to New York but put in to San Pedro in
distress and was subsequently sold to Swayne &
Hoyt, who installed an oil engine and operated her as the power schooner Marie.
Gordon Newell, Maritime Events of 1915, H.W. McCurdy. Marine
History of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle: Superior, 1966, p. 255.
Citation: Tacoma Public Library
Archer
(Barkentine)
- The well -known iron barkentine Archer, said to be
the only iron vessel of that rig on the Coast, was sold in September to the
Roche Harbor Lixne Co. by Welch & Co. of San
Francisco, the reported price being $ 22, 000. She was placed in service with
the lime company's brig William G. Irwin, freighting lime from the kilns on San Juan Island to San Francisco, where there was a great
demand for this essential material as the city began rebuilding after the great
fire and earthquake. The Archer was British built in 1876 at Sunderland as a 900-ton bark with
dimensions of 1 85.2 x 3 1.6 x 1 1. 1, with a capacity of 800, 000 feet of lumber or about 1,000 tons
of general cargo. She was dismasted in 1894 off Cape Flattery and sold to Capt. Rufus
Calhoun of Port Townsend. Repaired and rerigged as a barkentine, she was granted U. S. registry in 1895 and had
passed to Welch & Co. in 1898. Gordon Newell, Maritime Events of 1906, H.W.
McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, p. 122.
Citation: Tacoma Public Library
Archer
(Barkentine)
- The iron auxuiary barkentine
Archer was chartered to take a lumber cargo to New York but put in to San Pedro in
distress and was subsequently sold to Swayne &
Hoyt, who installed an oil engine and operated her as the power schooner Marie.
Gordon Newell, Maritime Events of 1915, H. W. McCurdy Marine
History of the Pacific Northwest., p.255.
Citation: Tacoma Public Library
According to 1914 registry of
ships Barkentine ARCHER radio callsign
was KMDR.
People associated with Barkentine ARCHER:
Calhoun, Rufus
Obituary 10 Dec 1903, Died in San Francisco, lived in PT, wife Sarah Fillmore, home on Maple Ave., 1 daughter Mrs. J. M. E. Atkison,
3 sons, Isaac, Rufus, and Capt. George. Born Hoewell, New
Brunswick, 10 Sep 1828, went to sea age 14, sailed to Calif. in 1853 and lived there 13 years, To PT in 1866.
Built and sailed schooner Alaska, Sparrowhawk,
Whitmore, Ceylon and tug Matick. Rebuilt wrecked Archer and was her captain when he
got sick.
"CALHOUN--In
this city, December 9, Captain Rufus CALHOUN,
husband of Sarah CALHOUN of Port
Townsend, Wash., and father of Mrs. J. M. E. ATKINSON of Seattle, Wash., Isaac P. CALHOUN of Kent, Wash., and Rufus and Captain George S. CALHOUN, a native of New Brunswick,
aged 75 years. (Port Townsend and Seattle papers please copy)." Source: San
Francisco Examiner, 11 Dec 1903.
Laurel
Grove Cemetery, Port Townsend, Jefferson Co.,
WA Last First, MI
Born Died Comments . Calhoun Capt. Rufus Sept. 10, 1828 Dec. 9, 1903
90
Years Ago
October 12, 1911
Friday Harbor in a Nutshell
— Louie Murray, who is acting as an engineer on the Roche Harbor Lime
Company’s boat Archer, came down Friday for a brief visit with his parents
while the boat is loading cargo.