Two Steamers Saluted Off Cape Flattery—Then Vanished Into the Storm
A schooner captain’s account places the missing Keweenaw and Montserrat together off Washington’s coast on a night of monstrous seas, just before both were lost.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
San Diego, Jan. 1.—Capt. Fidelius, of the schooner Azalea, which arrived with lumber yesterday from Tacoma, recalls the fact that he saw two steamers off Cape Flattery on the evening of December 9, which, it is thought, were probably the missing Keweenaw and Montserrat. The gale was at its height, and it seemed that the vessel he took to be the Keweenaw had been outside the straits and past Cape Flattery, but encountering storm had turned back and lay to under the cape. About dusk another steamer, probably the Montserrat, passed down the straits and saluted the Keweenaw with three whistles, the latter responding with the same number. The steamers approached within speaking distance and after some talk between them both turned and went to sea, doubling the cape and passing out of sight forever. The Azalea went out a couple of hours later.
The gale was kicking up a terrible sea; the decks were deluged and water flooded the cabin. The deck load shifted and the schooner drifted helplessly until morning, when the captain made out that he was seven miles from Cape Beale. There were three distinct seas meeting off Flattery, according to the skipper—one from the northwest and one alongside from the southeast, the latter the stronger, and the current from the straits, which, meeting the southeast sea, raised such a commotion it is a wonder any vessel lived through it. The Azalea was taken up and thrown down like a book upon the floor by the sudden and uncertain seas, straining the vessel to her uttermost.
“The steamers approached within speaking distance and after some talk between them both turned and went to sea, doubling the cape and passing out of sight forever.”
Cape Flattery remains one of the most treacherous stretches of the Northwest coast, where the Pacific meets the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The story’s eerie last sighting—two steamers signaling each other before turning into the gale—reminds us how weather and maritime risk still shape the region.
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