Nineteen Sailors Survive a Wreck Off Cape Flattery
The ship Commodore struck near Neah Bay in 1877, but its entire crew made it ashore, found shelter with a local family, and was ferried back to Port Townsend.
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.
The ship Commodore, Capt. Hurlbut, from Sag Harbor to the Sound, was wrecked in the early part of Monday week, about seven miles to the westward of Neah Bay and a short distance south of Cape Flattery. She struck about 7 o'clock in the morning, during high water, so that at low tide the vessel was easily reached by the officers and crew, numbering nineteen in all. They made their way to Neah Bay the following morning, where they were kindly received and hospitably entertained by Mr. Lannee and family until Friday morning, when they were taken on board the steamer Tacoma and brought to this city. The wreck was purchased by Mr. Lannee for $475.
“They were kindly received and hospitably entertained by Mr. Lannee and family until Friday morning, when they were taken on board the steamer Tacoma and brought to this city.”
Cape Flattery remains one of the most dangerous stretches of the Pacific coast, where weather and current can turn a routine passage into a rescue. In 1877 the survival of nineteen sailors depended on a remote outer-coast community and a steamer run to Port Townsend; today the same waters are watched by the Coast Guard, but the coast still rewards local knowledge and hospitality.
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