Frank H. Buck
Oil Tanker · United States · Lost 1937 · San Francisco & the Northern California Coast
A San Francisco-built oil tanker that sank near the Golden Gate in 1937, coming to rest almost exactly where her sister ship sank fifteen years before.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Built in 1914 by Union Iron Works for the Associated Oil Company, Frank H. Buck served for over two decades as a coastwise oil tanker and briefly as a U.S. Navy vessel during World War I, when she engaged a German submarine with gunfire. In March 1937 she sank near San Francisco's Golden Gate in almost the same spot where her sister ship, Lyman Stewart, had sunk fifteen years earlier. Both wrecks' engines remain visible at low tide near Lands End.
Vessel
- 1914
- Official No. 212090, call sign WQCQ
- Union Iron Works
- San Francisco, California
- Steel
- 408.8 ft
- 55.5 ft
- 6077
- Steam, triple expansion, single screw
- Associated Oil Company / Tide Water Associated Oil Company
Loss
- March 1, 1937
- Collision
- Off Land's End, San Francisco, California
- Pacific Ocean, near the Golden Gate
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Engine visible at low tide, near sister ship Lyman Stewart
- Not established
- 2014
- Within Golden Gate National Recreation Area / Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
Position
- 37.78° N 122.51° W
- Approximate position
- Land's End, San Francisco, California
Position approximates the Lands End shoreline where the wreck engine is visible.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)
The precise cause of the 1937 sinking is not detailed in the sources reviewed.
NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Frank H. Buck / Lyman Stewart Fact Sheet
Build specifications, wartime service, and loss circumstances.
Sonar survey and shared wreck location with Lyman Stewart.
