AH-WR-0740

SS Noyo

Steam Schooner · United States · Lost 1918 · San Francisco & the Northern California Coast

A San Francisco-built steam schooner that hauled redwood lumber down the Mendocino coast for three decades before wrecking near Point Arena in 1918.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Noyo was a wooden steam schooner built in 1887 in San Francisco, powered by an unusually strong triple-expansion engine that let her carry large lumber loads quickly along the California coast. She spent decades hauling redwood from Fort Bragg to San Francisco under a succession of owners, surviving a 1899 grounding on Duxbury Reef and a capsizing at a San Diego wharf around 1915. On February 26, 1918, in heavy weather, she struck reefs near Point Arena and was lost; all 20 crew reached shore safely.

Vessel

Built: 1887
Builder: Alex Hay
Yard: San Francisco, California
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: 316
Propulsion: Steam, triple-expansion, single screw
Owners: C. E. White; J. S. Kimball; Dollar Steamship Company; Merchants Steamship Company; National Steamship Company

Loss

Date: February 26, 1918
Cause: Grounding
Location: Reefs near Point Arena, Mendocino County, California
Water: Pacific Ocean
Voyage: Fort Bragg, California → San Francisco, California
Cargo: Redwood lumber
Aboard: 20
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 38.91° N 123.69° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Point Arena, Mendocino County, California
Region: San Francisco & the Northern California Coast

General area only: coordinate of Point Arena from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel (reefs near Point Arena), not a surveyed wreck position.