SS Pomona
Passenger And Freight Steamer · United States · Lost 1908 · San Francisco & the Northern California Coast
The 'Pride of the Coastal Fleet' ran up on rocks and sank at Fort Ross Cove in 1908, and her drive train still lies on the bottom.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
SS Pomona was a steel steamer built for the San Francisco-Vancouver coastal trade, known as the 'Pride of the Coastal Fleet.' On March 17, 1908, bound from San Francisco to Eureka, she struck a submerged pinnacle off the Sonoma coast. Captain Charles Swanson tried to beach her at Fort Ross Cove, but she struck rocks again and was lost. All 88 aboard survived. The wreck, now a National Register site, remains visible in the cove.
Vessel
- 1888
- Union Iron Works
- San Francisco, California
- Steel
- 225 ft
- 33.5 ft
- 1264
- Steam, triple expansion, single screw
- Not established
Loss
- March 17, 1908
- Grounding
- Fort Ross Cove, Sonoma County, California
- Pacific Ocean
- San Francisco, California → Eureka, California
- General freight, mail, and an automobile carried on deck
- 88
- 0
- Charles Swanson
The Wreck Today
- 17-60
- Steel hull and machinery well preserved; roughly half the vessel intact despite salvage and two later demolitions as a navigation hazard
- NE-SW
- Not established
- National Register of Historic Places; within Fort Ross State Historic Park
Position
- 38.51° N 123.25° W
- General area only
- Fort Ross, Sonoma County, California
General area only: coordinate of Fort Ross Cove from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel, not a surveyed wreck position.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (88/100)
Build, dimensions, loss narrative and aftermath.
California Office of Historic Preservation, NRHP listing
Construction history, wreck depth and condition, significance.
Local history and diver survey account.
coordinate of the named place of loss
