Great Republic

Howdy, A week ago or so I came across an article in the Walla Walla Statesman, April 26, 1879.  On page two is an article "The Lost Ship: The account of the Great Republic Disaster".   What is the Great Republic Disaster?   That is one thing I enjoy about volunteering at the Wa St Library. 

There are so may threads woven into the fabric of history that only come to light while indexing pioneer news papers.  It is history that is much more interesting than that which becomes common knowledge. We only learn about those things that are first.  The first president, the first boat, the largest mountain.  Yet while reading the papers I come across so much more to that fabric that makes up our history.

The Great Republic Disaster is just one of these.  On Friday, April 18, 1879 the Pacific Mail Steamship "Great Republic ran aground while entering the Columbia River.  While entering river under the guidance of a river pilot, he misjudge his position and ran the ship upon a shallow area called Sand Island.  The ship did not hit the bottom hard and most of the 1150 passengers on board didn't think much about it.  They would simply wait until high tide and float off and on to thier destination at Astoria.   Numerous tugs and other ships started to gather around the ship to give aid if necessary.  It be came necessary when it was realized the ship had gounded pretty much at hight tide.  Any added tide was of no help, nor did any attempt to tow offer any solution.  That's when life boats went to work removing people to some of the ships standby.  All passengers were removed safely.  Then came the task of removing baggage and freight.  That was not done.  A storm came up during the removal making it impossible.  In fact the only lives lost were of crew men attempting to remove the cargo.  A life boat capsized causing the lost of 10 men.The ship it's self broke inhalf during the storm and sank.

The Walla Walla Statesman reported a number of Walla Walla, Washington businesses had good lost.  One store, Adams Brothers lost $15,000 in merchandis,  mostly clothing and shoes.

From a history stand point this was not uncommon,  Numerous ship sunk each year with their cargo and passengers.  What makes this a little more interesting?  The Ship.

The "Grand Republic" was the largest ship of any kind built in America at that time.  It was built in 1866 for the Pacific Mail Company.  It was designed to travel between the Pacific Coast to China. It served on this run until 1876.  It was then used on a run from San Francisco to the Northwest.  It was replaced on the Pacific run by iron ships using screw drive.  The Great Republic was a wooden ship with side paddle wheel design. 

In 1987 a fisherman got his net caught on the bottom while fishing in the Sand Island area.  Rather than cut his net lose, he hired a diver to help retrieve his net.  The diver found the caught on a sunken ship.  That started a number of dives attempting to determine more information about the ship.  The researchers have come to the conclusion that it is the "Great Republic".  Not proven.  But best guess.  Because of the location it is hard for divers to spend much time on the bottom. 

This is just one of the many things I come across while reading the papers.  In future posts I plan on bringing more lost history to light for a short remergence.

Where did I get the info:
Walla Walla Statesman. 1879
New York Times, April 22, 1879
The Walla Walla Statesman got its info from the Oregonian Newpaper, Portland, Oregon.
Great Republic: A Historical and Archaeological Analysis of a Pacific Mail Steamship A Thesis by Andrew P. Roberts

70/enjoy