The General Warren, a steamship owned by Abernethy & Clark, sank off the coast of Oregon after attempting to cross the Columbia River bar during a storm. The ship was overloaded with loose wheat cargo and took on water quickly. When it turned back to Astoria harbor, the ship became unmanageable in the strong tide and storm conditions. Captain George Flavel, the bar pilot, beached the ship on Clatsop Spit, but it was already breaking apart in the heavy surf. Many passengers and crew drowned in the sinking, though some were able to get to shore in the ship's one remaining lifeboat.
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CAPT. GEO FLAVEL -- WRECK & PERIL OF THE GEN'L WARREN -- LONG FORM
1. 1
The ADVENTURES of CAPT. GEO. FLAVEL
No. 17
The WRECK and PERIL of the GENERAL WARREN
by Fred Lockley
Untitled, by Cleveland Rockwell Image Courtesy, Clatsop County Historical Society
The image above shows a steam-tug towing a three-masted bark out through the mouth of the Columbia river, the channel
marker visible in the “fore-water”. The shoreline to the left of the picture is the Washington State river shore, while the
snow-covered dome of volcanic Mt. St. Helens can be seen on the far horizon.
ONE SHARP MACHINIST, Capt. James M. Gilman, was born in New Hampshire in 1826. He was a bright young
man living in Boston, Mass., as a machinist apprentice, making $14/mo. –- not per hour -- when news of the gold strike
in the Sacramento River valley reached the East coast, late in the autumn of 1848. With 100 others, each of whom
subscribed $300 to the enterprise, he co-ventured on the purchase of a sailing ship, the Leonora, which the company
equipped and provisioned with food for up to a year’s voyage to San Francisco. They started from Boston February 5,
1849, and reached the Golden Gate on the 4th of July. These sagacious young businessmen had also brought with them
from Boston, a steamer, which had been stowed “in the knock-down” -- or, that is, shipped disassembled in crates. On
reaching San Francisco, Mr. Gilmore, the machinist, helped to put this little steamer together, and it was soon making the
run from San Francisco to the Sacramento river.
As opportunities developed into adventures, the party of 100 entrepreneurs, dissolved into perhaps 100 different destinies,
most of them beginning among the mines of the Sacramento, or the Yuba, or the Feather, or the American rivers.
Eventually some returned to the east, having made their fortunes, or lost them; some stayed in California. Some went
north to Oregon. Gilman worked in the mines, but being handy, also worked as assistant engineer on the steamer San
Joaquin plying the Sacramento river. With his earnings, he eventually bought his own small boat, which he employed
like the San Joaquin, for towing small barges up the Sacramento River, and the neighboring river systems.
2. 2
Abernethy & Clark was a mercantile shipping firm, with its headquarters in Oregon City on the Willamette River, and
with a wharf and a storefront office in San Francisco, on the waterfront. The firm had its origins in the mercantile
shipping expertise of Oregon’s first and only Provisional Governor, George C. Abernethy, who during his tenure as
governor was a principal in the shipping concern known as the Brig Henry Association.1
With the advent of Oregon’s
territorial status, Gen. Joseph Lane was appointed first Territorial Governor, and Abernethy resigned his gubernatorial
office in 1849, continuing his shipping business as Geo. Abernethy & Co. One of his noteworthy vessels was the ill-
fated bark Desdemona, which ran the coasting trade throughout the 1850’s, until it ran aground on shoals of the Columbia
River estuary, in December, 1856 –– leaving behind only its name… on the Desdemona Sands:
Handbill advertising cargo from the Desdemona. From, S. R. Winch, Photostatic Copies of Historic Oregon Documents.
Image Courtesy Reed College Archives
1
See Abernethy Papers, OHS MSs 929.
3. 3
Abernethy entered into a business partnership with William Clark, forming the concern Abernethy Clark & Co., which
regularly transported lumber and agricultural goods from Oregon, to the Bay area, and returned with items – usually
manufactures from the East coast – for sale in the Willamette valley.
Giffford, Private Signals of the Merchants of New York and San Francisco (1852?) Image Courtesy: The Bancroft Library
The image above shows the Abernethy Clark & Co. mercantile shipping colors – their private signal -- as among those of
the firms prominently engaged in shipping in San Francisco. The inset illustration depicts a pier in San Francisco, with
the bay and Yerba Buena Island in the distance.
On the roster, the General Warren was an impressive wooden schooner-rigged steamer: she had 1 deck, 2 masts, a
square stern, and billethead; she drew 309 13/95 tons, and was 148 ft x 23 ft. 6 in. x 9 ft. 4 in.; boasting 2 high-pressure
coal-fired engines, with diameter of cylinders 1 ft. 6 in., length of stroke 2 ft., driving two sidewheels. She had been built
at Portland, Maine, in 1844, and was in New York in 1850, but was sent to the Pacific coast, arriving at San Francisco on
July 20, 1851, thirty-one days from Panama. She entered the coastwise service north of San Francisco.2
From a captains-eye view, the General Warren was a tub – a virtual hulk -- owned by Abernethy & Clark, she was
dramatically degraded for a vessel listed as only 8 years old. She was, indeed, a schooner-rigged side-wheel steamer,
double-masted, and of 309 tons, if you were reckless enough to take her out, loaded to capacity. She had been built in
Portland, Maine, but already by 1850 was sent from New York, to work the “coasting trade” in the Pacific -- “one of a
number of rotten old tubs that had come around from the east during the gold excitement in California.” Many of these
were abandoned by their crews, in San Francisco Bay, in the rush to the gold fields. The General Warren had arrived on
July 20, 1850, been purchased by agents of Abernethy & Clark, and began running between San Francisco and Astoria.
“She should have been condemned long before she brought her passengers and crew to such an untimely end.” 3
2
Citation: [Posted online to the Emigration-Ships Mailing List, by Ted Finch]
3
McCurdy, “Ocean Tragedies of the Northwest Coast,” Overland Monthly, October, 1909, p. 295.
4. 4
James McCord was a purchasing agent of the firm of Abernethy Clark & Co., and had gone to San Francisco from
Oregon City and bought the steamer Redding to take north. McCord hired Capt. Gilman to bring the Redding from San
Francisco to Astoria, where it was to be docked: Abernethy Clark & Co. planned to use the steamer to tow sailing vessels
from Astoria to Oregon City, and back downriver.
Upon reaching Astoria with the Redding, Capt. Gilman intended to return to San Francisco on another A & C vessel, the
schooner-rigged side-wheel steamer General Warren. The General Warren, Capt. Thompson, had arrived from San
Francisco with a crew of 16 men, no boys, making the trip in a lightning 6 days; inbound, it cleared the Astoria Custom
House, John Adair, Collector, on January 11, 1852, with a required donation to the Marine Hospital. From there she had
proceeded – presumably under steam tug -- to Portland, and been loaded with a cargo, including Tualatin valley wheat.
But now, when Capt. Gilman saw her at the Custom house wharf, ready for the return trip to San Francisco, about two
weeks later, he decided not to book his passage on the General Warren: to his experienced judgment, the vessel was
considerably overloaded.
However, condemnation of vessels was not among the authorities of the U.S. Custom House.
According to the Astoria Custom House records, the General Warren, Capt. Thompson, bound for San Francisco, was
cleared on January 28th
, 1852, the $1.30 fine being collected by John Adair, Collector of Customs for the District of
Oregon.4
The General Warren crossed the bar of the Columbia river early on the afternoon of January 28th
, being taken
out by pilot Captain George Flavel, who returned in a small boat as soon as she crossed the bar.
This image , from the 1851 USCS chart Mouth of the Columbia River, shows the position of the U.S. Custom House and
its wharf, in relation to Astoria. This was the last tie-up of the General Warren before setting sail on her final voyage.
4
Astoria Custom House Records, MF Reel 4, F210 48, 71-72; Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
5. 5
Capt. George Flavel was born in Norfolk, Virginia, of Scotch-Irish parentage, but his parents had died when he was a
boy, so he was being raised by an aunt. At the age of 14 he ran away to sea, signing on board a whaling ship to the Far
North. Years later, when the Gold Rush opened, and other men booked passage for California, Flavel was captain of his
own vessel, the Petty, when he came around the Horn to San Francisco. He tried his hand at mining, but like most sailors
he preferred a life at sea. He entered the coasting trade, being in command of the Goliah running between Sacramento
and Portland, Oregon. Then, in 1851, he was granted the first branch pilot license by the Columbia River Bar Pilots
Commission. He bought the schooner California in San Francisco and brought her to the Columbia River, and put her on
the bar as a pilot boat, in opposition to the Mary Taylor, which was captained by J.G. Hustler. In due time, he secured
full control of the bar pilotage and in 1852, when Hustler received his pilotage license, he went to work for Capt. Flavel.
This man knew sailing. Flavel’s notable experience, and his aptitude as a ship’s captain, coupled with his business
acumen, made him a prominent figure on the River and in Astoria.
In 1850 and 1851, the United States Coast Survey, under the direction of Commanding Lt. William P. MacArthur,
U.S.N., aboard the U.S. Surveying Schooner Ewing, was conducting the Pacific Coast Survey, under the direction of
A.D. Bache, and so was also on the Columbia River, making a survey of the channels and obstructions to navigation.
The object of a revised navigational chart was strictly practical of course, and so it naturally involved interviewing the
sailing men who knew shipping and navigation on the Columbia. For instance, Lt. Washington A. Bartlett, Assistant to
the Coast Survey under MacArthur, wrote to Thomas Corwin, Secretary of the Treasury, in a letter dated February 24,
1851, and referenced a meeting with Adair at the Astoria Custom House -- although he didn’t mention him by name:
From A.D. Bache, Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey , p.527 (1852) 32nd
Congress, 1st
session, Sen.Ex.
Doc. 3
However, he did mention the chart that was of MacArthur’s surveys was “now being engraved”. That would be this one,
MacArthur’s 1851 chart of the Mouth of the Columbia River, from which excerpts have been taken for this article:
6. 6
Likewise, it is a virtual certainty that the surveyors of the USCS met and interviewed George Flavel, the most prominent
river pilot, and the recipient of the first branch license issued by the Columbia Pilotage Commission. To publish a
navigational chart, USCS would be obliged to take full advantage of Flavel’s uniquely trained observational skills, and
experience with the vicissitudes of the Columbia River Bar, and its tides, before finalizing their efforts in an engraving.
On MacArthur’s chart, printed notations under the heading “Sailing Directions,” indicate the first recommendation of
the USCS:, “It is always best to have a pilot on board…”
Capt. Flavel himself, became a leading citizen of Astoria, and many aspects of his history are well known – although the
story of his service during the Rogue River Indian Wars of 1855-56, is yet to be fully told. The image below shows a
steam-tug towing a full-rigged sailing vessel: one unlike the General Warren, which was a schooner in its rigging, but was
augmented with steam boilers and side-wheels.
Unlike this vessel, which is being towed out -- probably through the north channel -- by a steam tug, Capt. Flavel in
acting as pilot for the General Warren, actually took the helm, and commanded the vessel out – also probably through the
north channel -- and after completing the pilotage, boarded a small boat which was taken back to Astoria.
The General Warren crossed the bar and made sail for San Francisco.
7. 7
THE WRECK and PERIL of the GENERAL WARREN. However, as was and is common in the winter off the
Oregon coast, there was a stiff wind from the south -- a “Pineapple Express”, or, now, a La Nina -- which became a gale-
force headwind as the General Warren headed down the coast bound for San Francisco.
By midnight, the foretopmast was carried away by this gale, and Capt. Thompson decided to put back to Astoria. But
now the horrible truth was manifest to all: the General Warren indeed had a cargo of wheat from the Oregon farmlands,
loaded at Portland and bound for the San Francisco markets. But it was loose wheat, not bagged, and with it the vessel
was badly overloaded – just as Capt. Gilman had observed from the dock in Astoria, when he declined to book passage.
Now, two weeks after loading, the loose wheat not only absorbing the water leaking through the old vessel’s hull, but in
the storm-tossed sea, it flowed like the water itself, and choked the pumps -- so that the vessel made water fast.
Upon the General Warren’s return to the bar, a canon was urgently fired to signal for a pilot, and Capt. Flavel, the pilot,
once more came aboard. But by now as it was nearly 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and the weather was bad, and as the ebb
tide was running, Flavel advised Capt. Thompson not to attempt to cross the bar. The passengers, who were anxious – to
say the least – to get on land, sent a committee to Capt. Flavel, asking him to take the ship in. When he explained the
danger, one of the committee said: “We didn’t know that cowards could serve as pilots.” To which Capt. Flavel
responded, “If you must insist on going I will try to take you in, but will not be responsible for what happens.”
Again at the helm of the General Warren, Flavel crossed in over the bar at 5 o’clock, the bar under darkness of the
gathering storm; but the General Warren had by now become so water-logged that she ran low in the water and was
unmanageable: she could not make her way against the strong ebb tide. Capt. Flavel ordered Capt. Thompson to anchor
in the channel; and Capt. Thompson – only now -- told Capt. Flavel, that the steamer was so old and “tender” that she
couldn’t live in such a sea, and that, he felt, that it was best to beach her immediately. Capt. Flavel headed the vessel for
Clatsop Spit and beached her at about 7 o’clock. The story eventually made the papers nationwide, and the New York
Times presented this side of the crisis:
A statement published by the survivors sets forth …, she put back for Astoria, crossed the bar in safety,
but subsequently struck, in consequence of the engineers not being in their stations when an order to back
the vessel was given, in order to avoid the breakers which were discovered in the uncertain darkness of
the storm. Soon after striking, the vessel sheered off into ten fathoms water, but was found to leak so
badly that it was reported she could not live half an hour, and she was beached accordingly on Clatsop
spit, at about 7 o'clock in the evening.5
Clatsop Spit lies just off Point Adams and the Clatsop Beach – the western extremity of the land flanking the Columbia
River on the Oregon Side. Image above is taken from MaCarthur’s USCS Chart of the Mouth of the Columbia River,
5
New York Times, March 16, 1852; Off Astoria, OR Steamer General Warren Disaster, Jan 1852.
8. 8
By now, a total darkness had fallen upon the mouth of the Columbia, the waters raging against the fragile construction of
Abernethy Clark & Co.’s miserable ship. The New York Times reported:
Immediately upon her grounding, all hands, both passengers and crew, commenced heaving overboard the
deck load, for the purpose of easing her. The surf broke over her with such violence that the main saloon
was stove, and was first being detached from the hull. The starboard quarter boat was washed from the
davits; the larboard boat -- the only means by which the lives of so few were saved -- was, by the extreme
exertions and activity of Capt. Thompson, preserved. With the utmost difficulty he conveyed it forward
and had it secured. At about nine o'clock, all that portion of the vessel abaft the foremast was carried
away, the sea making a clean breach over the remainder. Up to this time no lives had been lost, the entire
ship's company and passengers having mustered on the forecastle and in the fore rigging, trusting that that
[sic] the wreck would hold together until daylight, when assistance might be procured from the shore. The
sea was increasing in violence, and finding that the wreck was rapidly going to pieces.
As the paper stated, by 9 o’clock everything abaft the foremast was carried away. The Oregon Spectator reported that
Capts. Flavel and Thompson decided to send to Astoria for help, “And one of the boats, in an attempt to launch it, was
dashed to pieces …”6
The New York Times account again stated:
The second boat was readied for the rescue mission. Only the strongest could man the boat
against the ebb tide and the churning sea; only the bravest would volunteer.
In the selection of the boat's crew for this perilous expedition, Captain Thompson was cautious to choose
men in whose return he could implicitly rely. As there was a strong ebb tide, the boat was doubly manned,
in order to expedite her movements and assist in passing the breakers, which there was little hope of their
ever crossing in safety. This last measure was resorted to by the Captain, knowing that it would be the
only chance of saving the lives of those left on board. The passengers and crew who were not selected for
the boat service made no effort to crowd into the boat, preferring the chance of being saved, by remaining
upon the wreck, to the peril of passing the breakers in the boat. There was no excitement, no confusion;
all that was accomplished was done in the most systematic and orderly manner.
Capt. Flavel volunteered to take charge of the small boat – though it looked as is the boat could not live in the heavy sea.
The Times later reported,
The boat encountered great difficulty in passing the breakers, having shipped a sea, from which she
incurred great danger of being swamped. The weather still being very thick, she was compelled to run
entirely by the roar of the breakers. After about an hour's labor, the heights of Chinook (called
Scarborough's claim,) were discovered. The pilot, upon finding his exact position, steered for Astoria
where he fell in with the brig Francisco, lying at anchor off Tansy Point. Upon inquiry of the captain of
the brig if he had a boat which could prove of assistance to the wreck, he was informed that the only boat
belonging to the vessel was too small to live in the breakers. The pilot then proceeded with his crew to
Astoria …
Finally making port in Astoria, in the early hours of the morning, Capt. Flavel appealed to Capt. Beard of the bark
George and Martha, to send a large whale boat to rescue the passengers aboard the General Warren. Capt. Beard sent his
first officer and an able crew – by now it was about 5:00 A.M.7
6
Oregon Spectator, Febraury 10, 1852, p. 2;2.
-- but when they reached the spit, the General Warren
was no longer in sight: it had broken up and drifted away. Wreckage was flotsam on the waters.
7
Oregon Spectator, February 10, 1852, id.
9. 9
Untitled, by Clevland Rockwell Image Courtesy, Clatsop County Historical Society
This image again looks east over the mouth of the Columbia, perhaps from the south channel, bringing the dome of Mt.
St. Helens into alignment over the bluff of Tongue Point -- a few miles upriver from Astoria, on the Oregon side of the
river.
Capt. Chas. Thompson, Purser Johnson and engineer O’Neil as well as a number of the seamen, stewards and cooks, were
drowned. A large number of the passengers were drowned. Among those who were saved, were Capt. Flavel, the bar
pilot, who was in charge of the small boat, and the following volunteers, who had gone with him to what looked like
certain death: Edward Beverly, first officer; William Irons, second officer; James Murray and Isaac Sparrow, seamen; and
J.G. Wall, E.L. Finch, Henry Marsh, Mathew and James Nolan – all of whom were passengers.
The New York Times has the list this way:
The following are the names of the persons saved:
GEORGE FLAVEL, Pilot; EDWARD BEVERLY, First officer; WM. IRONS, Second officer; JAMES
MURRAY and ISAAC SPARROW, seamen; JOSEPH HALL, E. L. FINCH, HENRY MARSH,
MATTHEW NOLAN, JAMES NOLAN, passengers.
The following are the names of the persons lost, so far as ascertained:
R. J. PROVIN; THOMAS MICKLE; MR. BENSON; MR. RANDOLPH, of Oregon City; ALANSON
POMEROY, of Tualatin Plains; MR. STANLEY; MR. MONTGOMERY; MR. MILLER; MR. FULLER;
JOHN F. DUNCAN, of Mo.; M. LUTHER, of Clyde, N. Y.; MR. SHLOSS, of Humboldt; A. COOK; D.
A. BUCK; HUMBOLDT; GEO. HATCH, porter; MR. NELSON, steward; MR. JEMISON, steward; MR.
O'NIEL, engineer; AUGUSTUS STANLEY, Marietta, Ohio; CAPTAIN CHARLES THOMPSON; MR.
JOHNSON, purser; JOHN DELLON, Musquetine Co., Iowa; W. H. HART, late of Vancouver, formerly
of Iowa; WM. JONES; MR. WALL.
The body of MR. LUTHER had been found with over $400 upon it.8
In October, 1854, two years after the General Warren was lost, the whole stern frame of the vessel was found on the
beach sixty miles to the north of the wreck, an example that shows the prevailing littoral current around the Columbia
Bar.
9
8
New York Times, March 16, 1852, p. __.