TV Lyman Stewart

Wreck Location

The Lyman Stewart lies southeast of Lobos Rock on Mile Rock Beach on Land's End in San Francisco. She is in relatively shallow water, but due to the strong currents and jagged rocks of the area in which her remains lie, diving is only recommended to the very advanced of individuals. Lyman Stewart lies broken into small pieces, with her steam engines being the largest stand out feature. At low tide, the remains of the Lyman Stewart can be seen from the Coastal Trail. Lyman Stewart is one of the better known wrecks in the general area.

Description

Lyman Stewart was built in 1914 by the Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California for the Union Oil Company. During World War I, she was comissioned into the United States Navy as the USS Lyman Stewart (ID-4537). On October 7, 1922, Lyman Stewart was outbound from San Francisco for Seattle, Washington in rough weather and thick fog. As she passed through the Golden Gate, the freighter Walter A. Luckenbach, inbound from New York City, rammed the Lyman Stewart. Immediately, the Lyman Stewart began to sink. The crew immediately abandoned ship, with Captain Cloyd staying aboard the sinking tanker. The captain drove the Lyman Stewart onto the rocks of Mile Rock Beach preventing her from sinking completely to the bottom. During the rush towards land, Lyman Stewart had leaked oil into the surrounding ocean waters. Lyman Stewart was abandoned where she lay. Over time, she was used as a billboard, then partially dismantled and detonated.

Footnotes

Frank H Buck and her sister ship the Lyman Stewart were both lost on the same beach, both due to fogbound collisions and both crews survived without a single loss. Both wrecks were dynamited and partially removed leaving mostly only the equipment such as the big steam engines left. The losses were within 15 years of each other. The strange coincidence was publicized with an illustration of the Frank H Buck sinking in an edition of the popular book of oddities; Ripley's Believe It Or Not!