Almost 30 miles north of Santa Cruz stands Pigeon Point Lighthouse. The story behind its origins is not a pleasant one. The lighthouse was built in 1871 after a series of shipwrecks stirred public outcry.
Pigeon Point’s first victim was the ship “Carrier Pigeon.” In 1853, carrying 1,300 tons of cargo, the ship departed on her maiden voyage from Boston to San Francisco. A painting of a carrier pigeon was painted on her bowsprit as a sign of good luck. But luck was not with the ship in June of that year. After traveling 15,000 miles, it was thrown off course by heavy fog and tumultuous waves and crashed into the coast. Settlers from nearby Pescadero saw the foundering ship and flocked to the water. The entire crew was rescued and the ship bobbed in the water for a few days before sinking. To commemorate the young vessel, the ship’s captain named the area Pigeon Point.
In the 1860’s, the ships “Coya” and “Hellespont” shared the same fate as the Carrier Pigeon. They were sturdy ships but mother nature still got the best of them and the crews of these ships mostly drowned. With 37 dead and only a handful of survivors, the public had had enough. They banded together and petitioned the U.S. Lighthouse Service Board to construct a lighthouse equipped with a fog horn to prevent further disasters. While ships continued to sink along the coast of Pigeon Point until 1953, there has not been a wreck since then – likely due to better navigation aides.
Sources Used
- Shipwrecks, Scalawags, and Scavengers: The Storied Waters of Pigeon Point. JoAnn Semones. The Glencannon Press; 2007.
Pigeon Point Lighthouse. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_Point_Lighthouse
