July 21, 1907: The Loss of the SS Columbia

July 21, 1907: The SS Columbia, an American cargo and passenger steamship, is lost in a collision with the lumber schooner San Pedro, off Shelter Cove, in the northwest corner of California. There were 88 lives lost.

Launched in 1880 by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, by 1907, Columbia was owned by the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company. It was the first ship to carry a dynamo powering electric lights, instead of oil lamps; and the first commercial use of electric light bulbs outside of Thomas Edison's laboratory in the Menlo Park section of the New Jersey township that now bears his name. Henry Villard, president of the ORNC, had witnessed Edison's demonstration at Menlo Park, and was inspired to outfit a ship with his "incandescent lamps."

Columbia had good luck until 1906, when things began to regularly go wrong. It was berthed in San Francisco during the April 18, 1906 earthquake, and it took 2 months to make it seaworthy again. Soon after returning to service, on January 17, 1907, the Columbia became trapped in an ice pack on its namesake, the Columbia River, for 4 days near St. Helens, Oregon.

On July 20, 1907, Columbia set sail from San Francisco with 251 passengers and crew, intending to reach Portland, Oregon. It was 12 miles off Shelter Cove that night, when fog rolled in. Her crew heard the steam whistle of the San Pedro, which was going from Eureka in Northern California to its namesake town in Southern California, but neither ship slowed down. They collided at 12:21 AM, Pacific Time, on July 21.

Magnus Hanson, Captain of the San Pedro, launched all his ship's lifeboats, taking on many of the Columbia's survivors as well as his own. The steamers Roanoke and George W. Elder got the rest. No one on the San Pedro died, but 88 people on the Columbia did, including all of the children on board.

The Columbia could not be salvaged. The San Pedro was, but sank in 1920, with no casualties.

*

July 21, 1907 was a Sunday. With professional sports still illegal on Sundays in some States, there were only 3 baseball games played:

* The New York Highlanders, forerunners of the Yankees, beat the St. Louis Browns, 7-2 in 11 innings at the 1898-1908 version of Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* And a doubleheader was split at South Side Park in Chicago. The Boston Americans, forerunners of the Red Sox, won the opener over the Chicago White Sox, 3-0. George Winter pitched a 6-hit shutout, to beat Ed Walsh. The White Sox won the nightcap, 4-2.