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Shipwrecked on Richardson Rock

Not all shipwrecks were accidents, as a ship abandoned off San Miguel Island attests. Six miles northwest of San Miguel is a tiny island now used to determine the three-mile offshore international water’s boundary, and used as a boundary marker for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. In 1851, a ship left San Francisco for the long journey to the East Coast carrying a shipment of gold and about 13 passengers. Nathan Richardson was onboard, and his descendants relate " The second night out there was a big commotion aboard. The captain and crew opened the petcocks in the ship to sink it and set out in a longboat with the gold. " The passengers were left to fend for themselves and somehow made it to Richardson’s Rock ( as it was since named ). They were soon able to hail a passing ship that returned them to San Francisco. The captain and crew, and the gold, were never heard of again.