Daily Alta California
2Aug1858
Page 1

San Francisco, Monday, August 2, 1858

Memoranda of the Oregon.
Left San Francisco for Victoria July 22, at 5 AM July 23d, at 7 AM passed steamer Columbia, bound north, July 26th at 5:07 PM arrived Victoria. July 29th, at 6:30 PM, left Victoria for San Francisco; July 30th, at 6:30 PM passed steamer Pacific, bound north. July 2th, schr Ortland and bark D M Hall, sailed from Victoria without passengers for San Francisco; left at Victoria, barks Ocean Bird, California and Mayflower, and Spanish schr Gulletta; at 11:55 PM touched on Point Reyes, backed off at 12. Some fifteen or twenty passengers jumped on the rocks; damages slight; ship easily kept free by the pumps.
Passengers per Oregon.
Saml Price, C H Hosmer, Ben Moulton, Geo Ferguson, Mrs. Smith, S Kroshland, [der/Mr] Kane, Mr. Sampson, James Finley, F A J Dies [?], O Long and lady, Dr. white, W A Piper, G A Mendon, Thos Low, Mr. Bourne, C O Turner, Mr. Mish, Mr. Leary, Mr. Morganstein, Ben Smith and one hundred and seventy-three in the steerage.
Disaster on the Oregon.
Below we give the statements of two passengers by the Oregon, giving the particulars of a sad accident which occurred to that vessel, at Point Reyes:
Statement of Mr. Benj. Moulton.
Mr. Benj. Moulton, who came passenger on the Oregon, states that at a little before 12 o'clock Saturday night, he went on deck, and while walking forward, he heard the cry of "Land aboard." In an instant, the engineer shut off steam, and backed the engine; the ship's helm was put down, and she veered round, striking heavily on her bilge, and immediately thereafter striking on the other side. The ship careened over, and the steerage passengers, who were gathered forward, Mr. Moulton says, washed over the bows in a crowd, plunging into the water. He thinks that from fifty to sixty went overboard, but cannot tell whether they got on the rocks or were drowned. Benjamin Smith, of this city (of the firm of John Sime & Co, bankers), Mr. Moulton thinks, stepped directly from the sheel house to a rock, when the ship careened over, and is probably saved. They could hear the cries of the passengers in the water and on the rocks, after backing off, but the darkness and fog prevented them from rendering any assistance.
Statement of Mr. George Ferguson.
Mr. George Ferguson, who came passenger on the Oregon, states that whilst the ship was running at an ordinary rate of speed last night (the weather being very foggy), at a quarter before 12, midnight, she struck severely on a flank at Point Reyes, careened over, and struck a second time on the other side. The passengers were many of them panic-stricken, and Mr. Ferguson thinks that, as many as fifty of them leaped overboard, while the ship backed off into deep water again. After getting off the rocks, they could hear their cries, but the weather was so thick that they could render them no assistance. It is not known that those that leaped overboard were drowned or whether they succeeded in getting on shore in safety. There is good reason to believe, however, that the latter is the case.