Daily Event for February 2

Feb 2, 1893 the schooner J. C. Ford stranded on the bar at Gray's Harbor, Washington. The crew managed to
free the ship, but she began to take on water and drift out to sea. While the crew were busy pumping out the
ship her cargo of lime caught fire and her fate was sealed. The ship burned and sank with the crew being
rescued by the schooner Brenda just before she went under.

Thankfully there were no casualties in this event or the strange event that the J. C. Ford was involved in on Jan. 12, 1886 when she was hit by a meteor. The ship was 300 miles from Hawaii when a meteor hit the main mast and set the sails on fire, the crew put the fire out, removed the damaged sails and docked in Honolulu for repairs. This may be the first known incident of this type.
© 2007 Michael W. Pocock
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