Ellin Aground 1963
January 3, 2008 – 6:18 pm
December 16, 1963
Telegram-Tribune photo by Neil Norum
Professional navigators call this an “Oops”.
The 1500-ton freighter Ellin ran aground in a heavy Monday morning fog near Pt. Arguello. The 508-foot ship was trying to make the turn between the Channel Islands and the coast. They were lucky they did not turn a little earlier and end up on the rocks. About 40 years earlier 23 sailors died when seven U. S. Navy destroyers ran aground at nearby Point Honda, California.
No one was injured in the grounding of the Ellin. According to the website for Friends of the Pt. Arguello Lighthouse, the turn is like threading a needle.
“…this section of the coast is known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific”, and is home to over fifty known shipwrecks.”
At the time the area was called the Navy Missile Test Facility, now we call it Vandenberg Air Force Base. The 3 million dollar ship (in 1963 dollars) was stuck for 6 days. Salvage crews used three tugboats and two sets of beach gear (winches and anchors) to free the vessel, which then sailed to San Pedro. Triton Shipping of New York City was the owner.
I like this view better than the one the paper published because you can see the crew in the foreground, giving the ship a sense of scale. I am assuming that the reporter is John Dreyfuss the staff writer who wrote the Telegram-Tribune story. Some reporters seem to have a knack for walking into the best frame.
(Thanks to reporter Pat Pemberton who helped me improve this entry and who never walks into the key frame.)
5 Responses to “Ellin Aground 1963”
Very cool to see this! Thank you and please keep these photos and stories coming!
By Anonymous on Jan 12, 2008
Neil Norum here. I remember this assignment well. The reporter, the one in the white shirt, is John Dreyfuss, who later went to the LA Times covering education. I entered the Air Force in 1964 and stayed until 1988 as a Public Affairs Officer and continue to take pictures. I now live outside Worcester, Mass.
By neil on Feb 4, 2008
Hi Neil,
Thanks for writing in. Please feel free to add comments to any of the posts. Some of the photos have been hard to find information on so any insights would be welcome.
How many reporters & photographers were at the paper when you were here? What equipment did you use?
By david middlecamp on Feb 6, 2008
In 1963 there was only one full time photographer and I was it. I did most of the dark room work as well as the engraving. I had a part time dark room person and when I left was replaced by 2 photographers.
I used 35mm Pentax and Leica cameras but (my own) but the paper had a Leica and 4×5 Graflex. Many of the reporters had cameras and also took pictures that were processed by me.
Ah, the good old days.
Neil Norum
By Neil Norum on Jun 18, 2008
Thanks for the comments Neil.
I am trying to reconstruct the negative files…do you have your start and finish dates at the paper?
If you have a web page I’d like to include it in a future post. You can reach me directly at dmiddlecamp{at}thetribunenews.com.
(Address garbled to confuse spambots.)
thanks
By david middlecamp on Jul 1, 2008