This interesting photo from February 13 1937 is of the historic shipwreck of the Cottoneva: “Coastguardsmen rig a breeches buoy to the ill-fated coastwise steamer ‘Cottoneva’, driven aground by a 60-mile gale near Port Orford, OR. Twenty-six members of the crew and Captain Eberhard Stahlbaum were rescued” (San Francisco Bureau / Acme Photos)
Along with illustrating a unique view of the event, the foreground of this image depicting the crew members illustrates how photos were retouched before computer image-editing programs like Adobe Photoshop and GIMP.
More photos of the Cottoneva shipwreck in our archive are below:
Maritime Shipwreck SS Cottoneva – Sawyers Collection
Nov. 7, 1967, Oakland Tribune
Captain Eberhardt Stahlbaum left his home in Konigsberg, Germany at the age of 16 to realize his dream of becoming a sailor. By the time he was 20, he had sailed around the world several times, visiting such places as India, Africa, Australia and many other lands. He decided to make Oakland, California his home in 1910, and remained there until his wife Margaret died in 1965.
Captain Stahlbaum started his own steamship company, The Stockton-Southern California Steamship Line in 1933. He abandoned the venture a few years later because of crippling storms which resulted in the loss of his ship, the S.S. Cottoneva in 1937.
It was the Cottoneva, a wooden freight of less than 200 feet, that Capt. Stahlbaum inaugurated service between the new Stockton deep water terminal and ports in Southern California and Oregon. As his business grew, he bought a second ship, the Bertie Hanlon and later a third vessel, the Siskiyou.
It was at the helm of the Siskiyou that Capt. Stahlbaum battled his way through a violent storm of the golden Gate in December, 1937. Through mountainous waves He brought the little steamer’s cargo of a million board feet of Oregon lumber safely to port. “It was the toughest storm I have ever seen on the California coast”, he said at the time. Captain Stahlbaum continued to run lumber from Oregon to California ports until his retirement in 1953.
Cottoneva at dock photos courtesy of Ingrid Milton Schuldt
You can read more about the history of the Cottoneva at Cape Blanco Heritage Society website.
Gary Burns
These are such great photos! Love them!!
Mike Arneson
Been going to Port Orford for years. When we first visited, the propeller of the Cottoneva was half buried in the ground near someone’s yard on a side street. Also when we were surffishing south of Battle Rock, we would occasionally see the engine block from the wreck in the surf. It disappeared after a storm some years ago. The propeller and shaft are now displayed at one end of the Battle Rock parking lot.
Katya Stahlbaum
Captain Stahlbaum is my Great Uncle. He was a total badass.
Ingrid Schuldt
Hello Katya. He was MY great uncle too! His sister Ellenruth Stahlbaum Hellmann was my Grandmother. We’re planning a trip this summer to the Port Orford Historical Society to see the display. We have pictures of Eberhardt in retirement.