San Francisco County
Biographies
CAPTAIN
THOMAS P. H. WHITELAW
Captain Thomas
P. H. Whitelaw, who is familiarly known as the veteran “wrecker” because of his
success in saving property from wrecked vessels, is a native of Scotland, born in
Ayrshire, August 21, 1847. The education of his youth was extremely
limited, as he was thrown early upon his own resources. Having a natural liking for the sea, at the
age of twelve years he was apprenticed upon the British ship Sydney, of
Glasgow, which was engaged in the East India trade. Improving his opportunities of study and
research, he rose to the position of able seaman, and remained with the ship
until 1863, when she entered the port of San Francisco; and, as his term of
apprenticeship had expired, he decided to remain and engage in some other
occupation. His first employment was in
the vineyard of Samuel Brannan at Calistoga, where he remained until he became
familiar with the country. He was then
employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company on board of the steamer George
S. Wright in an expedition making surveys for a telegraph cable across the
Bering straits and along the coast of Asiatic Siberia. Completing the survey in 1865, Captain
Whitelaw then apprenticed himself for three years to the shipwright firm of Middlemas & Boole to learn
the ship-carpentering trade, and in 1868 he engaged in the wreckage
business. Being without money or
influence he necessarily began in a small way, but proving his adaptability by
his successes he rapidly gained credit and position, and with his well-equipped
plant entered the foremost rank, and soon outstripped all competitors. During these many years he has been
successful in raising some very valuable vessels, among them being the steamer
Costa Rica, belonging to the Pacific Mail Company, which was wrecked near Point
Diablo in 1874; also the steamship Constitution of the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company, which came into the port of San Francisco on fire in 1878. Being unable to subdue the fire the steamer
was scuttled and sunk in Mission bay.
After extinguishing the fire, the openings were made water-tight and ten
days were employed in pumping her out and setting her afloat again.
The next
difficult task was in 1882, when Captain Whitelaw was called upon to raise the
steamer Newbern, which was sunk off the North Ways, near the Potrero, this wreck was accomplished in four days. The crowning effort of his experience was the
raising of the steamship Umatilla, which was sunk in fifty-four feet of water, in
Esquimau harbor, British Columbia, in 1884. This steamer was the property of the Oregon
Improvement Company, and valued at $350,000.
English experts came out to report on the wreck, who decided that they
could not send over the necessary appliances and raise the wreck without too
great delay. Captain Whitelaw then came
to the front and agreed to successfully raise the vessel for $60,000, on the
condition that unless the vessel was raised he should receive no pay. As the vessel lay she was badly listed, but
by intelligent effort, with experienced divers, he encased the vessel in a
coffer-dam, 321 feet long by thirty-five feet across, twenty-one feet high on
one side and thirty-two feet high on the listed side, using in the construction
400,000 feet of lumber
and forty tons of iron, with a corps of men ranging from 90 to 200. The steamer was sunk by her bow being smashed
in on a reef. An artificial bow was
rebuilt from concrete, and thus made water-tight. After all was completed three engines began pumping,
which threw out water at the rate of forty tons per minute. Five months of hard work were consumed in
raising the vessel. When all was
accomplished the British Admiralty congratulated Captain Whitelaw, and said
that it was the most scientific piece of work most masterfully handled that
they had ever known. The most severe job
the Captain has undertaken was in January, 1890, when he floated the British
ship Clan Mackenzie, which was wrecked near Coffin rock, in the Columbia river. This task was
made difficult because of the jamming of drift ice about the vessel, which had
to be blasted away, and the terrible cold water which operated against the
divers, as they could work but about fifteen minutes when ordinarily they work
four hours under water. Still the work
was accomplished in twenty-one days. In
Captain Whitelaw’s twenty-three years of experience he has raised ninety-seven
wrecks, and his work has been phenomenally successful. He has employd
upwards of 10,000 men, and never lost but one man by accident. He keeps a force of six divers on steady pay,
that he may be prepared at any moment for service. He is also one of the largest ship owners on
the coast, and numbers among his vessels the Whitelaw, wrecker; the Samson, a
very large wrecking vessel, capable of lifting sixty tons dead weight; the
Catalina, also a wrecking vessel, and two large schooners freighting between
San Francisco, Mexico and Central America.
He has also been an extensive builder of vessels. He does all the coast work for the Government
in removing obstructions, and in the preliminary work of new light houses, and
is now (1891) at work on the Government breakwater at Port Harford.
The Captain has
been a large purchaser of wrecks, and has four large storage houses well filled
with everything pertaining to shipping outfits.
He has also been extensively engaged in mining speculations and in real
estate transactions. He now owns a stock
ranch of 43,000 acres in Arizona; 1,300 acres in Plumas county; 360 acres in
Butte county; 53 acres in Placer county, upon which are two valuable granite
quarries, and 200 lots in the city of San Francisco, improved and unimproved,
with his handsome residence at No. 631 Harrison street.
He was married
in San Francisco in 1870, to Miss Elizabeth Ryce, a
native of Ayrshire, Scotland. To the union has
been added four children, two of whom survive—Thomas Andrew and Margaret
Elizabeth. Captain Whitelaw is a member
of the Masonic fraternity, order of Red Men, Chamber of Commerce and Academy of
Sciences. The predominant features of
the Captain’s prosperity have been the thorough knowledge of seamanship,
ship-carpentering and engineering, all essential to the successful wrecker with
the ability to handle large forces of men and always master of the situation.
Transcribed by Donna L. Becker.
Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 1,
pages 700-702, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2005 Donna
L. Becker.