Honda Point Disaster - Rescue Efforts

Rescue Efforts

Once the accident occurred, rescue attempts promptly followed. Local ranchers, who were alerted by the commotion caused in the disaster, rigged up breeches buoys from the surrounding cliff tops and lowered them down to the ships that had run aground. Fishermen nearby that had seen the tragedy picked up members of the crew from USS Fuller and USS Woodbury. The crew aboard the capsized Young was able to climb to safety on the nearby USS Chauncey via a lifeline. The four destroyers in Destroyer Squadron Eleven that were able to avoid running aground at Honda Point were also able to contribute to rescue efforts by picking up sailors that had been thrown into the water and by assisting those that were stuck aboard the wreckages of other ships. After the disaster, the government did not attempt to salvage any of the wreckages at Honda Point due to the nature of the damage each ship sustained. The wrecks themselves, along with the equipment that remained on them, were sold to a scrap merchant for a total of $1,035. She, and her wrecked sister ships, were still not moved by late August 1929 for they may be clearly seen in film footage taken from the German airship Graf Zeppelin as she headed towards Los Angeles on her circumnavigation of the globe; the film footage is used in the documentary film Farewell (2009).