Site of the Possible Four-masted Schooner Churchill

At French Frigate Shoals, the NOAA maritime heritage team was able to begin a systematic investigation of a site initially discovered by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center's Coral Reef Ecosystem Division in October 2005. The 2007 survey uncovered clues that may help solve the mystery of the unidentified shipwreck. Based on data gathered during the expedition, researchers have deduced that the site, a turn-of-the-century wooden sailing ship, may likely be the four-masted schooner Churchill, which is known to have been lost in the area in 1917.

While the identity of the ship has not yet been determined conclusively, diagnostic artifacts at the site - including parts of the windlass, three large iron anchors, ship's pumps, and numerous blocks and rigging components - appear consistent with the 178-foot, 600-ton schooner Churchill. Anchors, rigging, pumps and deck equipment all correspond to the Churchill's size and construction. National Marine Sanctuary Program staff are currently working to analyze the evidence and provide a positive identification of the site.

The Churchill was built in North Bend, Oregon, and launched in April, 1900 by shipwright Asa Meade Simpson. Large wooden schooners were the economic mainstay of American shipping between the Civil War period and World War I. They were the sailing workhorses of the Pacific.

The Churchill was carrying a cargo of copra (the dried meat or nut of the coconut) from Nukualofa, Tonga, to Seattle, Washington, when she ran aground on a reef at French Frigate Shoals on Sept. 27, 1917. All members of her 12-man crew were rescued by a nearby vessel. Subsequently, the Churchill's crew filed affidavits charging Captain Charles Granzow with the intentional destruction of the ship. (A mysterious fire broke out after he had sent the others away in the small boats.)