H.M.S. Condor

The H.M.S. Condor was a 980 ton, barkentine-rigged steam sloop built of iron in 1898. A warship, she was armed with 10 4-inch guns and an assortment of smaller weapons. On December 2, 1901 she steamed out of Esquimalt, British Columbia, bound for Honolulu with a crew of 140. As the Condor passed Cape Flattery she ran head on into a gale. She was never seen or heard from again.

When she failed to arrive as scheduled in Hawaii a search was begun. Several British and U.S. ships combed the north Pacific looking for signs of the ship or her crew, but nothing was found until an empty dinghy, a broom and a sailor's cap all marked H.M.S. Condor washed ashore on the west coast of Vancouver Island. She was officially listed as missing with all hands on February 3, 1902.

For nearly 50 years nothing more was known of the Condor. In May of 1949, the trawler Blanco was fishing 40 miles northwest of Cape Flattery when her nets tangled in wreckage about 250 feet deep. Pulling in the nets, the crew found them entwined around an ancient ship's binnacle and other pieces of wreckage. Though badly battered and rusty, a name plate was still attached to the binnacle with the name of its manufacturer, who could only confirm that this instrument was the exact type sold to the builders of the H.M.S. Condor. The rest of the ship has never been located.

Read about individual shipwrecks in the sanctuary:

Austria

Emily Farnum

Lamut

Leonore

Pacific

Prince Arthur

Skagway

Southerner

St. Nicholas

Temple Bar

W. J. Pirrie

See Shipwreck Map

Contact for page content: George Galasso