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Shipwreck · Protected

SS Winfield Scott

Sank 1853, Anacapa Island, Channel Islands, CA
PROTECTED
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

SS Winfield Scott: still unexplained.

~$2M in Gold Rush bullion

The law of this ground: Within Channel Islands NP & on the NRHP, protected federal site.
The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
~$2M in Gold Rush bullion
The account

Ran aground in fog; all 450 aboard survived. The much-salvaged wreck now lies within Channel Islands National Park.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • The site is documented at Anacapa Island, Channel Islands, CA; the open questions now are access and what remains, not where it is.
  • Within Channel Islands NP & on the NRHP, protected federal site.
  • What is there: ~$2M in Gold Rush bullion.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • The site is documented at Anacapa Island, Channel Islands, CA; the open questions now are access and what remains, not where it is.
  • Within Channel Islands NP & on the NRHP, protected federal site.
  • What is there: ~$2M in Gold Rush bullion.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 34.000°, -119.370° (approx.) View on the Map