Help with death at sea

Question

James Whitesides Singleton Born 1810 and possibly died sometime after 1855 at Sea.  My 4th great grandfather left to work on a ship carrying passengers to California during the Gold Rush era.  I have the personal story of his only child when she found out he died, and some bill of sale of land in Kentucky and Missouri, but nothing when his ship went down.....or where? Or the name of the ship.  He was a member of the crew.  I have searched for many years.  Not just online genealogy sources.  Any suggestions?  (His profile is Singleton-2585.)

Thank you so much Wiki family...Lynn Robinson (McCurdy-1063)

Answer 1

I googled <ship carrying passengers to California during the Gold Rush> and found one possibility. How many others there were, I don't know. You could try the search also. This one item is NOT to say it was THE only one, but it came at the top of the list. 

SS Yankee Blade. ... The Yankee Blade was built in 1854 to transport gold,passengers, and cargo between Panama and San Francisco, California, during the California Gold Rush. The ship wrecked in fog off of Point Arguello in Southern California on October 1, 1854. The shipwreck cost an estimated 30 to 40 lives.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › SS_Yankee_Blade

 

Comments

I found also Panama to San Francisco ships lists 1843-1873

California Bound - Passenger lists for California 1848 - 1873 | by SFgenealogy

Panama Route Ships

San Francisco Ship Passenger Lists Vol. I [1850-1864] | Ancestry®

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Thank you for your look up...where there is smoke maybe fire...will give other ships in the SF area a look see.  They seldom list crew members but this newspaper article did list this ships crew..no Singleton but a new lead to other ships.

Lynn

Answer 2

Wikipedia contains lists of shipwrecks by month so you can look at July, 1855 or October, 1856. Here is a link to the later. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_October_1856  The list is Huge but it gives at least enough info to pick and choose those that your impression of the route he may have taken. 

Comments

Thank you for your research.  I have scoured this list.  They seldom identify staff or crew members but I will go over it again.  Hugs...Lynn