Introduction
There is an engine block off the West End of Anacapa Island near Cat Rock that has been dove many times but, as far as I know, never been conclusively identified. It reminds me of the Atlas engines on other typical early-to-mid century fishing vessels such as the Nightingale, the New Saturnia, the Vashon, etc.
There is a little else around the engine and, for a long time, it was referred to as the “Barbee” wreck since somebody found some kind of engine plate that said “Barbee” but I’m not sure. I dove the site with Danny Graham of Triton Diving and his website has a good synopsis of the history of this wreck / site:
“The story I have heard in conversation with other long time divers is that sport divers stumbled across the wreck sometime in the 1960s, and that a brass plate was recovered bearing the word “Barbee” which is how the wreck came to be known by that name. While there is no vessel named Barbee in any of the MVUS loss entries, there was a marine supply and boat building company called Barbee Marine Yards at Renton, Washington in the mid 1940s. A number of glass bottles were also brought up, partially melted from the heat of what must have been an intense fire. I have not personally seen the plate or the bottles, but trust the source of that information. I have done a little research, looking at MVUS loss entries and newspaper collections, and believe the Barbee wreck may actually be the remains of the seiner San Francisco. The evidence is largely circumstantial without a key identifying feature such as a build plate to confirm the identity, but I believe the location and condition of the wreck in question is fair match for that vessel.”
Photos / Model
I dove the wreck with Danny earlier in 2025 on the same day that we dove the TBM Avenger.
There was a good amount of current on the surface and even at some depth so it made for an interesting dive. It is pretty close to an underwater pinnacle so the normal dive is to anchor near the pinnacle, descend the line, find the engine, then return to the line and do a little exploring around the pinnacle before surfacing.
Given the current and the relatively poor visibility we had, it took a bit of time to find the engine but Danny found it and then I took a bunch of pictures to build a photogrammetry model of it.
There is clearly a very large flywheel near the front of the engine similar to those I’ve mentioned above which leads me to believe it is an Atlas Engine which was prevalent in fishing vessels of the time.
Model Screenshots
I’ve posted the model on-line in case anybody is interested:
Photos
Below are a few photos of the wreck. These were taken during the process of building the model so they aren’t really great compositions but provide some more detail.
Potential ID : San Francisco
As mentioned above, there was originally some thought that this was the “Barbee” due to the metal plate that was found but that has pretty much been ruled out since then.
Since there is no other debris around, it is very likely that it was a wooden vessel that caught fire and burned to the waterline.
There is some thought that it might be the fishing vessel San Francisco. The San Francisco was a purse seiner (similar to the other ships referenced above) and sank during a fire off on the west end of Anacapa and it did catch fire. In one article, there is note that the Coast Guard sent a cutter to “sink the San Francisco which was considered a menace to navigation.” If that was the case, it is likely that there would be more debris around but it might have been distributed or the lighter debris moved during storms. There can be quite a current at that location.
Also, one article notes that the vessel was “a mile off the west end of Anacapa Island” which is about the right location.
There is one big problem with this ID: According to the IslanThe Long Beach Independent notes that
Below are some newspaper articles and the entry from the Islapedia website (which also references Danny’s quote from his website):
However, there is one big problem with this possible identification: According to a quote from the Ilsapedia site from the Long Beach Independent newspaper, it says “Wreckage towed in. Santa Barbara -. Wrecked of the fishing vessel City of San Fancisco, wrecked and abandoned last summer off Anacapa Island, was towed to Santa Barbara Harbor by the Coast Guard Wednesday.”
There are three mitigating factors: (1) it notes that it wrecked “last summer” and we know that the San Francisco sank around Nov 1, 1949 which is definitely not summer and (2) it references the “City of San Francisco” which might or might not be the same vessel and (3) the newspaper articles on the San Francisco say that it “sank after burning to the waterline” which means there wouldn’t be anything left to two (much less a year later).
Potential ID : Balboa
During research for this article, another possibility came up. There was a fishing vessel which also sank in that approximate area named Balboa which was the same type of boat about the same size as the San Francisco and went up in a huge blaze.
Below are some additional newspaper articles about the sinking. Some of them mention how big the blaze was and that the nets were out in the water and the risk of fouling the propeller of the Coast Guard vessel prevented them from getting close. It also mentions that the patrol boat tried to reach the Balboa but “was driven back by the flames” so it must have been a pretty big fire which would also result in not much debris left near the engine. One article mentions that it “burned to the water’s edge.”
Another article says “the vessel burned and sank after an explosion of her fuel tanks….” This would explain the lack of other debris if there was an explosion and big fire.
One problem with this theory is that multiple articles mention that it was “near” Anacapa Island but 18 miles off of Port Hueneme. That distance would put it much further out past Anacapa but it is hard to know how accurate that is.
It is crazy but one of the articles mentions “Ana Capa” Island. This is what sometimes makes historical research tough.
At some point, given more time and energy, it might be possible to conclusively identify which ship that this engine belonged to. However, at this point, it is probably one of the two noted above with me leaning towards the San Francisco.
Thanks To…
- Tyler Stalter for his continued partnership and research
- Danny from Triton Diving Charters who took me out there and also did the dive with me and helped research
References
