The paddle-wheel steamer
Northerner, built in
New York in 1847, rounded
Cape Horn in 1850 and was in active mail service for the next ten years. On January 4, 1860, she left
San Francisco on regular route to
Victoria and
Olympia with the mails. At 4 p.m. on January 5, the ship was sailing in a smooth sea and south winds. Four miles from Cape Mendocino, the steamer passed between the cape and a group of offshore rocks known as Blunt's Reef when a slight bump was felt. On examination, it was found that several planks on the bottom of the ship were scraped off. The captain realized it was impossible to save the ship, and headed to land. Passengers and crew bailed the filling ship while the winds increased to storm levels and a huge surf pounded the beach. In heavy seas, the ship beached 20 miles below the mouth of
Humboldt Bay, about one mile offshore of the village of Centerville. The first boat over the side, piloted by first officer Mr. A. French was filled with four ladies and four children all of whom arrived safely on shore. The next boat capsized and two of her crew drowned, while another lady on this boat washed to shore and was rescued. The third boat also capsized between the wreck and the beach and four crew were lost. and the remaining bodies, including Miss Gregg's brother, were lost to the ocean. All the bodies were buried near the beach. Local resident and nationally notorious mountain man
Seth Kinman was alerted by distress signals from the
Northerner. In the raging gale, Kinman tethered himself to the shore and waded into the surf to save many passengers. Later, he was hailed as a hero and awarded a Bible and free life-time passage on Pacific Mail Steamships. File:NorthernerWreck 1860.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|left|Artist conception of survivors on shore watching others float from the wrecked steamship, "Northerner." The survivors were cared for at Centerville until the next day, when the steamer Columbia, also owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, took the survivors and the 45 recovered bags of mail northward. Property lost on the steamer included 13 bags of mail and $14,000 in U.S. Government funds. ==Monument==