On March 13, 1961, the Dominator, a freighter laden with a cargo of wheat and beef was on a voyage from Vancouver, B.C. to Los Angeles when it got too close to the rocks of Rocky Point on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County and ran aground. The crew thought their position was further south from where they were and thought they were headed into Los Angeles Harbor. Instead, they hit Rocky Point.
The Dominator was built in 1944 by Walsh Kaiser Company of Providence, Rhode Island.
Several salvage companies jockeyed (some violently) for the salvage rights to the ship's cargo. Within days of running aground, the Dominator began to be beaten to pieces by the relentless sea.
In the early 1960s, my family would go fishing with my grandfather on his boat. Sometimes, we'd head out from Redondo Beach and skirt near Rocky Point and get excellent views of the remains of the Dominator. Unfortunately, we didn't have any cameras with us to take photos of the shipwreck.
For years, on clear days one could see the silhouette of the hulk of the ship at the tip of Rocky Point from the Redondo Beach Pier.
Today, scant pieces of the Dominator are visible on the rocks of Rocky Point. Much of it is underwater, some of which is recognizable.
Below is an article from the South Bay Daily Breeze about the salvage efforts.
For more information, and see an excellent website about the ship, including photos and video of the Dominator, go here.
1 comment:
I was almost 6 years old when we looked out over the cliff and saw the ship grounded for the first time.
I would go back from time to time to watch the Dominator break apart more and more.
There were many more shipwrecks along the coast in the South Bay and towards Long Beach. The Web offers information about other shipwrecks in the area.
But for a little boy to view a giant ship getting pounded by wave after wave until it broke apart, was amazing.
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