The Frank H. Buck on the rocks in San Francisco Bay.
In 1914 Union Iron Works of San Francisco built the Frank H. Buck alongside her sister ship, the Lyman Stewart. Upon completion, these two tankers were purchased by separate oil companies: the Buck was owned by the Associated Oil Company and the Stewart Lyman was operated by Union Oil Company.
On October 7, 1922 the S.S. Stewart collided with a freighter, the S.S. Walter, in thick fog and wrecked at Land’s End in San Francisco Bay.
Two years later on May 3, 1924, the S.S. Frank Buck ran aground at Point Pinos in Monterey Bay. Fortunately the tanker was empty when it grounded and was able to be re-floated on May 17, 1924.
Another 15 years passed with the Buck running for Associated Oil until on March 6, 1937 she collided with the President Coolidge (some accounts say S.S. Hoover), coincidentally next to her sister ship at Land’s End in the San Francisco Bay.
What’s sort of remarkable is that after 23 years apart these two ships came to rest together, again side by side. From what I have read, the drama of the coincidence was irresistible to the local papers at the time and I can see why. There is something almost romantic about the story, as if these two ships just had to find each other again.
