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United States Mail Steamship Co. second class cabin ticket number 24 dated August 20, 1857, issued t

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Shipwreck Artifacts Start Price:650.00 USD Estimated At:800.00 - 1,200.00 USD
United States Mail Steamship Co. second class cabin ticket number 24 dated August 20, 1857, issued t
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United States Mail Steamship Co. second class cabin ticket number 24 dated August 20, 1857, issued to Jacob B. Clark, ex-S.S. Central America (1857). 518 grams total. 7" x 5" x ¾". Issued for Jacob B. Clark, reportedly a veteran of the Mexican War and born in Tennessee (we were unable to verify). Klare's record of Clark shows him in steerage, but this actual receipt says otherwise. When the ship was foundering, Clark and friend J.F. Reed of Petaluma each grabbed a stateroom door and a life preserver and headed topside to exit the ship before she went down. The violent nature of the sea caused havoc with the pair, and they were injured in the process. Reed got lost in the rough water, and Clark never saw him again. At midnight, Clark found another door and lashed it to his own with a handkerchief. As morning broke, and the Norwegian barque Ellen arrived, Clark found himself surrounded by dead victims, all wearing life preservers and floating at the surface, and he commented "It was a horrible sight." He was the 47th man rescued. He went back to California in 1858 for good, became Sheriff of Sutter County, then moved to Colusa county, where he mined and did other things. This piece is certified as being recovered in 2014 from the Purser's Safe, Port-Side Debris Field. From the S.S. Central America (1857), pedigreed to the Holabird auction of December 2022, with original lot-tag 1000 and original certificate signed by Holabird and Bob Evans.