Heavily trafficked shipping lanes, used by coastwise and trans-Pacific vessels alike, bring ships past the four northern islands to the Los Angeles basin, the largest port on the West Coast. Vessels that failed to find the entrance at the west end or that mis-navigated along the way, contributed to the shipwreck record of the park. The wrecks of Channel Islands National Park reflect the development of Los Angeles from a sleepy pueblo into a major maritime center.

A series of projects were conducted by the NPS Submerged Resources Center on shipwrecks and other underwater historical sites in the park beginning in 1981. Archeological diving operations were undertaken by Park-based and SRC archeologists to evaluate and protect these sites in association with efforts to document and monitor the area’s rich natural resources.

• 1999 – Documentation of Comet shipwreck on San Miguel Island. Matthew Russell, Project Director.

• October 1993 – Documentation of beached shipwreck scatters on San Miguel and Santa Rosa Islands. Matthew A. Russell, Project Director

• August 1985 – 1995 Park archeologist Don Morris ran a series of projects focused on documenting the submerged cultural resources of the park, most in association with the SRC. This included magnetometer surveys, site evaluations and documentation. In 1985 Morris, Larry Murphy and other members of SRC and Jim Delgado conducted mapping operations on Goldenhorn and Aggi. In 1996 Morris and James Lima authored a comprehensive assessment of these sites in a report published in the SRC series.

• 1982-84 – Series of dive training workshops run by Dan Lenihan, Larry Murphy and Jim Delgado resulted in map of Winfield Scott and recons of other wreck sites.

• 1981 - Dan and Barbara Lenihan and Rob Arnberger confirm the rumored location of the Winfield Scott at behest of superintendent Bill Ehorn, effectively beginning the park’s active management of shipwreck sites.

  References:

• Russell, Matthew A., 2003, Comet Submerged Cultural Resources Site Report, Channel Islands National Park. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 17. National Park Service, Santa Fe, NM. (In Press)

• Morris, Don and James Lima, 1996, Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 14. National Park Service, Santa Fe, NM.

• Russell, Matthew A., 1996, An Historical and Archaeological Investigation of Two Beached Shipwreck Scatters at Channel Islands National Park. Unpublished Master's Thesis, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.

• Delgado, James P., 1982, Water Soaked and Covered With Barnacles: The Wreck of the SS Winfield Scott, Pacific Historian Vol. 27, No. 2.