The cargo ship S.S. Onondaga, owned by the Clyde Steamship Co., was launched on April 29, 1905. On June 27, 1918, the Onondaga left Boston for a voyage that was scheduled to take her to Jacksonville, Florida, carrying a large load of shoes, boots, leather, paper, and mill products. The next morning, Captain W. H. Googins and his crew encountered thick fog near Chatham, Massachusetts, at the southeastern tip of Cape Cod, and anchored before resuming travel when the fog cleared. Later that evening, the ship struck the so-called Catomb Reef near Watch Hill Lighthouse in Rhode Island, and began rapidly taking on water. In a rush, the crew of 35 men abandoned the sinking ship in the singular available lifeboat, safely making it to shore. By the next day, the Onondaga had sunk bow-first in 30 feet of water and rolled over completely. On July 18, 1905,\u00a0 after numerous\u00a0 failed attempts to salvage the ship\u2019s cargo, the wreck was destroyed with dynamite to clear the route for other ships. Subsequently some of the wood, metal, etc. was salvaged from the sea floor for souvenirs, such as the offered example.<\/p>\n
Condition: Generally very good with light wear and handling. The wood in expected naturally deteriorated state from being submerged for a long period, though now solid and structurally sound.<\/p>\n
References:<\/p>\n
\u201cSS Onondaga (1905).\u201d Wikipedia. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/SS_Onondaga_(1905) (23 Jan 2025).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
B. Mason (specimen collector) Maritime relic suitable for library desk or shelf display<\/strong>.<\/p>\n A rare piece of relic oak wood salvaged from the 1918 wreck of the historic S.S. Onondaga. The mounted wood specimen is long and narrow, divided into two shard-like branches at the front and with a circular hole at its center, where a screw, joint, or pipe may have run through. Interestingly the relic somewhat takes the shape of a ship overall.\u00a0 The specimen shows signs of deterioration from being submerged for a very long time, but now is sold and quite intact. It is custom-mounted on a rectangular wooden base having a copper plaque inscribed as follows: “S.S. Onondaga \/ 1905 \u2013 1918 \/ B. Mason.” Other Onondaga relic wood, also bearing the B. Mason plaque, though mounted on bookends has been located. Another extant Onondaga relic with a Mason plaque is a cigarette lighter of metal salvage material.\u00a0 A Mason salvaged relic wood piece \u2013 though from a different ship — is known, also mounted on a wood base; the plaque is inscribed \u201cS.S. Larchmont 1884-1907 20 Fathoms B. Mason.\u201d From these examples, it can be surmised that B. Mason was a person who at some point in the 20th<\/sup> Century mounted salvaged relic ship pieces as a collector and\/or dealer.<\/p>\n Product description continues below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":42348,"template":"","meta":{"wds_primary_product_brand":0,"wds_primary_product_cat":0,"footnotes":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[6813,901,6797,4397],"product_tag":[61,9876,1254,93,690,9877,1242,9879,1080,8732,9878,396],"class_list":{"0":"post-42344","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-maritime-history","7":"product_cat-military","8":"product_cat-prop-rentals","9":"product_cat-relics","10":"product_tag-20th-century","11":"product_tag-b-mason","12":"product_tag-gavel","13":"product_tag-military","14":"product_tag-naval","15":"product_tag-onondaga","16":"product_tag-relic","17":"product_tag-salvage","18":"product_tag-ship","19":"product_tag-shipwreck","20":"product_tag-ss-onondaga","21":"product_tag-wood","22":"post","23":"post-with-thumbnail","24":"post-with-thumbnail-large","26":"first","27":"instock","28":"purchasable","29":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/42344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/42344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42353,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/42344\/revisions\/42353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=42344"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=42344"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=42344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOnondaga Ship Relic Wood<\/strong>
\n4 inches high, 11.25 inches wide, 3.5 inches deep, relic
\n4.75 inches high, 11 inches wide, 4 inches deep, including base
\n$375<\/p>\n