Obituary: Gene Bruce, 98; Last Known Survivor of 1923 Point Honda Naval Disaster

[RAMESES the Great]

Obituary: Gene Bruce, 98; Last Known Survivor of 1923 Point Honda Naval
Disaster

By Valerie J. Nelson, LA Times Staff Writer

In a curtain of nighttime fog off the rocky coast of California, the worst
peacetime disaster in U.S. naval history was about to unfold. A captain who
trusted his instincts over radio reports ordered the lead destroyer in a
flotilla to make a sharp turn into what he thought was the Santa Barbara
Channel.

One by one, nine destroyers in a squadron of 14 cruising south from San
Francisco rammed into a rocky shoreline reef near Lompoc, considerably north
of the channel. On Sept. 8, 1923, seven ships were lost and 23 sailors died
- but 800 survived amid tales of courage.

Gene Bruce, believed to be the last known survivor of what came to be called
the Tragedy at Honda Point, died Tuesday of natural causes at his home in
North Hollywood, said his stepson, Robert Hubbard. Bruce was 98.

When they first hit what Bruce called "California real estate," the sailors
thought they had run into San Miguel Island, one of the Channel Islands,
until a train whistle made them realize they must be near the mainland.

They had come aground at Point Pedernales, a rocky promontory known locally
as Point Honda. It is at the heart of a section of the coastline known to
mariners as "the graveyard of the Pacific," wrote retired Vice Adm. Charles
A. Lockwood and Air Force Col. Hans Christian Adamson in their 1960 book
"Tragedy at Honda."

Spanish sailors considered the area so treacherous they called it "la
quijada del diablo" - the devil's jaw - and at least 50 shipwrecks are said
to lie within its grasp.

Bruce, then a 16-year-old seaman, had just ended his watch and was relaxing
on deck when his ship, the Chauncey, drove into the reef. The sailors were
close enough to shore to jump or ride lines to safety.

The Chauncey, the last destroyer to crash, had been sliced open by the
propeller of the Young. It managed to remain upright against the rocks.

"The boat played a pivotal point in saving 70 sailors' lives," said Robert
Schwemmer, maritime heritage coordinator for the Channel Islands National
Marine Sanctuary. "It became a platform for a swimmer to run a lifeboat over
to the Young."

Twenty of those who died were on the Young, which rolled over in 90 seconds.
Three men died on the Delphy, the lead destroyer whose captain, Edward H.
Watson, made the ill-fated decision to turn prematurely into the California
shore.

Within days, the Southern Pacific Railroad was running tourists to see where
the $13-million worth of destroyers were lost.

Vendors sold postcards that showcased the catastrophe.

"It was a big embarrassment for the Navy," Schwemmer said. "The Navy
couldn't hide it. They talked about bombing the area to get rid of the
wreckage but Mother Nature was so aggressive, they didn't have to."

Fifty years after the crash, a memorial plaque fashioned out of an anchor
recovered from the Young was placed at the site, by then a part of
Vandenberg Air Force Base.

In 1998, Bruce participated in a 75th-anniversary ceremony organized by a
group called Point Honda Watch, which had been created to pay tribute to the
victims and heroes of the almost-forgotten disaster.

Capt. Watson and his lieutenant commander were found guilty of negligence
but were allowed to remain in the Navy. They stayed for six more years.

Bruce, who found a way to join the Navy at 15, also served for six more
years after the accident.

Born May 19, 1907, in Albuquerque, Bruce moved to the San Fernando Valley in
1921.

During the Depression, he painted the upper works of the Golden Gate Bridge.
One of the few workers willing to climb that high, he earned $2 an hour,
which was "a fortune back then," Bruce once recalled.

Eventually, he worked as a sign painter and for a building materials
company.

The widower married his second wife, Anne, in 1960 and they raised his twin
daughters and her four sons, all of whom survive him.

Today, remnants of the destroyers can still be seen at low tide. Bruce kept
a visible reminder in his living room - a porthole from the Chauncey that an
adventure club had given him.

[Bluehawk]

Bless him...