Santa Cruz Island is one of the most interesting of the Channel Islands. The largest of the eight at 22 miles long and two to six miles wide, it has hosted cattle and sheep ranches, a resort and a winery. Planes have crashed on the island, ships have sunk in the waters offshore. This article concerns the wreck of the Peacock, also known as the Spirit of America, which sank in Scorpion Anchorage in December 1979 (I think.) Although Santa Cruz Island's history is pretty well documented, that of the Peacock is still a mystery.

In the late 1980s, while researching the book Shipwrecks of Southern California, I tried to find information on the Peacock. All my leads turned into dead ends. None of the people who were said to know something about the wreck actually did.

When the book was published in 1989, I hoped someone would come forward with more information. Only one person did. He claimed to have seen an article in a Santa Barbara newspaper when the wreck went down, which referred to it as Spirit of America. He was very definite about the month and year, December 1979. I spent nearly a day in a Ventura library checking microfilm copies of the paper. I searched three years of issues with no results. If there was an article in that paper, I didn't find it.

Peacock is not an uncommon name for a ship. If the real name of the wreck that sank in Scorpion Anchorage is the Peacock, she may have been a 136-foot long World War II minesweeper with a composition hull. Launched in 1943, this Peacock earned two battle stars in World War II. In 1947, she was reclassified and named the Hornbill. She was reclassified again in 1953 and decommissioned in 1955. In 1960 the ship was bought by a Texan, who renamed her Los Buscaderos. She was sold again eight years later and renamed the Peacock. Although she was said to have been seized by the Dominican Republic in 1969, somehow she supposedly sank off Scorpion Anchorage 10 years later. You see my dilemma. How did a ship seized by the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean, end up off California 10 years later?

That's not the only mystery. I heard two tales about the sinking of the Peacock. One said she was being used as a bordello when she burned and sank one night. Another story is that she had somehow gone aground at Scorpion and when salvagers tried to refloat her, she sank. Neither one of them, pardon the pun, holds water any better than the Peacock does at present.

When I followed up with people who were said to be eyewitnesses to the sinking, burning or attempted salvage, they didn't know what they were said to know.

So, all we really know is that a ship that is most probably a WW II minesweeper sank in 60 to 70 feet of water off Scorpion Anchorage, possibly in December 1979.

I visited the wreck the first time in December 1985. She had huge holes in her hull then, but her superstructure was intact and penetrable. She already had considerable growth on her hull and, because she was in a sandy area, had become a Mecca for marine life. Blacksmith schooled around her.

Today, the top of what's left of the Peacock is about 40 feet below the surface. It is a several legged metal structure that resembles a large barstool and is covered with life, including seastars, chestnut cowries, nudibranchs, club tipped anemones, tunicates, barnacles and bryozoans.

The middle of the ship has collapsed. The hull still rises quite a distance off the sand and is pocked with holes, some of which once held portholes.

The bow of the wreck points out to sea and the current, usually mild, runs from bow to stern. Because of the wreck's location in Scorpion Anchorage, the waters are usually calm.

It's unlikely you'll find any exciting artifacts on the Peacock, but if you do, keep in mind that she's in a National Park and taking anything other than game covered by California Sport Fishing Regulations is strictly forbidden.

Location: Scorpion Anchorage, Santa Cruz Island.

Access: Boat only. Charter dive boats from Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Barbara frequent this spot.

Depths: 60 to 70 feet.

Photography: Good wide-angle and close-up.

Hunting: Poor.

Suggested Dive Charter Boats Serving This Area:

Spectre - (805) 483-6612

Peace - (805) 984-2025

Truth/Conception/Vision - (805) 962-1127

Liberty - (805) 642-6655

or see the California Scuba Calendar section of this issue for trips to Santa Cruz Island.