Update on Shipwreck of San Juan (1929)

sanjuan.jpeg

A few posts back I wrote a three-part story about the shipwreck of the San Juan near Pigeon Point in the summer of 1929. Some 72 people died when the San Juan, a vessel that commuted between San Francisco and L.A., was struck by an oil tanker.

It was a horrible tragedy taking the life of Mountain View resident, Emma Granstedt, a wife and mother. Her husband, Theodore, survived but perhaps in a much grimmer way (if that’s possible) than what I found during my research .

Some of Theodore Granstedt’s descendents, including granddaughter Annette Granstedt, read the story at my website and she kindly emailed me the following:

“I was told that my great-grandmother did not want to go on the boat and that when
it wrecked my great-grandfather was found ashore and that he was put in a pile
with the other dead and that someone walked by and noticed he was breathing.”

Annette’s version has the ring of truth.

Could this be movie material?