Wreckage of the S. S. Emidio

SS Emidio was a 6912-ton tanker of the General Petroleum Corporation, which became the first casualty of the Imperial Japanese Navy's submarine force action on California's Pacific Coast. Emidio was sailing in ballast from Seattle, Washington enroute to San Pedro, California. Japanese submarine I-17 found Emidio off Cape Mendocino on the early afternoon of 20 December 1941 and hit the tanker with five shells from its 14-cm deck gun. Five crewmen were killed and the remainder reached Blunts Reef lightship in lifeboats. The abandoned tanker drifted north and broke up on the rocks off Crescent City. The bow drifted into the harbor, where it lay until salvaged in 1950. Remains of the hull are still in the harbor, near a commemorative plaque. The site has been declared a California Historical Landmark (#497).