On May 31, 1931 the passenger steamship Harvard went aground off Point Arguello, California.   The Harvard was running its regular schedule between San Francisco and Los Angeles with 500 passengers when it went hard aground during the night in heavy fog.  The sea was calm and there was no panic among the passengers.  The Harvard’s lifeboats were lowered and stood by until a passing freighter arrived on scene.   The passengers would later be transferred to the U.S. Navy cruiser U.S.S. Louisville which had been at anchor at Los Angeles harbor.   The Harvard broke up and became a total loss before it could be refloated.   The 3700 ton Harvard was launched in 1907 at Chester, Pennsylvania.   The vessel served a short time in World War I as a troopship before going back into service as a passenger steamship.

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• Passenger ship Harvard runs aground (framework.latimes.com)