Wreck of Old Schooner Discovered in Channel

Maritime archaeologists recently announced the discovery of the wrecked remains of a rare Pacific Coast schooner — the George E. Billings, which hauled lumber from the northwest to Hawaii, Mexico, and Southern California in the early 1900s — off the coast of Santa Barbara Island. The five-masted vessel was built in 1903 by Halls Bros. of Port Blakeley, Washington, later turned into a sport-fishing barge, and then scuttled in Channel Island waters in 1941. The wreck is owned by the state and managed by the California State Lands Commission.