''Invincible'' was a 120-ton topsail schooner, used as a transport for the

U. S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Department of the Pacific The Department of the Pacific or Pacific Department was a major command ( Department) of the United States Army from 1853 to 1858. It replaced the Pacific Division, and was itself replaced by the Department of California and the Department of O ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

from 1849 to 1851. It was noted in Army reports of Bvt. Major H. D. Rucker, as carrying 13,000 rations to be used to feed starving settlers on the trails to California. It sailed from Benicia to

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

between September 9–11, 1849, carrying the major who was in charge of organizing the relief parties. On November 1, 1850, the ''Invincible'' was later sent from San Francisco on a mission to deliver 10,000 rations to the garrison of the remote post of

Fort Yuma Fort Yuma was a fort in California located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department of ...

on the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

. Captain Alfred H. Wilcox was in command of the 12-man crew, and Lieutenant

George Derby George Horatio Derby (April 3, 1823 – May 15, 1861) was an early California humorist. He attended West Point with Ulysses S. Grant. Derby used the pseudonym "John P. Squibob" and its variants "John Phoenix" and "Squibob." Derby served as a l ...

was in command of the mission to see if the rations could be delivered by the schooner up the

from the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

. Fort Yuma was being supplied by land from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, across the coastal mountains and the

Colorado Desert California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella and Imperial valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna. Geography and geology The Colorado De ...

. This route proved to be difficult and expensive, leading to a food shortage. The schooner arrived in San Diego to pick up the rations, then proceeded to the mouth of the Colorado River, stopping only at

Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, "Saint Luke Cape"), or simply just Cabo, is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As at the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 202,694 inhabitan ...

and

Guaymas Guaymas () is a city in Guaymas Municipality, in the southwest part of the state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The city is south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and from the U.S. border. The municipality is located on the Gulf of Cali ...

. The ''Invincible'' arrived at the river mouth on December 25. Captain Wilcox then ascended the river but with difficulty. The Invincible, drawing eight feet of water, was grounded at every ebb tide, which was extreme in the

Colorado River Delta The Colorado River Delta is the region where the Colorado River flows into the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez) in eastern Mexicali Municipality in the north of the state of Baja California in northwesternmost Mexico. The d ...

. On January 3, 1850, some 30 miles upriver, Captain Wilcox was forced to drop anchor, his way blocked by shoals too shallow to pass. Local Cocopah people there that day agreed to carry a message to Fort Yuma of the arrival of the ship. After waiting until 11 January without receiving an answer, Derby, who due to an old British chart of the river mouth, believed the fort to be nearby instead of 120 miles away, attempted to continue up the river to reach the fort with the ship's longboat. Two days later, he met the fort commander, Major

Samuel P. Heintzelman Samuel Peter Heintzelman (September 30, 1805 – May 1, 1880) was a United States Army general. He served in the Seminole War, the Mexican–American War, the Yuma War and the Cortina Troubles. During the American Civil War he was a prominent figu ...

, coming down the river in a boat. Arraignments were made to unload the boats at the ship's anchorage on the shore of Sonora and loaded onto wagons from the fort on 28 January.Derby, G. H., Reconnaissance of the Gulf of California and the Colorado River, Senate Executive Document 81, 32nd Congress, 1st Session, 1852.

References

{{reflist Merchant ships of the United States Maritime history of California Schooners of the United States Steamboat transport on the Colorado River 1850 in California Ships built in Benicia, California