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FAMOUS SHIPS |
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FAMOUS SHIPS |
The San Francisco Maritime Museum
This
museum is a relatively new entity, but the history behind it is not that new.
Basically, the history behind San Francisco begins, by world standards,
with the California Gold Rush, which put California and San Francisco on the
map. I believe there is no question
that San Francisco played a pivotal role in seafaring history on the West Coast
in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th.
The
museum historical park begins with a collection of historic vessels that are
located at the former ferry terminal at the base of San Francisco’s Russian
Hill. Among the ships there are two different sailing vessels, the three-masted
ship BALCLUTHA, built of steel in 1886 near Glasgow, Scotland and the three-masted
schooner C.A. THAYER, built of Douglas Fir at Fairhaven, California in 1895.
Also there are the 1890 side wheel ferry EUREKA, the powerful steam tug
HERCULES, built in 1907, and other ships and boats.
Adjacent
to the vessels floating at the pier is a busy small-craft shop that preserves
the working and pleasure craft that complimented the larger vessels and bring to
life a once-common waterfront scene. The
Museums main building is at the far end of a small, sandy beach.
This was originally the Aquatic Park Casino of San Francisco, which the
city gave to the Museum organizers in 1950 – the date that marks the real
beginning of this institution. The
structure was left over from a public works program of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
New Deal. It now houses a core
collection of ship models that had been assembled by Edward S. Clark of the
Pacific Ship Model Society which was originally displayed at the 1939 World’s
Fair held at Treasure Island in San Francisco, and donated by Alma deBrettville
Spreckels, scion of a notable shipping family.
The museum officially opened its doors in 1951.
Also
at this location is the former U.S. Army Port of Embarkation, now known as Fort
Mason Center. This location houses
a preeminent library of maritime history on the West Coast, an extensive
historic document collection that forms the basis for research, and the storage
area for the art and artifacts that have been collected over fifty years.
Most
maritime aspects of west coast maritime history are represented here in one form
or another. This includes the gold
rush days, early commerce, the “second gold rush” which involved
California’s central valley grain harvests, the great San Francisco
earthquake, harvesting the vast and untapped food resources of the Pacific
waters, the center of the whaling industry in the early 20th century,
the western expansion of Asian markets, and even played a pivotal role in 1934
with the maritime labor unions work stoppage which became the only successful
general strike in the history of the United States.
With
the dramatic success of the BALCLUTHA’s restoration inspired the restoration
of the steam schooner TONGAS, which was rechristened WAPAMA, the three masted
schooner C.A. THAYER already mentioned which was rescued from the mudflats of
Puget Sound, the scow schooner ALMA was pulled from the shallows of south San
Francisco Bay and others which were and are being considered for restoration.
Due to financial strain, Congress finally created a separate national
park composed of ships and museum and named it the San Francisco Maritime
National Park on June 27, 1988.
This
is one museum which is relatively close to home and, as such, is well worth a
trip up to our neighbor in the north to see and admire.