The Ships ofthe
San Francisco Gold Rush by Shelley Reid
T
his yea r marks the 150th anniver- were quick to seize on rhis unusual new sa ry of rhe California Gold Rush, reso urce. Some bought the abandon ed rhe mass migratio n of adventu ro us vessels and dism antled them for the matesouls that led ro the integration of the rial in the fittin gs, fuelin g smelting fires California coast into rhesrill-young U n ired with wood from the hulls. Oth ers rook States. W hile the traditio nal image of the adva ntage of ships' solid construction and adve nturers heading west ro seek their for- usable timber as an alternative ro expentune is that of dusty travelers in covered sive land development, dragging a hulk wagons, there is another side ro this story. in to shallow water and imp rovising the The greater number of wo uld -be million - co nstruction of hotels, restaurants, wareaires followed the exampl e of the mining houses or sto res. Finally, as San Francisco Niantic landed in San Francisco 4 Jul y equipment, foodstuffs, supplies and build- expanded and builders looked for new land 1849. In the subsequent weeks the crew ing materials, for which the overland jo ur- to develop, ships' remains were rowed deserted, headed for the gold mining fields. ney was roo impractical; they braved the asho re and used as landfill. Today, it is not Unable to raise another crew, the ship's seas as passengers in the Gold Rush ships. un co mmon for builders excavating sites owners sold her to merchan rs Samuel Ward, T he first of the seaborn e 'Forry-Nin ers fo r new constructio n ro come across the Charles Mersch, Adolphe Ma illiard and arri ved in San Francisco on 28 February rem ains of a ship, underneath the city. Elbert P. Jon es, who convened Niantic ro a 1849 aboard the sidewheel stea mer CaliNiantic's Nine Lives store ship, used to hold goods for miners fornia . The California had departed New One of the ships rediscovered in San Fran- who wanted a safe place to keep their posYork cany ing o nly cargo, bur rh e ship's cisco is the Niantic. Bui]r by T homas C hilds sessions, and fo r merchants to sto re goods captain , Jo hn T. Marshall , co uldn 't turn at Chatham, Co nnecticut, in 1835, rhe unril they could be delivered to shops or down the profit of rhe more than 300 Niantic starred o ur as a merchant ship in buyers. A m ajor fire burned Niantic down passengers who clambered aboa rd at Peru the C hina trade between New York and to thewarerlineon 3May1851; the N ianti c and Panam a, having by th is rime heard the Ca nton. Hostilities related ro C hin a's Hore! was built o n rhe site and stood until news of the discovery of gold in C alifornia O pium W ar ended Niantic's C hina trav- 1872. A plaque marks the sire today. on 24 January 1848. When their coal sup- els; after fo ur yea rs of inactivity she was Niantic resurfaced in 1872 a nd again in ply ran our, Marshall 's crew had to burn sold to new owners, who co nverted her fo r the early 1900s, when the constructio n of timbers gathered along the journey and the whaling trade. After one whaling jour- more modern buildings required the digfinally resorted ro burning furniture, but ney from 1844 to 1847 she carried passen- ging of deeper fou nd atio ns. The latest epimake it they did, inaugurati ng the sea- gers between New York and Liverpool, sode was in 1978, when rhe Niantic was borne wave of Californi a's new citizenry. then in 1848 she was so ld again and set out unearthed again , at the corner of C lay and T he wave in creased exponentially as in search of whales. In earl y l 849, Niantic Sansome streets. An eight-foo t-wide cross Americans on rhe East Coast fueled the put into Paira, Peru , for provisio ns. By this section of Niantic's hull at rhe midships drive westward. More than fi ve hundred time gold fever had reached South America; and stern was removed, along with her ships arrived in San Francisco between Niantic's captain, H enry C leaveland, de- rudder, log windl ass, large beam s and copApril and D ecember in 1849, while not a cided ro sir o ur rhe whale seaso n and outfit per sheathing. T hese items were accessioned dozen arri ved in 1848. his ship for passe ngers. H eavy whaling into the collectio ns of the San Francisco As profitable as it was for the vessels' equipment was removed , bunks were built, Maritime National Historical Park. In adowners to ca rry paying passengers ro Cali- whaling try-pots-used for rendering whale dition, artifacts that had been sto red in the fornia, ir was very di fficult for them, in blubber-were co nve rted ro so up kettles. ship at the rime of rhe fire were also unmost cases, ro recover rh e ships o nce they T hus refitted, Niantic called at Panama earthed and anal yzed by archaeo logist Mary reached C alifornia's shores. C rew aban- and rook o n 25 0 passe ngers at $ 150 ro Hi lderman Smith. NMHS founder Ka rl Kort um lobbi ed ro raise funds for a resdoned ship, lured by rhe siren song of gold $25 0 per perso n. for the raking, and they could not be recue-rem oving rhe Niantic threatened ro placed. The Gold Rush ships pil ed up collapse rhe mud fo undation ofSa nsome in San Francisco's harbor, abanStreet, and preventative measures were doned, earning rhe nicknam e cos tly-bu r th e developer's extremely "Rotten Row. " right schedule forced rhe iss ue and th e E nt e rpri s in g construction project was co mpleted, San Fra n c isco burying the rest of rhe remai ns. bu s in ess m e n Niantic Storehouse {Courtesy: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park) H isrory repeated in 1979 when 34
SEA HISTORY 90, AUTUMN 1999