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''Berkeley'' was one of several
''Berkeley'' was in regular service beginning in 1898. On October 3, 1900, ''Berkeley'' was leaving her dock in San Francisco, when she collided with the coastal passenger liner . Due to a misunderstanding of signals, Captain Blaker of ''Berkeley'' thought that his ship would be able to pass in front of ''Columbia'' while the larger liner was travelling forward at a slow speed towards her dock. When the realization came that ''Berkeley'' would not be able to overcome the massive ''Columbia'', it was too late. Despite both ships reversing thrust, the two ships collided. The collision resulted in the destruction of one lifeboat onboard ''Berkeley'' and badly injured ''Columbia''s iron bow. The ferryboat ''Newark'' took over for ''Berkeley'', while the latter ship was undergoing repairs. The damage caused to ''Berkeley'' was less severe than the damage given to ''Columbia''.
In the spring of 1958, she was taken out of service for repairs. She never returned to service, as Southern Pacific decided to end all ferry service on July 29, 1958. ''Berkeley'' was put up for sale, and was purchased by the Golden Gate Fishing Company to be used as a whaling processing facility. Before she was put to this use, however, she was sold to ferryboat enthusiast and businessman Bill Conover. Conover had ''Berkeley'' docked in
Photograph postcard, Berkeley docked in Sausalito during the 1960s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley (Ferryboat) Maritime Museum of San Diego Ferries of California San Francisco Bay History of Oakland, California History of San Francisco Museum ships in San Diego National Register of Historic Places in San Diego Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in California History of Berkeley, California History of San Diego Maritime incidents in 1900 1906 San Francisco earthquake Steam ferries
ferryboat
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...
s of the Southern Pacific Railroad that for sixty years operated on San Francisco Bay between the Oakland Pier
The Oakland Long Wharf was an 11,000-foot railroad wharf and ferry pier along the east shore of San Francisco Bay located at the foot of Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Oakland Long Wharf was built, beginning 1868, by the Central Pacific Rai ...
and the San Francisco Ferry Building
The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay, a food hall and an office building. It is located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California and is served by Golden Gate Ferry and San ...
. Built in 1898 by the Union Iron Works
Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries ...
of San Francisco, she served after the 1906 earthquake, ferrying refugees across the bay to Oakland.
History
''Berkeley'' was in regular service beginning in 1898. On October 3, 1900, ''Berkeley'' was leaving her dock in San Francisco, when she collided with the coastal passenger liner . Due to a misunderstanding of signals, Captain Blaker of ''Berkeley'' thought that his ship would be able to pass in front of ''Columbia'' while the larger liner was travelling forward at a slow speed towards her dock. When the realization came that ''Berkeley'' would not be able to overcome the massive ''Columbia'', it was too late. Despite both ships reversing thrust, the two ships collided. The collision resulted in the destruction of one lifeboat onboard ''Berkeley'' and badly injured ''Columbia''s iron bow. The ferryboat ''Newark'' took over for ''Berkeley'', while the latter ship was undergoing repairs. The damage caused to ''Berkeley'' was less severe than the damage given to ''Columbia''.
In the spring of 1958, she was taken out of service for repairs. She never returned to service, as Southern Pacific decided to end all ferry service on July 29, 1958. ''Berkeley'' was put up for sale, and was purchased by the Golden Gate Fishing Company to be used as a whaling processing facility. Before she was put to this use, however, she was sold to ferryboat enthusiast and businessman Bill Conover. Conover had ''Berkeley'' docked in Sausalito
Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sausalito's ...
, a small town on the Bay in Marin County, and converted her into a gift shop called "Trade Fair". However, ''Berkeley'' was not well-maintained in her gift shop incarnation and 12 years of serious deterioration took a toll. In 1973, she was sold to the Maritime Museum of San Diego
The Maritime Museum of San Diego, established in 1948, preserves one of the largest collections of historic sea vessels in the United States. Located on the San Diego Bay, the centerpiece of the museum's collection is the '' Star of India'', an 1 ...
. She was towed out of San Francisco Bay by tug on May 31, 1973, arriving 3 days later in 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 eighth most populous city in the United State ...
where she was subsequently restored. She currently serves as the main "building" of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
''Berkeley'' was notable for having been the first propeller-driven ferry on the west coast. At the time of her launching on October 18, 1898, she became the largest commuter ferryboat in the United States with a 1700-passenger capacity. She was also remarkable for being one of the earliest ferries to be powered by a triple-expansion steam engine
A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.
A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up ...
.
''Berkeley'' was declared a National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1990 and California State Historical Landmark No. 1031 in 2000.
During the time she was docked in Sausalito, actor Sterling Hayden
Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor and decorated Marine Corps officer and an Office of Strategic Services' agent during World War II. A leading man for mos ...
rented one of ''Berkeley''s pilot houses as an office while he wrote his autobiography ''Wanderer'' (published in 1963).
While ''Berkeley'' was under construction in 1898, the battleship was being constructed adjacent to her.
On the evening of April 15, 1899, ''Berkeley'' may have carried the Stanford Axe
The Stanford Axe is a trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Big Game, a college football match-up between the University of California Golden Bears and the Stanford University Cardinal. The trophy consists of an axe-head mounted on a larg ...
from the San Francisco Ferry Building
The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay, a food hall and an office building. It is located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California and is served by Golden Gate Ferry and San ...
to Oakland after it was stolen by a group of University of California students following a baseball game against Stanford.
Current Condition
The boilers for the steam engine are no longer operable. One is cutaway so that visitors can see inside it. Below deck, much of the original machinery is still semi-operational. Compressed air, rather than steam, is used to power the machinery so that visitors may see them in operation. The aft of the Berkeley contains two workshops: woodworking is done on the main deck and a room for mixing and storing paint is below it.See also
*Ferries of San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay in California has been served by ferries of all types for over 150 years. John Reed established a sailboat ferry service in 1826. Although the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge l ...
References
* "Berkeley: A Pioneering West Coast Ferryboat", in ''Mains'l Haul'' Spring 2004 (entire issue) Vol.40, No.2, published by the Maritime Museum of San Diego. *External links
Photograph postcard, Berkeley docked in Sausalito during the 1960s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley (Ferryboat) Maritime Museum of San Diego Ferries of California San Francisco Bay History of Oakland, California History of San Francisco Museum ships in San Diego National Register of Historic Places in San Diego Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in California History of Berkeley, California History of San Diego Maritime incidents in 1900 1906 San Francisco earthquake Steam ferries