''Senator'' was a steel-hulled steamship launched in 1898. She served as a troopship during the
Spanish-American War
Spanish Americans ( es, españoles estadounidenses, ''hispanoestadounidenses'', or ''hispanonorteamericanos'') are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in th ...
and was an important part of the
Nome gold rush
The Nome Gold Rush was a gold rush in Nome, Alaska, approximately 1899–1909.. It is separated from other gold rushes by the ease with which gold could be obtained. Much of the gold was lying in the beach sand of the landing place and could b ...
. She spent thirty years in the coastwise shipping trade between
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
and
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 ...
, until she was scrapped in
Osaka, Japan
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third most populous city in Ja ...
in 1935.
Construction
''Senator'' was built for the
Pacific Coast Steamship Company
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company was an important early shipping company that operated steamships on the west coast of North America. It was first organized in 1867 under the name Goodall, Nelson and Perkins. The Goodall, Nelson & Perkins Stea ...
at
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. ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. She was launched on March 19, 1898 and was christened by Miss Ella F. Goodall.
''Senator'' was long, with a beam of . Her hold was deep. Her hull was made from steel plates riveted together. The ship had a double bottom to reduce flooding danger in the event of an accident.
As originally launched, ''Senator'' had 26 first-class staterooms and a similar number of second class cabins for a capacity of 110 cabin passengers and 300 steerage passengers.
There were separate dining salons for first and second class passengers. She had electric light throughout the ship, which was quite advanced at the time of her launch. She could carry 1,500 tons of freight with of draft.
She was powered by a coal-fired
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 he ...
which produced 1,800
horsepower
Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...
. The cylinders had bores of , , and , with a stroke. The engine drove a single propeller at up to 125
rpm
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
, which in turn could drive the ship at 13 knots.
The ship was named after the
sidewheel steamer ''
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
'', which was one of the first ocean-going steamships on the California coast, and was owned by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company at the end of her career.
Pacific Coast Steamship Company (1898 - 1916)
Press reports suggest that the Pacific Coast Steamship Company had originally planned to use ''Senator'' to replace ''
Orizaba
Orizaba () is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located 20 km west of its sister city Córdoba, and is adjacent to Río Blanco and Ixtaczoquitlán, on Federal Highways 180 and 190. The city had a 2005 census ...
'' on runs between San Francisco and
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, or in the alternative, to replace ''Australia'' on runs to
Dyea, Alaska
Dyea ( ) is a former town in the U.S. state of Alaska. A few people live on individual small homesteads in the valley; however, it is largely abandoned. It is located at the convergence of the Taiya River and Taiya Inlet on the south side of the ...
to take advantage of the
Klondike gold rush.
Whatever the company's plans, they were superseded by the Spanish-American War, which was declared a month after ''Senator'' was launched. The U.S. government needed ships quickly to achieve its war aims and was unable to negotiate satisfactory terms of charter with their owners. In June 1898
Assistant Secretary of War Meiklejohn ordered a number of ships, including ''Senator'', impressed into government service.
Spanish-American War (1898 - 1900)
The
Army Transport Service
The United States Army Transport Service (ATS) was established as a sea-going transport service that was independent of the Navy Department. ATS operated army transport ships for both troop transport and cargo service between United States ports ...
employed ''Senator'' as a troop ship. In May 1898 she embarked the 1st Battalion of the 1st Washington Volunteer Infantry Regiment in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...
and sailed for San Francisco, where the Army concentrated troops for dispatch to the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. On June 15, 1898 ''Senator'' sailed from San Francisco for
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
. She had the 1,023 officers and men of the 1st Regiment of Nebraska Volunteers on board. She stopped at
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
on June 24 to take on more coal and sailed on again two days later. ''Senator'' arrived at
Cavite
Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest ...
in
Manila Bay
Manila Bay ( fil, Look ng Maynila) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Phili ...
on July 21, 1898.
''Senator'' sailed back from Manila for San Francisco on August 24, 1898. On this return journey she carried 30 troops who were ill or whose enlistments had expired. The ship was days late to her coaling stop in Honolulu and concern was expressed that she, "may have been lost in the terrible typhoon." Finally, on September 18, 1898 she reached
Oahu
Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...
. She had indeed been caught in a
typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
and was forced to heave to for 32 hours. The ship sustained storm damage to the railing and machinery on her foredeck. She finally reached San Francisco on October 4, 1898 and was briefly quarantined because of the ill soldiers aboard.
The ship made five more trips to Manila as an Army troopship. She carried regular army units, including six companies of the
22nd Infantry Regiment, and portions of the
13th Infantry Regiment, as well as units of volunteer infantry regiments such as the 10th Pennsylvania, and the 45th United States. Early departures from San Francisco, at the height of patriotic fervor, were marked by parades, cheering crowds, and steam-whistle salutes from the other ships in the harbor. Later departures created "very little excitement."
Life aboard ''Senator'' was not luxurious for the troops. Some were seasick even before they reached the
Golden Gate
The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by th ...
. The ship was vastly overcrowded, with more than twice as many passengers as she was originally designed to house. Food was also an issue. On one trip to Manila, the troops mutinied against the tinned beef they were served, calling it "embalmed beef" and had it thrown overboard. On a coaling stop in Honolulu, a fight among the overcrowded troops became a riot, and the ship sailed on with fifty men in irons.
On return trips to San Francisco, ''Senator'' stopped for coal at
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
,
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
,
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
, and Honolulu at various times. On early return trips she sailed home with but a handful of troops who were ill, injured, or discharged. After a year of war in the Philippines, however, entire Army units were scheduled to return home. ''Senator'' returned to San Francisco with 810 officers and men of the 51st Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment in October 1899. They were greeted by a band playing patriotic tunes, a delegation from San Francisco which granted the soldiers the "freedom of the city", and even the governor of Iowa,
Leslie M. Shaw
Leslie Mortier Shaw (November 2, 1848March 28, 1932) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He served as the 17th Governor of Iowa and was a Republican candidate in the 1908 United States presidential election.
Biography
Shaw was b ...
.
''Senator'' was returned to her owners by the Army in February 1900. During her twenty months in government service she steamed almost 100,000 miles and carried over 10,000 men across the Pacific.
The Army Transport Service paid the Pacific Coast Steamship Company $534,375 for the use of ''Senator'' during the war, or a little more than $900 per day. Further, the government paid to equip the ship with additional bunks and other fittings to convert her into a troopship. The management and cost of the Army Transport Service, particularly ''Senator'', was the subject of a
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
inquiry in 1900. The assessed value of the ship was $400,000, so the headlines of the day had it that the government paid $134,375 more to charter the ship than she was worth. This simple calculation failed to consider that the charter fees also covered the cost of the crew, maintenance, and the restoration of the ship to its original condition, among other expenses.
Nome Gold Rush (1900)
Gold was discovered in Anvil Creek in
Nome, Alaska
Nome (; ik, Sitŋasuaq, ) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of Alaska, United States. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. It had a population of 3,699 recorded ...
in 1898. By 1899 a full gold rush was underway. When it was discovered that there was gold not just in the creek, but also in the beach sand for miles around Nome, thousands more rushed to West Coast ports so they could sail to the scene in Spring 1900. Thus, within three weeks of ''Senator's'' return to her owners in February 1900, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company announced that the ship would sail from San Francisco to Nome via
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
beginning in May, when the melting of the sea ice allowed navigation in the
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
.
In the meantime, the bunkbeds and other troopship furnishings were ripped out and ''Senator'' went into the Merchants dry dock in San Francisco for a general overhaul.
After this quick trip to the shipyard, she sailed between San Francisco and Seattle as a freighter, carrying coal and general cargo.
Her first trip to Nome was sold out, and she was not alone. An estimated 110 ships bound for Nome left Pacific ports in the Spring of 1900. ''Senator'' sailed from San Francisco on May 14, 1900, with 161 passengers aboard. She was one of five ships that headed north from that port on the 14th and 15th, which carried 1,161 passengers for Nome. Several of these ships, including ''Senator'', stopped in Seattle, picking up additional passengers and freight. ''Senator'' sailed north from Seattle on May 20, 1900 with 440 passengers aboard. Not all of them were miners. Some were seeking their fortunes by serving the miners in the new boom town. ''Senator's'' cargo included bar fixtures, buggies, and a complete printing plant to establish Alaska's first newspaper, the Nome Daily News. In a real sense, ''Senator'' and the other ships sailing with her, were the Nome gold rush.
The eagerness of the rushers to reach the gold fields had the ships sailing north at the earliest conceivable moment. In the event, this proved too early as the sea ice had not retreated from Nome. On June 5, the ship was stopped by the ice 140 miles short of her destination. Her captain anchored ''Senator'' to the ice, along with about 20 other craft, waiting for the ice to break up. The Revenue Cutter
USS Bear
USS ''Bear'' was a dual steam-powered and sailing ship built with -thick sides which had a long life in various cold-water and ice-filled environs. She was a forerunner of modern icebreakers and had a diverse service life. According to the Unit ...
, an early
icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
, passed close by en route to Nome. The captain of the ''Senator'' called out to
Michael A. Healy
Michael Augustine Healy (September 22, 1839 – August 30, 1904) was an American career officer with the United States Revenue Cutter Service (predecessor of the United States Coast Guard), reaching the rank of captain. He has been recognized s ...
, famed captain of the ''Bear'', to ask if he could follow. Healy replied, "You can if you want to...", but the ''Senator's'' captain chose to remain behind. ''Senator's'' hull was dented, starting a leak, but she finally freed herself and back-tracked to
Dutch Harbor, Alaska
Dutch Harbor is a harbor on Amaknak Island in Unalaska, Alaska. It was the location of the Battle of Dutch Harbor in June 1942, and was one of the few sites in the United States to be subjected to aerial bombardment by a foreign power during Worl ...
, making port on June 7, 1900. Her second attempt was successful, and ''Senator'' was able to reach Nome on June 12, 1900.
Only a small percentage of the gold rushers had any mining experience, so many of the men who were deposited on the beach at Nome had no idea how to find gold. Whatever their expertise, since 1900 was a couple of years after the original discovery, many of the best locations had already been taken. Some of the unskilled worked as laborers on other miners' claims, and as each new ship disembarked yet more men, wages fell. The cost of living was high, and the living was rough. Many had no shelter but a tent. Winter came early in Nome and once the sea ice returned there would be no more food or hope of escape. Consequently, ''Senator'' sailed back from Nome as fully booked as she was on the trip to the gold fields. According to one report, the demand to leave Nome was so great that the fares were doubled on the return trip. On one trip to Nome, the fare on ''Senator'' was $50 for a first class cabin and $25 for a second class, while on the return trip it was $100 and $85 respectively. The ship made it back to Seattle from her first trip to Nome on July 3, 1900.
''Senator'' made four more round trips between Seattle and Nome in 1900 before the sea ice closed in again. She returned to Seattle from Nome for the last time in 1900 on November 3. On her last four trips she brought back 1,058 passengers, most of whom had failed to make their fortunes. A few had done very well, however, and the ship carried a reported $1,195,000 of gold dust and nuggets back from Alaska in 1900.
Seasonal Service to Nome (1901 - 1916)
For the next six years, through 1906, ''Senator'' was one of the first ships to reach Nome in the Spring, typically around mid-June, and one of the last to return south in the Fall, typically arriving in Seattle in early November. She normally completed five round-trips per season, but in 1904 completed six. These trips usually included a stop at
St. Michael, the port which serviced steamer travel up the
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
. Most of the sailings were relatively uneventful. This was not the case when the ship departed Seattle for Nome on June 1, 1902 with 260 passengers aboard. When the ship arrived at Nome on June 11, a young man from
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
was found to have
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
. The quarantine officer ordered to ship to Egg Island near
St. Michael, Alaska
St. Michael ( esu, Taciq, ik, Tasiq; Taziq, russian: Сент-Майкл), historically referred to as Saint Michael, is a city in Nome Census Area, Alaska. The population was 401 at the 2010 census, up from 368 in 2000.
Geography
St. Michael ...
, where the passengers were debarked for a two-week stay in tents. ''Senator'' left her passengers there and sailed back to
Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census.
It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...
, arriving July 3, 1902, without passengers since the ship would have to be fumigated and the crew quarantined on arrival.
''Senator'' missed the 1907 Nome sailing season because she underwent a major overhaul. The ship was at the
Risdon 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. ...
shipyard in San Francisco from February to October 1907.
She continue her Summer sailings to Nome from 1908 through 1916.
During the "closed season", that is when ice closed the Bering Sea to navigation in the Winter, the ship usually replaced another Pacific Coast Steamship Company vessel which had been disabled or was in need of repair. In November 1900, ''Senator'' was assigned to run between San Francisco, Seattle and
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
. She was reassigned to the Seattle -
Skagway, Alaska
The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a first-class borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal wit ...
route in January 1901 to replace the Pacific Coast Steamship Company's ''City of Topeka,'' which ran aground on
Sullivan Island in
Lynn Canal
Lynn Canal is an inlet (not an artificial canal) into the mainland of southeast Alaska.
Lynn Canal runs about from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage. At over in depth, Lynn Canal is the deepest fjord ...
, south of Skagway. ''Senator's'' new route took her from Seattle to Vancouver, and then on to Alaska, stopping at
Ketchikan
Ketchikan ( ; tli, Kichx̱áan) is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic District.
With a population at the 202 ...
,
Wrangell,
Juneau
The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...
, and Skagway. On her first trip to Southeast Alaska, ''Senator'' almost replicated ''City of Topeka's'' accident. In the weak light of dawn in a dense fog, Senator grounded on a sand bar at
Shelter Island in Lynn Canal. She floated off with the rising tide and continued her trip, but went into dry dock immediately upon her return to Seattle. Repairs required replacing 40 rivets in the keel and a new propeller. She headed north again the day after leaving the shipyard, February 2, 1901.
While the Southeast Alaska run did not have the urgency of the Nome gold rush, it did have its share of riches. The
Treadwell mine
The Treadwell gold mine was on the south side of Douglas Island, east of downtown Douglas and southeast of downtown Juneau, owned and operated by John Treadwell. Composed of four sub-sites, Treadwell was in its time the largest hard rock gold ...
in Juneau was producing gold, and ''Senator'' carried $50,000 of bullion back to Seattle in March 1901. Other cargoes were decidedly more mundane. When ''Senator'' left Vancouver for Southeast Alaska on April 17, 1901 she had on board machinery for the Treadwell mine, 60,000 feet of lumber for the
White Pass Railway in Skagway, and livestock headed ultimately up the
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
, including 65 head of cattle, 50 hogs, and 200 sheep. Unfortunately, she also had a case of smallpox aboard. A woman from Seattle was diagnosed with the disease en route, and Captain J. B. Patterson duly informed the quarantine officer in Juneau upon ''Senator's'' arrival. No one was allowed to land, and no cargo except the mail came ashore (this was fumigated to kill any germs). The ship was ordered back to the
Diamond Point, Washington quarantine station where most of the passengers and crew were kept in isolation for two weeks, and the ship was fumigated. In 1902, as in the previous year, ''Senator'' was assigned to the Southeast Alaska route after her last trip to Nome and almost immediately had an accident. This time she went aground on rocks at the north end of
Wrangell Narrows
The Wrangell Narrows is a winding, 35-km-long (22 mi) channel between Mitkof Island and Kupreanof Island in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska. The Wrangell Narrows is one of the six Listed narrows in Southeast Alaska. There are a ...
. She floated off three hours later as the tide rose. Her damage was slight, but she was dry docked for repairs when she returned south. She completed the rest of the season in Southeast Alaska without incident.
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company placed ''Senator'' on the Vancouver to San Francisco run during the winters of 1903 - 1904, 1904 -1905, 1912 - 1913, 1913 - 1914, and 1915 - 1916. During the Winter of 1905 - 1906, 1906 -1907, and 1908 - 1909 ''Senator'' was chartered to the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company, a unit of
E. H. Harriman's steamship empire, to replace ships that had been disabled or were otherwise unavailable. During these charters she ran between San Francisco and Portland.
''Senator'' replaced the steamer ''Curacao'' in the Winters of 1909 - 1910, and 1911 - 1912, sailing from San Francisco south to
San Pedro and Mexican ports, including
Ensenada,
La Paz
La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...
,
Mazatlan, 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 Califo ...
. In the Winter of 1910 - 1911, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company placed the ship back on the Southeast Alaska run, replacing ''Cottage City'', which was overhauled. In March 1911 ''Senator'' was chartered by the
Alaska Packers Association to sail to Honolulu to recruit workers to seasonal jobs in its canneries. This was seen as a "raid" on Hawaii's labor force by the sugar plantations, and the territorial legislature considered a number of laws to prevent the solicitation of Hawaiian workers before the ship arrived. ''Senator's'' visit to Oahu was marked with legal troubles and she sailed back to San Francisco with only 145 of the 1000 hoped for workers aboard. When ''Senator'' reached San Francisco there was further trouble as the workers refused to leave ''Senator'' for a ship bound for the canneries until they had signed contracts for their work in the fish plants.
Pacific Steamship Company (1916 - 1935)
While the Pacific Coast Steamship Company was one of the largest, it was by no means the only shipping company on the west coast. Competition was vigorous and consolidation among smaller companies was frequent. On November 1, 1916 the Pacific Coast Steamship Company and the
Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company were merged to create the
Pacific Steamship Company, which marketed itself as the "Admiral Line". The public rationale for the merger was to increase sailing frequencies by eliminating duplication between the two fleets, but it was clear that eliminating the duplication also meant eliminating competition. ''Senator'' became part of this new entity, then the largest coastwise shipping firm on the west coast of America.
While her ownership changed, ''Senator's'' initial day-to-day sailing schedule after the merger was familiar. She was assigned to the Los Angeles - San Francisco - Seattle route, and made several sailings with freight only to meet the demands of a growing economy. She was back to Nome in the Summer of 1917, and then sailed once again between San Francisco and Seattle. Later in 1917, her work changed. She was briefly employed between Seattle and Honolulu. She completed a Seattle -
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
round-trip later in 1917 returning with a full load of rubber, rice, and other Asian commodities. ''Senator'' sailed continuously between Seattle and Singapore and
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
through June 1919, when she returned to her familiar Seattle-Nome routing.
In December 1919, ''Senator'' opened a new route from San Francisco to
Corinto, Nicaragua
Corinto is a town, with a population of 18,552 (2021 estimate), on the northwest Pacific coast of Nicaragua in the province of Chinandega. The municipality was founded in 1863.
History Early years
The town of Corinto was founded in 1849. It first ...
, with stops in Southern California and Mexico. This routing was discontinued in May 1921 and she was assigned to run up and down the west coast from San Diego to Portland. The ship was withdrawn from this route in November 1922, when she went into the shipyard for a general overhaul. The
General Engineering and Drydock Company of
Alameda
An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to:
Places Canada
*Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan
**Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan
Chile
...
won the bid for the work at a price of $27,500. When the overhaul was completed in March 1923, the ship was renamed ''Admiral Fiske,'' to conform with the Admiral Line's naming convention. Her new name honored U.S. Navy
Rear Admiral Bradley Allen Fiske. The reconditioned ''Admiral Fiske'' returned to her familiar San Diego to Portland route. In 1926, a ticket from Los Angeles to San Francisco aboard ''Admiral Fiske'' cost $14, while $36 would take you to Portland.
At about 10:30 p.m. on September 1, 1928, ''Admiral Fiske'' rammed the
American-Hawaiian Steamship Company's freighter ''
Floridian'' in a dense fog. Both ships were headed to Seattle and were off the Washington coast, about 65 miles south of
Tatoosh Island
Tatoosh Island is a small island and small group of islands about offshore (northwest) of Cape Flattery, which is on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Tatoosh is the largest of a small group of islands also often refe ...
at the time of the collision. Despite the fact that ''Floridian'' was more than twice as large as Admiral Fiske, she was sunk in the accident. ''Floridian'' crossed in front of ''Admiral Fiske'' and the collision opened an 8' by 4' hole in her hull that flooded her engine room and cargo hold. ''Admiral Fiske'' was able to save all 43 of her crew (but not the ship's cat and parrot) and stood by ''Floridian'' until about 4 a.m. when the sinking ship was lost in the fog. ''Admiral Fiske's'' forepeak water-tight bulkhead was leaking slightly, but the ship made Seattle under her own power. The investigation of the accident exonerated the navigation officers of both ships and blamed the fog for the collision.
''Admiral Fiske'' was withdrawn from service for repairs after the collision, but these were completed quickly. By mid-October 1928, she was once again sailing up and down the west coast from San Diego to Seattle. As the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
deepened, the ship was idled in September 1931. In September 1934, five Admiral Line steamers, including ''Admiral Fiske'', were sold for scrap to Fukuoka Steel Company of Osaka, Japan for $4,500 each. The ship sailed from San Francisco for the last time in January 1935, heavily laden with additional scrap iron. She was broken up in Osaka.
References
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Steamships of the United States
1898 ships