Many ships have wrecked in and around

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water f ...

. For centuries San Francisco Bay, with its strong currents, rocky

reefs A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

, and low

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

conditions has experienced more than a hundred

shipwrecks A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

. Ever since San Francisco Bay was discovered during the land expedition of

Gaspar de Portolà Gaspar is a given and/or surname of French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish origin, cognate to Casper (given name) or Casper (surname). It is a name of biblical origin, per Saint Gaspar, one of the wise men mentioned in the Bible. Notable peo ...

in 1769, it has been one of the most popular harbors. During the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

, thousands of ships sailed in and out of San Francisco. The sea became the cheapest way to bring goods to the growing city. From 1848 to 1869, ships carried 500,000 passengers to and from San Francisco. Many fishing and

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

vessels navigated the waters of San Francisco Bay. In the 1880s San Francisco was a whaling capital of the United States.

Partial list of lost ships

''Caroline Amelia''

''Caroline Amelia'', a Danish bark, wrecked on Mile Rocks on March 19, 1850. The ''Daily Alta California'' wrote:

''Golden Fleece''

''Golden Fleece'' was a 968-ton

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "Cl ...

. It was wrecked on April 22, 1854, as it was exiting Golden Gate on a voyage way to Manilla. The wreck occurred at the rocks near Fort Point. The ''

Daily Alta California The ''Alta California'' or ''Daily Alta California'' (often miswritten ''Alta Californian'' or ''Daily Alta Californian'') was a 19th-century San Francisco newspaper. ''California Star'' The ''Daily Alta California'' descended from the first ...

'' wrote that "lying broadside OR to the rocks... bilged and full of water, her mainmast is gone, also the fore and main top mast". On April 22, 1854, the wreck was sold in a public

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition e ...

and "The purchasers of the wreck are busily engaged stripping her of everything moveable, at the same time preparations are being made to raise her... The sails, rigging, guns, &C., saved by the consignee of the ship, were sold at auction yesterday, the two brass pieces bringing $580 quivalent to $ today.

''Granada''

''Granada'' was a 1,058 91/95-ton sidewheel

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamship ...

. It was wrecked because of the break in her main steam line on October 13, 1860. It lost power and was dragged ashore near Fort Point. In two days the steamer became a total loss and a local attraction. The ''Daily Alta California'' wrote that "The Granada was visited by crowds of people yesterday, as she lay high and dry beyond Fort Point". The wreck was sold on the auction and the salvaging began: "men... were taking the machinery out, and assisting the waves to break to pieces what is left of her".

''Rescue''

''Rescue'' was a 139-ton tugboat that was wrecked at

Point Bonita Point Bonita Lighthouse is a lighthouse located at Point Bonita at the San Francisco Bay entrance in the Marin Headlands near Sausalito, California. Point Bonita was the last manned lighthouse on the California coast. It was added to the National ...

on October 3, 1874. Though it was built to rescue other boats, it was not able to rescue itself after it struck rocks in a dense fog. A pleasure passenger, Thomas Markey, was swept into the ocean. His body was never recovered.

''Frank Jones''

''Frank Jones'' wrecked on March 30, 1877, while leaving San Francisco on a voyage to Manila. It was attached to the

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

''Monarch'', but the

hawser Hawser () is a nautical term for a thick cable or rope used in mooring or towing a ship. A hawser passes through a hawsehole, also known as a cat hole, located on the hawse. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, third editi ...

(mooring rope) parted. Although another hawser was passed to ''Frank Jones'', it parted as well. The

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek � ...

's chain proved to be too short to secure the vessel, and she was carried ashore around near Fort Point. The wreck was sold at Merchant's Exchange, but two attempts to bring the wreck to the beach for repair failed.

''King Philip''

''King Philip'', a 1,194 40/95-ton three-masted ship, was wrecked on January 25, 1878. The wreck occurred in low wind conditions that could not support its sails. A towboat was called to help another clipper, ''Western Shore'', and did not help ''King Philip''. It was carried ashore at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' wrote that "Yesterday morning at and after daylight the sea was breaking well up to the vessel, and she moved very uneasily at times, but later in the day it appeared as if she had settled down in the sand... she was immovable". The

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

was low and the sailors were able to get off the ship and walk to the beach. The wreck, which was buried in the sand, is the most preserved wreck of a wooden clipper ship off the coast of California. Left in place at extreme low tide level in 1878, what is left of the wreck of the ''King Philip'' is usually covered in sand. Sometimes, as the profile of the sand on the beach shifts and changes, the timbers reemerge and are visible during low tide. The wreck was partially visible when the schooner ''Reporter'' wrecked on the same site on March 13, 1902. Contemporary accounts noted that the ''Reporter'' was "fast digging her own grave alongside the bones of the "King Philip", whose ribs are still seen..." The wrecks of both ships were buried in 1910 when a large amount of sand was pushed on to the beach as sand dunes were bulldozed during construction of the

Great Highway The Great Highway is a road in San Francisco that forms the city's western edge along the Pacific coast. Built in 1929, it runs for approximately next to Ocean Beach. Its southern end is at Skyline Boulevard ( State Route 35) near Lake Merced; ...

. The first documented re-exposure came in 1982. Another re-exposure occurred in 1983. In March of that year,

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

archaeologist James Delgado documented the site with fellow archaeologist Martin T. Mayer. The wreck was re-exposed in May 1984 to a hitherto unseen level of exposure, when Delgado and a larger team returned to document more of the hull. That project determined the ship was nearly half intact (45%) from the keel to the 'tween deck level, which was still partially sheathed in "yellow", or Muntz metal, and was ballasted with rocks from San Francisco's Telegraph Hill. Tangled wire rope, rigging elements, and timbers from the schooner ''Reporter'' were also found mixed into the hull. In 1984, the wreck was exposed extensively enough to allow exploration by divers. After its appearance in 1985, the wreck was not visible for 22 years. The construction of the Ocean Beach sewer outfall resulted in more dumping of sand on Ocean Beach. This caused the ship to be buried again. It was re-exposed in November 2010, three years after its previous appearance. As of April 2011, the wreck was again visible, this time to the same extent as it had been in 1984. Stephen Haller, the park historian for the

Golden Gate National Recreation Area The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United ...

of the National Park Service, says that the ''King Philip'' is the best-preserved wreck of a wooden ship in the San Francisco Bay area, which has a total of approximately 200 old shipwrecks.

SS ''City of Chester''

The coastal steamer ''City of Chester'', bound for Eureka with 90 passengers on the morning of August 22, 1888, sank six minutes after colliding with the liner '' Oceanic'', which was arriving from Asia. Initial news reports criticized the Chinese crew of the ''Oceanic'', but they were later praised after their bravery in rescuing many passengers from the ''City of Chester'' became known. In May 2013 a

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

crew surveying another nearby shipwreck extended their survey to try to find the ''City of Chester'' and discovered it "sitting upright, shrouded in mud, deep at the edge of a small undersea shoal". There are no plans to raise the wreck, but an exhibit at the San Francisco headquarters of the

Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...

is planned. The rediscovery near the Golden Gate Bridge of a passenger steamship that sank in 1888 is being hailed as restoring an important historical link to San Francisco’s early Chinese American community.

''SS City of Rio de Janeiro''

''SS City of Rio de Janeiro'' was an iron hulled steam powered

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

. The opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District described the wreck:Only 79 passengers were saved. In July 1902, the partly decomposed body of the ship's captain, William Ward, was found in the

pilothouse The interior of the bridge of the Sikuliaq'', docked in Ketchikan, Alaska">RV_Sikuliaq.html" ;"title="Research Vessel ''RV Sikuliaq">Sikuliaq'', docked in Ketchikan, Alaska file:Wheelhouse of Leao Dos Mares.jpg, Wheelhouse on a tugboat, topp ...

that had been torn from the bulk and washed ashore at

Baker Beach Baker Beach is a public beach on the peninsula of San Francisco, California, U.S. The beach lies on the shore of the Pacific Ocean in the northwest of the city. It is roughly a long, beginning just south of Golden Gate Point (where the Golden ...

''Yosemite''

''Yosemite'' was a single-ended, 827-ton steam

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

. It was wrecked on February 7, 1926 near

Point Reyes Point Reyes (, meaning "Point of the Kings") is a prominent cape and popular Northern California tourist destination on the Pacific coast. Located in Marin County, it is approximately west-northwest of San Francisco. The term is often applie ...

, approximately 30 miles (50 km) WNW of San Francisco. At the time of the wreck, it contained 25 tons of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germany, and patented in 1867. It rapidl ...

as cargo. After receiving a distress signal, the nearby schooner ''Willamette'' rescued the crew. ''Yosemite'' was then tugged to San Francisco, but detached from the tugboat and on February 8, 1926 drifted to Ocean Beach around Cliff House and broke apart on impact. Some speculated that the dynamite exploded, others believed that the schooner was broken by the surf. The ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'' wrote that "Whatever the cause, the ship was splintered to atoms". The Lurline pier was damaged by wreckage. According to the ''Chronicle'', "Thousands of spectators crowded the beach for the next few days, picking up souvenirs and posing for pictures amidst the wreckage."

References

{{Reflist, 2, refs= {{cite book, title= The Seamen's bill: Hearings held before the Committee on the Merchant Marine, publisher=

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGM-AAAAYAAJ&dq=wreck+%22City+of+Rio+de+Janeiro%22+%22san+Francisco%22&pg=PA62, access-date=11 February 2011, page=62, year = 1911 {{cite book, title= The Sun almanac for 1899, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IBoXAAAAYAAJ&dq=wreck+%22City+of+Rio+de+Janeiro%22+%22san+Francisco%22+%22consul%22&pg=RA3-PA47, access-date=11 February 2011, page=47, date = January 7, 1899 {{cite web, title= SUBMERGED CULTURAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA GULF OF 'THE FARALLONES NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY and POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE, author = JAMES P. DELGADO, author2=STEPHEN A. HALLER , publisher=

, url=https://archive.org/stream/submergedcultura00delgrich/submergedcultura00delgrich_djvu.txt, access-date=11 February 2011, year = 1989 {{cite web, title=Shipwreck makes a romantic return / Remains of clipper ship appear again on Ocean Beach every 20 years or so, publisher=SFGate, url=http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-05-09/bay-area/17244514_1_clipper-ship-king-philip-sailing-vessels/2, author=Carl Nolte and Meredith May, date=May 9, 2007, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101209150043/http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-05-09/bay-area/17244514_1_clipper-ship-king-philip-sailing-vessels/2, archive-date=December 9, 2010 {{cite web, title=The Return of the King Philip Shipwreck, publisher=oceanbeachbulletin.com, url=http://oceanbeachbulletin.com/2010/11/12/the-return-of-the-king-philip-shipwreck/, author=Mark Lukach, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730075335/http://oceanbeachbulletin.com/2010/11/12/the-return-of-the-king-philip-shipwreck/, archive-date=2013-07-30 {{cite news , publisher=KGO-TV , title=Remains of old shipwreck resurface at Ocean Beach , url=http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Fsan_francisco&id=8044497 , date=March 30, 2011 {{cite news , url=http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-shipwreck-san-francisco-bay-historical-find-20140424,0,236503.story , newspaper=

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

, title=1888 shipwreck in San Francisco Bay hailed as big historical find , date=April 24, 2014 , last=Romney , first=Lee {{cite news , url=https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-mar-01-1926-p-18/ , title=Boilers of Wreck In South Channel Bring Warning , newspaper=Oakland Tribune , date=March 1, 1926 , page=18 , via=Newspaperarchive.com , type=Subscription required San Francisco Bay Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area