This Day in Maritime History, April

This Day in Maritime History highlights the connections between SF Maritime NHP Collections and maritime historical events through the year.

January -- February -- March
April -- May -- June
July -- August -- September
October -- November -- December

 

Entry for April 3, 1849, accompanied by drawing of the Croton in the waves (SAFR 14299/HDC 91)

(Digital image by NPS)

April 3, 1849

H.W. Chittenden, enroute to San Francisco, writes about entering the Straits of Lumaire, accompanied by a drawing of the ship Croton in the waves." Read more about his sea journal held by the Park in collection SAFR 14299 via the links to blog posts under "Croton" on our Sailing Ships and SF Maritime Collections page.

 

Cover of Research Center's copy of book

(Digital image by NPS)

April 4, 1832

Captain Robert FitzRoy steers the H.M.S. Beagle into Rio harbor, and Charles Darwin writes in a letter home, "We shall in all probability stay more than a month in Rio. I have some thoughts, if I can find tolerably cheap lodgings, of living in a beautiful village about four miles from this town. It would be excellent for my collections, and for knowing the tropics."

 

(Digital image by NPS)

April 9, 1849

H.W. Chittenden enroute to San Francisco draws the bark Croton laying to in a gale off of Cape Horn. Read more about his sea journal held by the Park in collection SAFR 14299 via the links to blog posts under "Croton" on our Sailing Ships and SF Maritime Collections page.

 

David Crockett figurehead on display (SAFR 8834)

(NPS photo)

April 9, 1857

Clipper ship David Crockett clears port of New York headed to San Francisco, California.

 

Steam tug Hercules at John H. Dialogue's shipyard in Camden, New Jersey, January 1908, before her departure.

(NPS photo)

April 11, 1908

Steam tug Hercules arrives in San Francisco under Captain Thomsen with her sister tug Goliah under Captain Hansen in tow.

 

SAFR 12979

(NPS photo)

April 11, 1934

Captain John Tarantino, master of the fishing trawler Junta, hauled in a piece of history when he discovered his fishing nets, set north of the Farallone Islands, contained the ship's bell of the clipper Noonday. The Noonday sank in that area 71 years earlier--read about it in pages 4-5 of Shipwrecks at the Golden Gate.

 

Newspaper announcement about the upcoming series of articles, The Price of Salmon

(Digital image by NPS)

April 15, 1922

Max Stern, undercover reporter for the Daily News, is transported to Pier 29 by the subcontractors Young and Meyers where he boards the 3-masted bark Emily F. Whitney as a member of the Chinese cannery crew in the Alaska salmon trade. On board he signs a contract written in Chinese and receives a $10 advance, both of which make him a virtual prisoner on board until the Whitney sails. He will later write about his experiences in the newspaper series, The Price of Salmon.

 

SAFR 14336

(NPS photo)

April 17, 1914

The Board of Underwriters presents Chief Engineer Roy B. Goodwin with an engraved gold watch and chain and a month's salary to show their appreciation for the heroism he and his crew exhibited a month earlier when they attempted to save the steamer Cricket from the Portland, Oregon wharf fire. First Assistant Engineer H.G. Fowle and Second Assistant Engineer R.F. Blake each receive a month's salary and a letter of recommendation.

 

(Digital image by NPS)

April 24, 1849

H.W. Chittenden draws three different sections of mountains in his journal while enroute to San Francisco on the bark Croton. Read more about his sea journal held by the Park in collection SAFR 14299/HDC 91 via the links to blog posts under "Croton" on our Sailing Ships and SF Maritime Collections page.

 

Cover of Norton edition

April 24, 1916

Ernest Shackleton sets out in a lifeboat from Elephant Island to get help for the shipwrecked men in his Antarctic expedition. The dangerous journey was successful and the men were rescued.