This Day in Maritime History, December

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

 

December 1, 1852

From the diary of Benjamin Vicuna Mackenna, "We crossed the equator, twenty two days out of Valaparaiso…I escaped the Baptism of Neptune the sailors had planned for me. It was not because they respected me as an employeer--the laws of the sea are inexorable about that; it was the captain had bought them off with the promise of a double wine ration at Easter." (From, We were 49ers! : Chilean accounts of the California Gold Rush / translated and edited by Edwin A. Beilharz and Carlos U. Lopez. - Pasadena, Calif. : Ward Ritchie Press, c1976)

 

Menu mailer advertising the Los Angeles Steamship Company's coastal service aboard the Harvard and Yale (SAFR 8887)

(NPS photo)

December 2, 1910

The steamer Yale arrives in San Francisco. The trip took under 18 hours, bringing an end her maiden voyage in a new coastal steamer service.

 

Biography of Alma Spreckels

December 6, 1940

Mrs. Alma Spreckels establishes the Museum of Science and Industry as a non-profit vehicle for the collection known as the "Marine Exhibit." This exhibit eventually became the intial collection of the Museum of Science and Industry, a collection which, in 1951 and 1952, became the basis of what is now the SFMNHP object collection.

 

Ship Thermopylae under easy sail, by Mark Myers, 1976 (SAFR 19844)

(NPS photo)

December 8, 1890

British tea clipper ship Thermopylae arrives in San Francisco with a cargo from Hong Kong on her first visit to San Francisco.

 

British Virgin Islands postage stamps commemorating Drake's circumnavigation (SAFR 15571)

(NPS photo)

December 13, 1577

Sir Francis Drake sails from Plymouth, England with a squadron of five ships to circumnavigate the globe.

 

(SAFR 21374, B09.28,378pl)

NPS photo

December 23, 1893

Union Iron Works launches the two-masted pilot schooner Gracie S. with all the fashion and ceremony of a modern cruiser. Built to replace the George Peabody, the Gracie S. cost $17,000 and is considered the best of the pilot schooner fleet. She is named for the eldest daughter of John D. Spreckels.

 

Cover of The Eppleton Hall: being a true and faithful narrative of the remarkable voyage of the last Tyne River steam sidewheel paddle tug afloat, Newcastle-upon-Tyne to San Francisco, 1969-1970, by Scott Newhall

December 25, 1969

The Eppleton Hall begins her voyage from England to San Francisco to begin her career as a museum ship.

 

Klamath (built 1924; ferry) launching at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co. yard, San Francisco, CA, 1924 Dec 29

December 29, 1924

The ferry Klamath launches at Bethlehem Shipyard, San Francisco, California.