Maritime and Park History
Videos about the history of the ships and more.
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A group of 15 images of a unique, waterfront area of San Francisco now known as Aquatic Park. They are from the park’s collection spanning eleven decades from the 1850s through the 1970s.
- Duration:
- 2 minutes, 32 seconds
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C.A. Thayer, The Last of the Lumber Schooners documents the history of the ship from it's days sailing across the Pacific to it's acquisition by the National Park Service and it's restoration with San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
- Duration:
- 10 minutes, 49 seconds
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San Francisco, CA – Over eighty years ago, San Franciscans, with the help of the federal WPA, realized a decades-old dream: building a palace for the people on the City’s northern waterfront. San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park salutes that legacy with a 15-minute documentary that tells the story of this iconic Art Moderne building.
- Duration:
- 15 minutes, 15 seconds
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Discover the complex legacy of the San Carlos - a Spanish ship that sailed into San Francisco Bay on August 5, 1775, leaving the names for Angel Island and Alcatraz, the first European map of the Bay, and a path for colonists who would help establish the city we know today.
- Duration:
- 9 minutes, 20 seconds
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San Francisco became the city it is today because of the Gold Rush, when thousands of people arrived on ships to go search for gold. But what happened to these ships? Many of them were buried under neighborhoods of San Francisco, becoming a part of the city's history. Learn about four Gold Rush ships with Collections interns, Kami Hagemeyer and Elliot Lockwood, as they interview maritime historians and archeologists and explore the city, detailing the ships' histories with photographs and more.
- Duration:
- 13 minutes, 3 seconds
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San Francisco Maritime is best known for our fleet of historic ships on Hyde Street Pier. But, this presentation is about ships from a different perspective – particularly, the perspective of the marine painter William Coulter, who was a prolific painter and newspaper artist and was considered the pre-eminent marine artist during the Age of Sail and the early 20th century.
- Duration:
- 10 minutes, 31 seconds
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A series of historic photos with brief captions depicting the journey of trees cut for lumber along the California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia coasts. The lumber, much of it Douglas fir and Redwood, was brought to San Francisco by sail and steam schooners. Whole forests of lumber went into the reconstruction of San Francisco in the wake of the 1906 Earthquake.
- Duration:
- 1 minute, 11 seconds
Ranger Programs
Join park rangers on these virtual programs around the park.
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Park Ranger Anne Monk takes you below deck aboard the 1895 schooner C.A. Thayer for a look at the vessel's knees.
- Duration:
- 2 minutes, 8 seconds
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Discover how the USS San Francisco’s heroic WWII Guadalcanal campaign links four national parks, stretches from the Pacific to New England, and is preserved in both a windswept overlook and a controlled museum facility.
- Duration:
- 12 minutes, 42 seconds
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Park Ranger David Pelfrey explains a traditional, wooden ship maintenance task: caulking the deck to make the vessel watertight.
- Duration:
- 1 minute, 31 seconds
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Park Ranger Peter Kasin explains how sea chanteys were used to coordinate work aboard vessels. Like to join a chantey sing in the park? Check here for info: https://go.nps.gov/1b9c2q
- Duration:
- 2 minutes, 50 seconds
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Anne Monk and Sabrina Oliveros at San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park received the Team Award of the Freeman Tilden Awards for Excellence in Interpretation and Education for bringing the voices of San Francisco's waterfront's past to life in a new podcast series.
- Duration:
- 1 minute, 59 seconds
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Ranger Chris Edwards walks us through the 1907 steam tug Hercules. He begins with a look down into the engine room, navigates to the boiler room, then steps out onto the deck for a look around the park.
- Duration:
- 1 minute, 43 seconds
Ship Preservation
Watch videos of park staff maintaining and preserving the historic ships in the park's collections.
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How the park's Small Boat Shop bends planks for the restoration of the motor launch Eva B.
- Duration:
- 3 minutes, 33 seconds
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Seasonal deckhands are learning a traditional skill of maintaining the ropes on a sailing vessel. At San Francisco Maritime NHP, in addition to preserving historic ships, traditional skills are preserved. From apprentice to captain, everyone and every skill were relied upon to get the ship safely to port. Sometime during a voyage when things were reasonably routine, experienced seamen turned their attention to mending sails, reeving new running rigging or splicing lizards among a myriad of things that can be done at sea. In this video, a deckhand describes the process of worming, parceling and serving a steel line to keep it from getting wet and corroding. For a more detailed description of Worm, Parcel and Serve, visit our website, https://www.nps.gov/safr/learn/historyculture/wormparcelserve.htm
- Duration:
- 33 seconds
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In April 2015 the crew moved a longboat from Hyde Street Pier back onto Balclutha. Chris Jannini, Supervisory Marine Carpenter, took these photos.
The boat being moved is one of two replica longboats built by Ray Speck for the park over 25 years ago. The two boats have been maintained in place on Balclutha since then but some small sections of the gunwales had developed rot so both were removed two years ago for rehabilitation by Small Boat Shop crew and volunteers.
Most vessels similar to Balclutha carried two or more boats of this type. They were used for transporting men and materials when in harbor and could also be used under oars to tow the ship if necessary.
The ship capstans and traditional block and tackle were used to place the longboat back on her skids amidships. The process took about two hours.
- Duration:
- 50 seconds
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