San Francisco’s Graveyard of Gold Rush Ships

Gigi Pandian author photoRelevant History welcomes USA Today bestselling mystery author Gigi Pandian, who spent her childhood being dragged around the world by her cultural anthropologist parents. She writes the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series and the forthcoming Accidental Alchemist mysteries. Her debut novel, Artifact, was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant and named a “Best of 2012” debut by Suspense Magazine. The follow-up, Pirate Vishnu, is now available.
For more information, check her web site, and look for her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Have you ever strolled through downtown San Francisco? Then chances are you’ve walked directly above a sunken ship.

I write a treasure hunt mystery series about a San Francisco-based historian who solves present-day crimes linked to historical treasures. When I learned about this secret history of San Francisco, it was too good not to include in a book!

A Little-Known Legacy of the Gold Rush
When the California Gold Rush began in 1848, scores of men flocked to the sleepy town of San Francisco. Within a few years, the population exploded from several hundred to tens of thousands. People came from all over the world, and California became the 31st state of the Union in 1850.

Much of the population arrived not by wagon train, but by sea. More than 500 ships were abandoned in Yerba Buena Cove as crews went in search of fortune. Most of those ships never sailed again.

In the decades following the Gold Rush, several waterfront expansion bills were passed. As the land was filled in, the abandoned ships remained where they were—with landfill added on top of them. What was once Yerba Buena Cove became today’s financial district. To this day, the buried remains of Gold Rush-era ships are often discovered when new construction begins.

Sunken Ships Repurposed
Many of those abandoned ships had a more interesting fate than being trapped beneath our feet.

San Francisco was short on supplies, such as wood, as the city population boomed, so people got creative. Making use of the numerous abandoned ships, men took apart the ships for timber. Some enterprising individuals even set up businesses inside the moored ships, such as banks, hotels, jails, and saloons.

Barbary Coast Trail pamphletThe city’s red-light district, the Barbary Coast, sprung up in this downtown area, so saloons were in high demand. The Old Ship Saloon is one such example of a ship-turned-saloon that still stands. Established in 1851 in the remains of the Arkansas (a ship that ran aground in 1949) the pub is currently a popular spot to grab lunch or a drink.

Buried Treasure
I’m a history buff, which is why I wanted to write a mystery series featuring a history professor. I was once on the academic path myself, but left a PhD program for art school to follow my creative passions—but adventurous academics wouldn’t stay out of my head!

I’m always on the lookout for interesting treasure ideas with real historic backdrops. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and frequent the waterfront area. The rich history sparked my imagination. With so many abandoned ships, so many desperate men, and so much wealth from the gold fields…Thus one of the seeds was planted for Pirate Vishnu.

In my fictional take on true San Francisco history, historian Jaya Jones always thought the first member of the Indian side of her family to come to the U.S. had perished in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906—until she discovers a treasure map related to one of the Barbary Coast saloons that was once a ship. Told in alternating chapters in the present day and the early twentieth century, the book follows the adventures of a ship-builder immigrant and his treasure.

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Pirate Vishnu book coverA big thanks to Gigi Pandian. She’ll give away a paperback copy of Pirate Vishnu to someone who contributes a comment on my blog this week. I’ll choose the winner from among those who comment by Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Delivery is available within the United States and Canada.

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Comments

San Francisco’s Graveyard of Gold Rush Ships — 22 Comments

  1. I’ve just learned from someone who read this post that there’s a new sunken ship that may have been found this year — right next to my office! There was scheduled construction going on for quite some time, and it was delayed and dragged on. The delay was possibly because they found the remains of an old ship. I’m off to do some digging (metaphorically) into the matter…

  2. I read Artifact and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m anxious to read the new book. And I’ve always had an interest in lost and/or hidden treasures.

    Interestingly, my great-great-grandfather was one of two men who ran the Red Light District in Old Los Angeles, so the Barbary Coast interests me, too.

    Thank you so much for sharing some history and about your new book.

    • That’s such cool family history, Marja.

      Have you read the Vicky Bliss mystery series by Elizabeth Peters? Similar to my books, they’re lighthearted treasure hunts with a touch of romance. Those are the books that made me want to write this type of adventurous mystery novel.

  3. If you haven’t see the movie ‘San Francisco’. take a look at it. Clark Gable, Jeannette McDonald and Spencer Tracy. It’s set in the time of the great earthquake and resulting fires. San Francisco is on my list of places that I love along with New Orleans, New York city and some others.

    I am looking forward to reading the book.
    Deb

    • Deb, I watched that movie when I was researching the book. As writers like Suzanne can attest, one of the best things about writing about history is all the cool research we get to do!

  4. I absolutely loved this! I am a history buff – especially when it comes to architectural history, and I consider ships a form of architecture – and this couldn’t be more up my alley. Thanks for sharing, Gigi, and for posting, Suzanne!

    • My pleasure, Ellen. Glad you enjoyed Gigi’s post.

      There’s plenty of history to be found on this site. Subscribe to it and my quarterly e-newsletter, and you’ll be up to your eyeballs in history and freebies.

    • Thanks for the comment, Barbara. When I set out to write a book, I wanted to write an adventure mystery steeped in history, just like the ones I love to read :)

  5. This is fascinating history that I never knew, and now I want to know more, so your books are on my TBR pile and San Francisco is on my bucket list :)

  6. Most interesting story. I had not considered the matter fully. I knew often the crew abandoned their boats for a better chance of wealth on land, but I never considered what happened to all those abandoned boats.

    I wonder if this altered the strategies of ship owners. I surely would have stopped sending my ships to San Fran. Rather I would enter the eastern harbors or far enough north or south that the sailors would remain. Or perhaps let only the men who were terrible sailors leave the ship with goods. Once the goods were unloaded and paid for, let them run off. Do you have any idea how boat owners/captains countered this trend and retained their men.

    They must have or all ships would have stopped going there.

    • From what I’ve read, some of the captains went in search of gold themselves! There were others who tried to use force to keep men from running off, but with Gold Fever I bet it was tough.

  7. Well, when ships DID want to sail away, they often could not find enough sailors, so barflies were then “shanghai’d” and woke up to find themselves out at sea. (or so the stories are told).
    Looking forward to reading about “your” San Francisco.

    • Very true about the shanghaiing. In fact, I found *so much* fascinating information about shanghaiing when I did my research that it didn’t fit into this book! Therefore I ended up writing more about the history of shanghaiing in my *next* book, The Accidental Alchemist, which comes out in January.

  8. That would have been something to see! All the ships, docked in a row, with businesses, banks and a jail inside them! I wonder if there are any prints, paintings, etc. in existence of this “boat city”!