Relevant 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.
The 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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A 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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