San Francisco Bay

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Rainer
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San Francisco Bay

Post by Rainer » Fri Nov 01, 2013 12:13 pm

Bought this original Photo/Post Card at Ebay.

At the backside it is written
"San Francisco Bay"

Does anybody know about this boat or boat type?
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Bob Cleek
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Re: San Francisco Bay

Post by Bob Cleek » Fri Nov 01, 2013 6:32 pm

Rainer, as a native San Franciscan and amateur maritime historian who grew up in the maritime industry, I can only offer a not very helpful "yes and no" answer.

I've seen a lot of SF Bay historical photos of the period, but I've never seen this one. The vessel appears to be is what was (and now in its IC powered version, is) called a "water taxi." These vessels are used to provide personnel transportation between shore and ocean going vessels anchored out in the Bay while awaiting dock space for cargo handling or pending quarantine clearance. At one time, there were so many vessels laying at anchor in such status that a good living could be made providing this service on a 24/7 basis. Water taxiing was originally done with Whitehall pulling boats, but with the advent of the steam launch, the Whitehalls were quickly rendered obsolete. Tom Crowley was a pioneer in this service and the company he founded on the San Francisco Embarcadero in the late 1800's is now known as Crowley Maritime, now an international towing operation. http://www.crowley.com/ Crowley has always revered its history. This launch may well be a Crowley vessel. You might contact Crowley and see if anyone in their historical department recognizes the photo.

Another good resource would be the J. Porter Shaw Library at the National Maritime Museum at Hyde Street Park in San Francisco. The library holds an extensive well-cataloged collection of photographs of SF Bay maritime subjects and is very helpful to researchers. They may be able to identify the vessel. http://www.nps.gov/safr/historyculture/collections.htm

The vessel type is not uncommon, except for the rounded shape of the leading edge of the pilot house, which does seem to merge nicely with the rounded shape of the canvas awning. It appears to be turn of the century vintage, as she appears to be carrying kerosene running lights, rather than electric. The lack of any identifying registration numbers would suggest she was of that vintage. She may or may not have been a naval vessel. Her paint scheme and apparent state of high maintenance might suggest this, as would what appear to possibly be naval uniforms on the crew, especially the engineer sitting just forward of the boiler. On the other hand, the passenger in the stern certainly doesn't appear to be in uniform and carrying a civilian passenger would be somewhat unusual. That said, at the time the photo was taken, photography, especially of moving objects, was a lot more involved than today. This is almost certainly not a snapshot, but rather a posed "portrait," possibly taken during sea trials prior to delivery of the finished vessel from the builder.

It is certainly a fine photo of a type of steam launch I've long admired. It is a working vessel, capable of all weather. Rain, fog and strong wind is common on SF Bay. It is nothing like a quiet river or lake and an open pleasure steam launch wouldn't be much fun out there when the 30 knot winds kick up most afternoons. The pilot house would be a necessity. The late American designer Robert ("Pete") Culler designed several such launches. His 25 foot version is pictured below.

Image

Image

Image
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Rainer
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Re: San Francisco Bay

Post by Rainer » Sat Nov 02, 2013 5:48 pm

Hello Bob,

thanks for all this info! This makes the picture quite more valuable for my private use. Normaly I only look for German steam launch pictures - but I found this unique also!

>> This is almost certainly not a snapshot, but rather a posed "portrait,"
I never thought about this - you are right! Perfect speed and light from the front - and no smart phones during that time ;-)

If you like the picture for your private use, I would be happy to send a better scan by mail.
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Re: San Francisco Bay

Post by barts » Sat Nov 02, 2013 7:12 pm

This looks like a 30' Navy steamer with a pilot house...

http://www.stanleysteamers.com/steamboa ... nch-sm.JPG


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Re: San Francisco Bay

Post by Lopez Mike » Mon Nov 11, 2013 5:51 am

Is that Alcatraz in the background? Maybe taken right downtown.
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Re: San Francisco Bay

Post by artemis » Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:55 pm

I agree with Bart. Remember there was a big Naval facility at Mare Island in San Francisco Bay. The "cover" is very "navy-like" and the boiler outline looks like a possible Ward. Lost my copy of Bill Durhams opus on US Navy steamlaunches but I'm sure it is very much like...
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Re: San Francisco Bay

Post by 87gn@tahoe » Tue Nov 12, 2013 4:30 am

Another vote for Navy cutter with a round Ward boiler
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