Steamer Coptic, Just Getting in From the Orient -- January 29, 2012

The Coptic was a British liner.  Angel Island was the immigration station which held many immigrants from Asia.  I left in an additional paragraph about the Farallon Islands.  


From the 08-January-1897 San Francisco Call. William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the newspaper. Click on the image to see a larger version.

CHOLERA IS NOT RAGING FIERCELY

So Say All the Passengers on the Steamer Coptic.

Nevertheless Chinese Steerage Passengers and the Mail Were Quarantined.

There was considerable excitement along the water front yesterday when the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company's Coptic was sighted. Rumors of cholera in China had preceded the vessel and both the quarantine boats were out to meet her. The company's tug Millen Griffith was laid up for repairs, so the Spreckels tug Active was pressed into the service, and she also went speeding down the bay to meet the incoming liner. Off Black Point the vessel was intercepted and Dr. Blue and Dr. Chalmers made a thorough examination of every person aboard. From Hongkong, Yokohama and Honolulu the Coptic had a clean bill of health and was therefore entitled to dock. The medical men, however, came to the conclusion that it was better to be sure than sorry, so they ordered ail the mail matter, 102 Chinese and six Japanese to be sent ashore for fumigation at the quarantine station on Angel Island. In consequence it will be late this afternoon before any Chinese, Japanese or Hawaiian mail will be delivered.

Among the cabin passengers on the Coptic were Mr. and Mrs. Newhall, who returned from their honeymoon trip to Japan. Both say they had a splendid time.

The tug Vigilant went out to the Farallones yesterday. Captain Silovich says that his lady passenger was terribly seasick when crossing the bar and that many a time she wished she had not accepted the position of teacher to the lighthouse keeper's children. The pigeons sent out by the hydrographic office were safely landed and today two of them may be expected, bringing with them the news of the wind and weather in the vicinity of the island.