Curating the Bay -- July 27, 2013

We took a drive downtown to see what the traffic would be like.  It was heavy getting off the 280 extension at Sixth Street.  Fifth and Mission was more full than usual.  We had lunch across the street at Super Duper Burger.  My wife enjoyed watching lines of cars trying to get into the Jukebox Marriott.  Since my office moved, I don't keep track of the conventions that come to town.

We went to the California Historical Society to see Curating the Bay: Crowdsourcing a New Environmental History. They are experimenting with crowd sourcing at the site YearoftheBay.  There was a nice display of raw material from their collections; many items had never before been shown.  I liked the Pacific Mail and Pacific Coast Steamship Company items. 

The Steamer Queen Anchored Off Muir Glacier -- December 29, 2010

From the 23-August-1896 San Francisco Call. William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the newspaper. Click on the image for a larger view.

The Pacific Coast Steamship company's steamer Queen, also known as Queen of the Pacific, was one of the best ships carrying sourdoughs to Alaska for the next year's Yukon Gold Rush. I'm not clear if the "whaling" mentioned is actual whale hunting and killing, or an early version of whale watching.

Pacific Mail Steamship Company steamer Columbia went on the rocks near Pigeon Point on 14-July-1896. No one was killed. Saint Paul, also a Pacific Mail Steamship Company steamer, grounded at Point Pinos on 09-August-1896.

THE QUEEN ON A WHALE HUNT.

She Goes Out This Morning to Capture a Leviathan.

The Pacific Coast Steamship Company's handsome Alaskan steamer Queen started on a whaling cruise this morning. Two boats' crews went out last Friday and have been cruising on and off around the Farallones ever since.

A whaleboat and its crew will accompany the Queen, and should a whale be sighted before the other boats are picked up it will at once give chase. If a whale is not sighted the steamer will be headed for the wrecks of the Columbia and St. Paul, now lying at Pigeon Point and Point Pinos.

The work of provisioning and getting the Queen ready for the whaling cruise has been a hard one. The officers of the company have worked night and day, however, and this morning she will go out thoroughly equipped.

The caption with the image:

THE STEAMER QUEEN ANCHORED OFF MUIR GLACIER.

Among the Passengers Who Returned Last Friday From an Excursion to the Icefields of Alaska Was Manager J. A. Fillmore of the Southern Pacifc. He Grows Enthusiastic Over Muir Glacier and Says He Never in All His Life Saw a Finer Spectacle Than That of the Steamer Queen at Anchor, Huge Blocks of Ice Floating Around Her in the Placid Water of the Sound and the Whole Set Off by the Magnificent Glaciers in the Background. The Artist Has Caught the Spirit of the Scene.

Pacific Coast Steamship Company -- September 17, 2009

The Pacific Coast Steamship Company ran vessels along the west coast. The fast steamer Santa Rosa sailed from San Francisco to San Pedro until 3am on 7-July-1911, when she ran aground near Point Arguello. Most of the 200 passengers were rescued. One report said eight passengers and four crew members died.