By Lisa Klassen

At the turn of the century, a ship’s crew didn’t have access to radar, radio, or any of the technology used today to safely navigate the course of a ship, map out coast lines, or determine obstacles in its path. Now, the Bay Area has one of the lowest percentages of accidents in North America. Previously, the crew could only rely on the use of timing, fog signals, and their ears to listen for the sound of other ships. This was not always the most effective method…

There were 79 major shipwrecks during the early part of the 1900s. One of the most famous occurred on November 30, 1901, when the ferry steamer San Rafael sank after colliding with the Sausalito near Alcatraz Island. Both were owned by the North Pacific Coast Railroad. It was an exceptionally dark and foggy night, making visibility almost zero and dangerously dampening the auditory senses. The single-ended San Rafael left the Ferry Building at about 6:15 p.m .and the double-ended Sausalito left Sausalito at about the same time. Each captain heard the other’s whistle but turned the wrong way to pass, so the San Rafael drifted broadside into the Sausalito. Many were injured and a few died, including Dick, the horse that pulled freight trucks for the San Rafael. Two lawsuits were instigated against North Pacific Coast Railroad, causing its eventual termination. Local literary hero Jack London was deeply affected by the story and preserved it as the opening scene from “The Sea Wolf,” one of his most famous stories.

Even more famous was the shipwreck of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s City of Rio de Janeiro at 5:25 a.m. on February 22, 1901. The City of Rio was returning from Hong Kong and was almost in her home port of San Francisco when she made contact with a submerged ledge a few hundred yards out from Fort Point. Since this was long before the days of water-tight bulkheads, it only took about eight minutes for the ship to sink. So unexpected and speedy was the wreck that it took two hours for the lookout at the Fort Point Lifesaving Station to become aware of the trouble and send a lifeboat. Of the 210 aboard, 128 were lost and 92 were rescued, a tragic loss of life. Along with her precious human cargo, the City of Rio was carrying rice, silks, teas, and other goods…but the legend of the day was that her cargo included millions in gold bullion.

Because the ship sank in the heavy fog, there was no trace of exactly where the ship sank, although divers searched the site extensively in the weeks and months that followed, and a handful of hopefuls still scour likely sites to this day. Wreckage from the ship washed up on shores up and down the coast line for a long time afterwards.