A Gold Rush Journal 'Round the Horn - Two Sketches

(by Palma J. You, Archives Technician)

On March 13th, Mr. Chittenden notes "20 passengers from the ship Tamaroo" along with 18 from "our boat", the Croton, "went up in a schooner boat of about 5 tons belonging to one of the natives" to the town of Saint Catherine.

While the bark Croton was making its way to Saint Catherine, Mr. Chittenden records this sketch:

"...the harbour 12 miles from town called St. Michael. The two ships laying at anchor are the Croton & Tamaroo. The small boats about in the harbor are natives canoeing & going to trade with the ships. The mountains shown are up on the mainland. The island represented in the harbour is one about 6 miles from the entrance… "



The second sketch shows his interest in architecture:



"This represents a view of an old fortification, Aquiduck, & farena mill, attached together with the surrounding scenery situated at San. Michael, upon the mainland oposite the island of St Catherine."

(The first of this series of neat stuff from the journal by Mr. Chittenden was posted on March 7, 2012.)

SF Maritime NHP on Worldcat.org

Search for an item in libraries near you: Enter title, subject or author

WorldCat.org >>

We are delighted to announce that the Park's published holdings (e.g., books, periodicals, etc.) and some records for archival holdings are now appearing on Worldcat.org! New acquisitions are listed on our Worldcat.org profile page, where you can also subscribe to an rss feed of our newly cataloged items.

If you haven't visited Worldcat.org, be sure to check out the advanced features that allow you to create bibliographies and lists, and to tag and share items using multiple services.

Although the newest, Worldcat.org is just one of the many catalogs that contain records for the Park's collections. And as ever, be sure to contact us if you have questions about using any of these catalogs to locate our Park's resources.

Mirrored from Full Fathom Five, due to its lack of rss feed & functioning commenting.

Digging for Gold at the Library: Keys the mascot

(Keys the mascot, P79-064a SCR 50)
(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

Maritime history's cup runneth over with colorful characters, some famous, some infamous, some now long forgotten. One of these forgotten fellows is finally getting his due on San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park's website. He was incredibly smart, quick on his feet and brave. Friends recall his playfulness, as he was always up for fun as long as the work was done. He was loyal, stout of heart and limber. He climbed rigging with the best of them and went into deep dark holds of ships where no one else could fit to retrieve dropped tools. His start in life is a mystery, all that is known is that he was a homeless wanderer, begging in the streets to get by when he met up with a Sergeant Bennett of the Potrero Police, who took home, cleaned him up and set him to work patrolling the Union Iron Works yard. He also most likely, although the incident is lost to history, gave him a bone. Because our hero, dear reader, is a dog. A dog named Keys. A finer mutt was not to be found in any San Francisco Shipyard.

Keys the dog quickly became mascot of Union Iron Works. According to a San Francisco Chronicle article from 1901, "There was not a battleship launched in late years without Keys as a passenger" ("Some Animal Mascots" 30). To which he wore his finest clothes "A high hat and a gaudy blanket tied with ribbons" ("Some Animal Mascots" 30). The photo the library is using depicts Keys at the launching of the Olympia.

In 1895, Keys fell from the rigging of a steamer, injuring himself badly (don't worry, he survived) but the devotion of his fans can be seen in the newspaper account of the accident: "The workmen of Union Iron Works say that Keys shall have the largest funeral that any dog ever had if he dies" ("The Olympia's Mascot" 8) and "Other instances of the remarkable intelligence of the dog are recounted by the workmen who deeply grieve over the accident that has happened to their pet" ("The Olympia's Mascot" 8).

We chose Keys as our mascot not just because of his prior work experience as a mascot or how adorable he is (that helped) but because he seemed to represent a certain intelligence, curiosity and appreciation for fun that we hope comes across in our blog.
Keys was quite the character and there are a few newspaper accounts of his adventures at the shipyard and in the Potrero neighborhood. If you're interested in reading more, and quite frankly I'd be amazed if you weren't (a dog that climbs rigging? Come on!), I've compiled a bibliography for Keys below.

"A Dog That Has a Sense of Humor." San Francisco Call Feb 13 1898: 26. California Digital Newspaper Collection. Web. 8 Mar. 2012.

"The Olympia's Mascot." San Francisco Call Jan 25 1895: 8. California Digital Newspaper Collection. Web. 8 Mar. 2012.

"Some Animal Mascots." San Francisco Chronicle (1869-Current File): 30. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922). Feb 24 1901. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. (Available by subscription; ask your local library about access.)

Mirrored from Full Fathom Five, due to its lack of rss feed & functioning commenting.

A Gold Rush Journal 'Round the Horn - More than Latitude and Longitude

(by Palma J. You, Archives Technician)



The H. W. Chittenden sea journal kept on board the Croton, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Museum and Archive Collection (SAFR 14299, HDC 91), gives us a daily perspective from February 16 to July 29, 1849 of life aboard a Gold Rush ship. Mr. Chittenden, an engineer, sailed from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn. In 19th century language and spelling, his journal is filled with the goings-on and sketches in pencil of sites and landings along the way and other historical information including a provocative remedy for cholera. Sketches and other neat stuff from the journal will be posted over the next several weeks as a series. The first of this series is a remedy for cholera:

Receipt for Cholera
10 grains of camphor
20 do Red Pepper
20 do Of callomel
And rub the Boddy with some stimulating ointment. If this does not opperate, repeat the doce after some suficient time has elapts for its action upon the Bowels.

Here's a nice example of 19th century word usage and spelling. The way the words "Receipt" and "do" are used is intriguing. A little research shows the word "Receipt" could mean "a statement of ingredients and procedure necessary to make a medicinal preparation" - a perfect fit; and "do" is probably the abbreviation of the word "ditto" (OED online). To give "Grains" context, 20 grains make 1 scruple, 480 grains make 1 ounce. In 1888 the United States used the same apothecary scale as used in Great Britain (Clarke). And, "callomel" is listed as a "valuable cathartic given at the beginning of an illness, where it is desired to clean out the bowels completely." (United States Public Health Service). It makes sense this recipe shows up early in the journal.

Etymologies for 19th century usage of the words "Receipt" and "do" can be found in the Oxford English Dictionary. Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011 (subscription required).

Other sources:

Clarke, Frank Wigglesworth. Weights, measures, and money, of all nations. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

Medical Officers of the United States Public Health Service. The Ship's Medicine Chest and first aid at sea. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1929.

Mirrored from Full Fathom Five, due to its lack of rss feed & functioning commenting.

Digging for Gold at the Library: Genealogy

(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

One of the most popular research subjects in the library is genealogy. Almost every day we get asked questions about passenger lists, crew members or what life was like for an immigrant crossing the Pacific. In order to help people with their research, I wrote a guide to genealogy research for our library. I outlined what information we have here and where to find what we don't have (passenger lists being the #1 requested item). If you're interested in finding out if a relative was a famous (or infamous) mariner, check it out.

Mirrored from Full Fathom Five, due to its lack of rss feed & functioning commenting.