Wooden side-wheel steamer Circa 1854
“…She was a favorite craft and one of the best sea boats that plowed the Pacific ocean. She was the home, the pride and the refuge of her officers and crew, and many a tear as salt as the brine that surrounds her shattered hull has coursed unbidden from manly eyes and sprung up involuntarily from the bold and courageous hearts of those whose pride and delight she was, as they have gazed on the last resting place of the gallant Tennessee.” –Daily Alta California, March 9, 1853
The early morning hours of March 6, 1853 saw a thick fog settle in along the coast of Northern California as the S.S. Tennessee steamed towards the entrance to San Francisco Bay, some 100 miles away. Approaching from the South, after leaving Panama on February 19th, Captain E. Mellus continued on using dead reckoning to reach Mile Rock, about 2 miles Southwest of the Golden Gate. Continue reading
