1901 — Feb 22, City of Rio de Janeiro grounds & sinks, fog, Fort Point, SF Bay, CA–127-131

–127-131 Blanchard range:

We cannot determine which of the estimates is absolutely correct. We do not use the Fort Point website note of more than 140 in that no other source we have identified notes this loss of life. We do not use the San Francisco Call estimate of 122 in that it was a next day account. We choose to use the U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service report of 127 deaths as the low-end of an estimated death toll, and the reports of Grish and Nash of 131 deaths as the high-end.

–>140 Fort Point website. Accessed 1-10-2009.
— 131 Grish, Martin. “Where Lies the City of Rio de Janeiro?” Sea Classics, January 2005.
— 131 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 692.
— 130 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 205.
–~130 Wikipedia. “SS City of Rio de Janeiro.”
— 129 Gibbs. Disaster Log of Ships…account of shipwrecks, California to Alaska. 1971, p. 12.
— 128 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 221.
— 128 National Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA. “SS City of Rio de Janeiro.” Accessed 2-1-2022.
— 128 Oakland Tribune. “Shipwreck One of Worst Since Janeiro’s Loss…” 8-30-1929, D3.
— 127 U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report 1910, p. 24.
— 122 San Francisco Call. “Death Achieves a Dread Triumph…Golden Gate.” 2-23-1901, 1-2.
–19 Cabin passengers, of 29 onboard.
— 5 Second class passengers of 7 onboard.
–43 Asiatic steerage passengers, of 58 onboard.
–19 Ship’s officers, of 30 onboard.
–36 Asiatic crew, of 77 onboard.

Narrative Information

Gibbs: “….the City of Rio de Janeiro, an American passenger liner wrecked about 600 yards off Fort Point, in San Francisco Bay, February 22, 1901. In this terrible fog-shrouded tragedy the vessel went down with $2,075,000 in gold, silver and cash, but also with the shocking loss of 129 lives, including her master, Captain William Ward. Despite the fact that the wreck happened in San Francisco’s own front yard, there were but 81 survivors. To date, $2 million in Chinese silver and $75,000 in gold, specie and bullion have reputedly been salvaged from the rusting hulk.” (Gibbs. Disaster Log of Ships…account of shipwrecks, California to Alaska. 1971, p. 12.)

Grish and Wikipedia: The SS City of Rio de Janeiro was an iron hulled steam powered 3500-ton passenger liner, launched in 1878, which sailed between San Francisco and various Asian Pacific ports. (Wikipedia, Rio; Grish 2005.)

Grish: In February 1901, the City of Rio was inbound to its home port of San Francisco from Hong Kong by way of Honolulu. The previous night had been spent at anchor outside the Golden Gate Bridge due to a heavy fog. (Grish 2005) Various accounts list the number of passengers and crew on-board at between 210 and 227.

The fog cleared and at about 4:02 a.m. the order was given to raise anchor and make the ship ready to finish the last five miles of a long trip – Meigg’s Wharf. Hardly had the ship started closing on its berth when thick fog moved in again. (Grish 2005)

“At approximately 5:25 a.m. the Rio ‘ran aground… The ship seemed to be stuck on a reef…. The captain, William Ward…. bellowed the abandon ship order. Hampered by the pre-electric era of communications limited to bells whistles and voice commands, the crew, mostly Orientals, hurriedly rallied to the Captain’s orders. Grabbing lanterns as the lights flickered and went out, the stewards ran through the passageway beating on doors to alert passengers who had no way of knowing how perilous their situation had become’….” (Grish 2005.)

Captain Wood then “lashed the ships horn halyard to the wheel to keep it sounding out while he organized the launching of the lifeboats. Suddenly the ship slipped off the rocks and began to sink.” (Grish 2005.)

“The damage to the ship was considerable: virtually the entire underside of the vessel had been torn open by the collision and the engine room and cargo holds rapidly flooded.” (Wikipedia, Rio)

“Ashore at the Bakers Beach, life station attendant Eric Holmes heard the ship’s whistle echoing through the swirl of fog. In the inky pre-dawn darkness, he thought he heard the distant screams of excited voices but thought the sounds those of excited fishermen who often shouted and tooted at each other as their small vessels headed to sea in the morning. He punched his time clock, as was his duty, every 15 minutes. It was 5:15 am and by 8:00 he’d be off duty….” (Grish 2005.)

“A hammer-like blow rang through the stricken ship as water pressure collapsed bulkheads as if they were paper partitions. With the decks angling steeply it was hard for anyone to stand as furniture, baggage and bedding crashed and tossed about the small, cramped cabins. Cries of terror rang through the flooding passageways as frantic souls still dressed in nightshirts desperately tried to find their way topside…. (Grish 2005.)

“Captain Wood was still on the bridge when the Rio de Janeiro groaned its last agony and, rolling steeply to starboard, plunged beneath the sea. Those who lingered too long trying to collect their valuables were drowned. Others who had clawed their way to the upper decks were haplessly thrown into the bitter cold sea only to be sucked under by the swirling vortex of water suctioned by the plunging hull. A moment later a hoarse boom echoed from beneath the sea as the boilers exploded in a final agonizing thud. The Rio de Janeiro sank at 5:29 am.” (Grish 2005.) From grounding to sinking, depending on the account, only 5-8 minutes elapsed.

“Miraculously, two boats had been launched before the Rio went under. A third was still on the falls when the hull rolled on top of it and crushed it into splintered fragments, killing its occupants. Swiftly rowing away from the deadly vortex of the plunging hull, those in the boats had no way of knowing which way land lay in the fog. For a while they excitedly rowed in circles picking up survivors clinging to wreckage Cold, shocked and bewildered from the ghastly horrors they’d experienced they knew a landfall could only be hundreds of feet away but feared rowing out to sea.

“Many aboard, especially the strong swimmers, struck out for land heading in all directions from the sinking boat. Within minutes the first of these reached shore at Baker’s Beach and breathlessly spread word of what had happened. The others…had swam in the wrong direction. They were never seen again.

“Luckily, a number of Italian fishermen stumbled upon the hapless survivors in the water. Rescuing many, they hurried to shore to ring the rescue alarm. But by the time the Life Saving Service had launched their boats everyone had either been picked up or had vanished from the quiet surface of the sea.” (Grish 2005.)

“Of the crew of 68, only 13 had survived. Most of the Chinese wipers and deck hands had been killed in their sleep when the torn hull quickly flooded their lower deck quarters. Of the Rio’s officers only Engineer Phil Herlihy and deck officers G. Coughlan and C. J. Holland survived. Coughlan and Holland had been asleep and, once roused, led many of the survivors to the lifeboats. Capt. William Wood had gone down with his ship as did first officer J. C. Johnson…. The…passengers…suffered the greatest number of casualties with only 69 of them being among the 82 survivors.” (Grish 2005.)

Fort Point: “No one in the fort or at the lifesaving station near-by heard the horn. Over 140 lives were lost in the bay’s worst sea disaster….Even with this disaster and the recommendations by the Lighthouse Board that it would never have happened if there had been an adequate fog signal installed; it wasn’t until 1904 that the fog horn was upgraded [at Fort Point].” (Fort Point)

National Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA: “On February 22, 1901 the City of Rio de Janeiro was enveloped in fog while moving through the narrow entrance of the Golden Gate. Without warning the ship struck Fort Point. At the time of the stranding, an ebbing tide pushed the steamer back from the bridge and off the rocks. The ship’s bulkheads were not watertight, so it rapidly flooded, sinking within 10 minutes. Many of the passengers, most of them Chinese and Japanese emigrants, were asleep in their cabins and died below. Of the 210 on board, 128 lives were lost, making this shipwreck the highest loss of life at the Golden Gate. The Rio is considered by historians as the “Titanic of the Golden Gate.”” (National Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA. “SS City of Rio de Janeiro.” Accessed 2-1-2022.)

US SIS: “February 22. – The Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s steamship City of Rio de Janeiro, 3,548 tons gross, William Ward, master, from Hong Kong and Yokohama, while entering the harbor of San Francisco in a dense fog, running at half speed against a strong ebb tide, State Pilot F. W. Jordan in charge, struck on a reef near Fort Point at about 5:25 a.m. The steamer filled rapidly and sunk. Of the 205 lives on board 127 were lost, 68 of these being passengers. The only surviving officers of the steamer were the second and third mates and the chief engineer.

“Upon investigation of this disaster, the local inspectors rendered their decision on March 22, in which they attached blame to Captain Ward for allowing the City of Rio de Janeiro to leave her anchorage on this occasion, which was off the entrance to the bay of San Francisco and where she had lain since the evening of February 21. The inspectors likewise attached blame to State Pilot Jordan for attempting to bring the steamer from a safe anchorage into the harbor of San Francisco in a dense fog, at night, with a strong ebb tide running, with current made stronger and more uncertain by reason of freshets in the rivers. The inspectors also revoked the license of P.H. Herlihy, chief engineer of the City of Rio de Janeiro, for inattention to the duties of his position. Mr. Herlihy appealed to the supervising inspector, first district, April 19, from the above revocation of his license, and, upon a rehearing, the same was, on May 13 modified to a suspension of his license for the period of three months from March 22….” (U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report 1910, p. 24.)

Newspaper

Feb 23: “The Pacific Mail steamship City of Rio de Janeiro went down yesterday morning at the Golden Gate and one hundred and twenty-two human lives and a king’s ransom in treasure were death’s harvest of horror for the day. Within the harbor which should have meant security after a voyage of storm and distress, human beings struggled and fought for their lives, not against the elements, for the sea was as calm as a sea of glass and the winds were stilled, but against the death damage that the rocks had done.

“Wrapped in a shroud of fog, within hearing and it seemed almost within a stone’s throw of the city, these human creatures met death in its most awe inspiring, dread form. The accident in every phase was without parallel in marine disasters on this coast. Other ships had sunk at sea in the midst of frightful storms. Others had foundered because of their own incapacity to struggle against the elements, but the City of Rio de Janeiro, after a journey of thousands of miles, through storm and violent weather, struck upon the rocks and went down in its home port.

“Nothing so horrifying has ever appeared on the Pacific Coast. Early in the morning the news of the disaster was received in this city and excitement of the most intense kind pervaded every circle and phase of life. Savers were warned, ships were sent out, thousands upon thousands of people traveled toward the beach to see something of the wrecked ship from the heights on the western shore of the town. But nothing could be seen. The bay was as still as a lake and not even wreckage indicated the locality of the vessel which had been doomed by a most remarkable fate.

“Here and there on the Presidio beach a dead body floated out from the water. Fishermen in small craft hovered about the scene and lifeboats patrolled the waters but nothing of the sunken ship appeared. While thousands hastened toward the western heights, throngs hurried to the Morgue and to the offices of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to learn something of those who had been lost or saved, but no information could be given, not even a roster of the passengers.

“Just at dark on Thursday night the vessel which was so soon to meet its doom was nearing the Heads. The lights in the Cliff House could be seen and the decks of the ship were crowded with passengers, officers and crew, glad for a vision of the home land after the long and dangerous journey across the seas. The night was clear and pleasant, but Captain Ward, the commander of the vessel, accepted a pilot, Captain Frederick Jordan, who is reputed to be one of the most expert and careful pilots on the coast. And now between that reputation and the conduct of the dead captain of the City of Rio de Janeiro must rest the responsibility for the doom of one hundred and twenty-two human lives and the loss of more than $1,800,000 in property. This responsibility belongs to one of them or to the other, or perhaps to both. Captain Jordan boarded the ship and at 7 o’clock, the fog having settled down like a great black pall, it was decided to anchor outside for the night.

“The lights of the shore disappeared and for another night passengers and crew settled themselves in patience. Warning lights were fixed upon the vessel and now and again her siren sounded its hoarse signals. At 4 o’clock yesterday morning the fog cleared, and again the Cliff House, a beacon and a welcome after the long journey, could be seen. There was movement upon the ship even at that hour. Many of the passengers were astir, for they were impatient and eager for another glimpse of land and the prospect of home. For thousands of miles in the ocean they had been haunted by death and within two hours in the blackness and in the silence of the sea they were to meet him guarding the Golden Gate. As the fog lifted Captain Ward and Pilot Jordan went upon the bridge and the orders of preparation to move into the bay were given. The anchor was weighed and the ship moved slowly ahead, everybody on board feeling the thrill of anticipation.

“Then slowly again the great shroud of fog fell upon the sea and the bay. Denser it seemed than before, but the two captains on the bridge decided to go ahead. Upon whom shall rest the awful responsibility for the great loss of a ship and its cargo and the greater loss of one hundred and twenty-two lives, a court of inquiry must determine. There is in the service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company a standing order to every captain employed by that corporation not to leave a harbor nor to enter one in the fog. Captain Ward disobeyed that order. There is also a universal principle that when a pilot steps on board a vessel he is absolutely master of the ship and can be swayed in no possible way by any order or suggestion of the master of the ship. Captain Frederick Jordan violated that principle.

“Officials of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company declare that the responsibility must rest wholly upon the unfortunate captain who went down with his ship. It is claimed that a pilot is employed solely for the purpose of acting in an advisory capacity and that he does not take command of the ship. He is to act solely in suggestion and to warn the commander of the incoming vessel if anything unusual has happened in the harbor since he left. If this be the habit of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company it is in violation of a universal custom at this port.

“With pilot and captain on the bridge the City of Rio de Janeiro passed through the Heads. She was in the harbor of San Francisco. Her long journey was ended. Within an hour she should have been in sight of the town, past all danger. The fog which enveloped her and which shut out the western heights of the city and which made in impossible for the men upon the bridge to see the crew at work below, was thicker than ever, it seemed, but the commander hoped that it would soon rise. Then came the ominous, grating, shuddering, dread-inspiring sound from below.

“The ship had struck on the rocks. Not an officer on board could mistake that sound. Captain Ward issued his orders to determine what the damage was. It was reported to him that ten feet of water was already in the forward hold and twenty feet amidships. What followed on the doomed ship can only be told by the survivors and it is a story of utmost horror. Jutting out from Fort Point is a shoal which extends in a northeasterly direction. Upon the very outer rocks of this projection the City of Rio de Janeiro had crashed and a great, gaping hole had been ripped in her hull. It seemed that almost instantly the vessel began to settle. Captain Ward hastened from his post and personally superintended the work of alarming the passengers and hastening them to the decks. Men, women and children rushed screaming, shouting, crying up to the decks and could see nothing around the sinking ship but the black, dense fog. The Chinese crew and passengers went mad with fear. They fought and scrambled to get out upon the decks.

“Confusion reigned absolutely supreme, for it seemed that all would be lost. Captain Ward ordered his officers to the boats, and then performed the most tragic, dramatic act of heroism in the whole dreadful catastrophe. With command and gesture and personal insistence he demanded that the women must be allowed first into the boats. Quickly and more quickly the ship was sinking, but crew and officers worked with desperate energy. A boat was launched and into it four women and two men were quickly lowered. The last of the fur women, the wife of Consul General Wildman of Hongkong, and just been safely seated, when down the ladder went Pilot Jordan with the child of Mrs. Wildman in his arms. Screaming in terror the little one grasped him frantically around the neck while the husband and father, Consul General Wildman, stepped over the side of the ship and placed his feet upon the ladder. Just at that moment a spar from one of the masts came hurtling through the air and cut the lifeboat in two. Death was inevitable.

“While this was happening other boats were being launched and met a kinder fate, but it seemed only an instant after that, with a terrific sound, the City of Rio de Janeiro sank. The waters of the bay were hurled into volumes of foam, seething around masses of wreckage and human bodies. Just as the great vessel sank her enormous boilers burst and shattered the entire upper structure o the ship into splinters.

“At 5:20 o’clock the ship struck upon the rocks and it is believed that she sank at 5:33 o’clock. As she disappeared, most of her passengers and crew were taken down with her and only by the strangest chance ever again arose to the surface.

“Some escaped to the harbor in boats, others floated on pieces of wreckage until they were picked up by Italian fishermen, and still others were rescued by men from various vessels in the bay. No absolute information of the disaster reached the city until 7:30 o’clock, nearly two hours after death had claimed its victims. A boat load of the rescued reached Meiggs wharf at that our and then the alarm was given. All haste was made to send assistance, but when the boats bent on rescue reached the scene not a vestige of the great ship was visible.

“She had sunk absolutely out of sight and there was not even a ripple of the wave to indicate where she had disappeared. Here and there a fragment of her superstructure drifted, but indicated nothing of the location of the wrecked vessel. In the early morning the fog lifted and the day was clear enough to have permitted a novice to steer a vessel through the Golden Gate. At 7:30 o’clock in the morning Captain Ward and Pilot Jordan could have entered the Golden Gate in absolute safety. They risked the attempt two hours earlier and one hundred and twenty-two human lives paid for their hazard. All day long small boats, fishing smacks and tugs hovered around the scene of the disaster picking up here and there some article of small value and grappling with the hope that the sunken vessel might be located. Lifeboats from the Federal station patrolled the waters, but no one could tell where the City of Rio de Janeiro had sunk.

“It is estimated that more than 15,000 people crowded the heights from the Cliff House to Bakers Beach, but although they watched for hours, they could see nothing out of the usual. Early in the day several bodies were washed ashore or picked up and taken to the Morgue. Some of the fishermen who prowled the waters of the bay in the neighborhood of the wreck picked up a mail pouch which had contained registered mail. It had been rifled and told its own story of an unspeakable crime. Whether or not this theft was committed on board while men and women were in the agony of approaching death, no one can tell. It may have drifted from the wreck and been secured by some marauding bay thief. The rifled pouch was brought to the city by some Italian fishermen, many of whom did splendid service in rescuing the living and protecting the death….

“San Francisco has never been compelled to record within its limits so horrifying an item of death s that which must be made in reference to the doom of the city of rio ….” (San Francisco Call. “Death Achieves a Dread Triumph at the Golden Gate.” 2-23-1901, pp. 1-3.)

Blanchard note: On page 2, twenty-five passengers, 19 officers and crew, and 42 “Asiatic Steerage Passengers” are named as dead.

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Fort Point Website. Accessed 1-10-2009 at: http://www.westofpch.com/lighthouse/fortpoint.html (Inoperable when checked 2-1-2022.)

Gibbs, Jim. Disaster Log of Ships: A Pictorial account of shipwrecks, California to Alaska. NY: Bonanza Books, 1971.

Grish, Martin. “Where Lies the City of Rio de Janeiro?” Sea Classics, January 2005. Accessed at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4442/is_200501/ai_n16060127 [Inoperable 2022]

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

National Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA. “SS City of Rio de Janeiro.” Accessed 2-1-2022 at: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/shipwrecks/city-of-rio-de-janeiro/

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Shipwreck [San Juan] One of Worst Since Janeiro’s Loss, 1901.” 8-30-1929, D3. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=105413307

San Francisco Call. “Death Achieves a Dread Triumph at the Golden Gate. One Hundred and Twenty-two Lives Go Down to Doom on the Ill-Fated Steamship Rio de Janeiro.” 2-23-1901, p. 1. Accessed 2-1-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/san-francisco-call-feb-23-1901-p-1/

United States Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspection Service to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1910. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910. 391 pages. Google digitized. Accessed 2-1-2022 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JlgpAAAAYAAJ

Wikipedia. “SS City of Rio de Janeiro.” 1-10-2009 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_City_of_Rio_De_Janeiro