SS City of Chester

{{For|the British steamship built in 1873|RMS City of Chester{{!}}RMS City of Chester}}

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|Ship image=File:SsCity of chester photo.jpg

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|Ship country=United States

|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States}}

|Ship name=SS City of Chester

|Ship owner=Oregon Railroad Co.

|Ship operator=Pacific Coast Steamship Company

|Ship registry=Portland, Oregon

|Ship route=

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|Ship builder=John Roach & Sons, Chester, Pennsylvania

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|Ship launched=11 February 1873

|Ship completed=April 1873

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|Ship in service= 1875

|Ship out of service=

|Ship identification=*U.S. Official Number: 125473

Signal: JRNK

|Ship fate=Sunk in collision 22 August 1888

|Ship notes=Sometimes confused with 1872 City of Chester also built Chester, Pa., O/N 125002, {{GRT|153.78}}, {{convert|107|ft|m}} length registered at New York, N.Y.

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|Ship tonnage={{GRT|1106.21}}, {{NRT|785.33}}

|Ship displacement=

|Ship length={{convert|202|ft|m}}

|Ship beam={{cvt|33.2|ft|m}}

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|Ship depth={{convert|15.9|ft|m}}

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|Ship power=2 X {{cvt|11|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}} long boilers, 1 X {{cvt|9|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}}, 1 X {{cvt|12|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}} diameter

|Ship propulsion=*2 cyl compound steam engine

{{cvt|24|in|cm|1|abbr=on}} & {{cvt|44|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}, {{cvt|45|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} stroke

|Ship speed={{cvt|11|nmi| mi km}}

|Ship capacity=Passengers: 114 first class, 200 steerage

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The SS City of Chester was a steamship built in 1875 that sank after a collision in a dense fog with {{SS|Oceanic|1870|6}} at the Golden Gate in San Francisco Bay on August 22, 1888. She was owned by the Oregon Railroad Co. and leased by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company.{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/04/23/a-19th-century-shipwreck-near-the-golden-gate-bridge-was-just-discovered-again/ |title=A 19th-century shipwreck near the Golden Gate Bridge was just discovered (again) |last=Berman |first=Mark |date=April 23, 2014 }}{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18910214.2.112.2 |title=Miscellaneous |newspaper=Daily Alta California |date=February 14, 1891 |page=6 }}

City of Chester had been purchased in October 1876 and brought from New York around South America to Portland, Oregon in March 1877 and used in coastal trade. At the time of the collision the ship was in service from San Francisco to Eureka and other locations in the vicinity. City of Chester was outbound with Oceanic inbound from Hong Kong. Though the ships sighted each other findings indicated the smaller vessel was caught in a tidal current, cut almost in two by the liner and sank in about six minutes with loss of sixteen passengers and three crew.

The wreck was relocated in May 2013 by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Coast Survey Navigational Response Team 6 with multi-beam sonar.

Construction

City of Chester was built in 1875 by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania. The ship was {{GRT|1106.21}}, {{NRT|785.33}}, {{convert|202|ft|m}} long, {{convert|33.2|ft|m}} beam, {{convert|15.9|ft|m}} depth of hold, with two boilers, a compound steam engine rated at 600 indicated horsepower. The ship was registered at Portland, Oregon with U.S. Official Number 125473, signal JRNK.{{cite book |year=1887 |title=Nineteenth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States, Year ended June 30, 1887 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Treasury Department |page=278 |hdl=2027/uc1.b3330057?urlappend=%3Bseq=334%3Bownerid=9007199274177107-352 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b3330057?urlappend=%3Bseq=334%3Bownerid=9007199274177107-352 |accessdate=3 November 2021}}{{cite web |title=Shipwreck SS City of Chester - First Archaeological Three-Dimensional Sonar Survey |publisher=Office of Marine Sanctuaries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |url=https://nmssanctuaries.blob.core.windows.net/sanctuaries-prod/media/archive/shipwrecks/city-of-chester/city_of_chester_fact_sheet.pdf |accessdate=3 November 2021}}{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Sunken-ship-discovery-in-SF-Bay-revives-memories-5425465.php |title=Sunken ship discovery in SF Bay revives memories of xenophobia |last=Fimrite |first=Peter |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=April 23, 2014 }}

History

City of Chester, purchased in October 1876 by the Oregon Steamship Company to replace the steamer John L. Stephnes, left New York December 29, 1876 for San Francisco. The ship was the first to use the newly opened East River channel through Hell Gate then passing around South America through the Strait of Magellan. After voyage repairs at San Francisco the ship departed for Portland, Oregon on March 24, 1877. The Oregon Steamship Company merged with the Oregon Steam Navigation Company in 1879 forming the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. The ship was used in coast-wise trade.

At the time of the collision the ship was chartered to the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. The normal route at that time was departure from San Francisco's Broadway Wharf on Wednesdays for the California cities of Eureka, Arcata and Fields Landing on Humboldt Bay returning from Eureka on Saturdays.{{cite book |date=October 1888 |title=Travelers' Official Guide of the Railway and Steam Navigation Lines in the United States and Canada |location=New York |publisher=National Railway Publication Company |page=342 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4p1CAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA342 |accessdate=3 November 2021}}

Sinking

Heading to Eureka, California, with 90 passengers on the foggy morning of August 22, 1888, at about 10 am she collided with Oceanic, a liner inbound from Hong Kong.{{cite web |url=http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2014/20140423_cityofchester_shipwreck.html |title=NOAA Coast Survey ship finds 19th century shipwreck off Golden Gate Bridge — again |publisher=NOAA |date=April 23, 2013 }} The two ships saw each other, but as was later determined by a British Naval Court, City of Chester was caught by tidal current and carried into the path of the larger ship.{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18880830.2.3&srpos=37&e=-------en--20-DAC-21-byDA-txt-txIN-City+of+Chester+sunk-----# |title=The Tide Did It: Verdict of the British Naval Court on the Bay Disaster |newspaper=Daily Alta California |date=August 30, 1888 |page=1 }} An eyewitness aboard Oceanic said: "Into her we crashed with irrisistible force, cutting her just as though she was a cheese."{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18880824.2.37&srpos=27&e=-------en--20--21-byDA-txt-txIN-City+of+Chester%2c+Oceanic%2c+cheese----- |title=Sickening Sights: A Passenger's Vivid Description of the Catastrophe |newspaper=Sacramento Daily Union |date=August 24, 1888 |page=4 }} She sank in six minutes, and despite rescue efforts by those aboard Oceanic, sixteen passengers, including two children, and three crew members died. In terms of loss of life, this is the second most deadly wreck in the history of San Francisco Bay, after the sinking of the {{SS|City of Rio de Janeiro}} in 1901.

Oceanic had Chinese crew and her steerage passengers were Chinese immigrants; anti-Chinese xenophobia was high in the US at the time and initially the Chinese were accused of letting City of Chester{{'}}s passengers drown. When news of their efforts to save them came out, it helped to reduce the prejudice against the Chinese.

Discovery of wreck

The wreck is located in {{convert|216|ft|m}} of water just inside the Golden Gate Bridge at {{Coord|37|48|50|N|122|28|00|W|display=inline,title}}{{cite web |url=http://shipwrecks.slc.ca.gov/ShipwrecksDatabase/Shipwrecks_Database.asp?frmIncrement=2000&frmStartRow=0&frmQuery=&holdSearchValue=ShipName&frmShip_S_Nam=x&frmOrderBy=[ship%27s+name]&frmOrderDirection=ASC |title=Shipwreck Database |publisher=California State Lands Commission |accessdate=April 24, 2014 }}{{cite news |agency=AP|url=https://news.yahoo.com/images-released-shipwreck-san-francisco-bay-192101664.html\ |title=Images released of shipwreck in San Francisco Bay |last=Dearen |first=Jason |date=April 24, 2014 |publisher=Yahoo! news }} and was found in May 2013 by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Coast Survey Navigational Response Team 6 using multi-beam sonar. It is only {{convert|400|ft|m}} from where it was located by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, one of the ancestor agencies of NOAA, in September 1888 in a hydrographic survey using a wire dragged from the tug Raymond.{{cite court |litigants=Occidental & Oriental Steamship Company v. Henry F. Smith, et al. |vol= |reporter= |opinion= |pinpoint=209–218 |court=9th Cir. |date=1894 |url=https://archive.org/details/govuscourtsca9briefs0033 |quote=}}

An exhibit on City of Chester is to be created at the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary office at Crissy Field. The office occupies the building erected as a United States Life-Saving Service station in response to the disaster.

Gallery

File:"City of Chester" Hit and Sunk By "Oceanic".JPG|Oil painting by Robert Gilbert of the collision of Oceanic and City of Chester near Fort Point in 1888

File:SS cityofchester collision sfchronicle1888.jpg|Illustration of the collision from the San Francisco Chronicle