"Volunteers on Transport RIO DE JANEIRO Leaving San Francisco for Manila"

stereograph

PHOTOGRAPHS
Keystone View Co.
USA, CA, San Francisco Bay; USA, CA, Golden Gate
1898
paper
overall: 3-1/2 x 7 in.; image: 3-1/4 x 6 in.

Stereograph mounted on tan board with rounded corners; photograph of volunteers on transport ship RIO DE JANEIRO (built 1878) leaving San Francisco for Manila, volunteers are standing by railing and on rigging waving hats, square-rigged vessels are visible in the background; printed on left "Keystone View Company/ Manufacturers and Publishers"; printed on right "Meadville, Pa. St. Louis, Mo./ Copyright 1898, by B. L. Lingley"; printed on bottom right "9389 - Volunteers on Transport 'Rio de Janeiro' Leaving/ San Francisco for Manila."; printed on back "At the time the within view was made, the 'City of Rio de/ Janeiro' was doing government duty between San Francisco/ and Manila - transporting soldiers - having been twice char-/ tered by the government since war began with Spain./ At 5:30 p. m. on Thursday, Feb. 21st, 1901, after a stormy/ trip from Hongkong via Yokohama and Honolulu, she ar-/ rived at Golden Gate, and was boarded by Pilot Jordan, who,/ with Captain Ward, made ready to come into port. A fog/ prevented. U. S. Consul General Wildman, his wife and two/ children (with the 201 aboard) resigned themselves to an-/ other night at sea. Little did this family dream that they/ would never reach home. A dawn on the morrow, with/ captain and pilot on bridge, they started in, when again a/ dense fog enshrouded them. At 5:30 the great ship crashed/ upon the rocks, not far from the Cliff House and Seal Rocks,/ going down in thirteen minutes with one hundred and twenty-/ two souls, but seventy-nine escaping - the saddest catastrophe/ ever transpiring on the Pacific coast. Washington's birth-/ day was celebrated in San Francisco amid deep gloom./ Two hours later the sun shone bright, but thousands of/ San Franciscans looked in vain for so much as a mast-head/ to indicate where the Rio went down with her precious cargo./ The Rio de Janeiro, owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship/ Co., was built by Jno. Roach & Son, Chester, Pa., in 1878./ It was 345 feet long, 38.6 beam, 28.9 deep, valued at $700,000/ with $1,800,000 cargo; no insurance."

2000.48