SS City of Rio de Janeiro
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."
SS City of Rio de Janeiro fact sheet
Hundreds of shipwrecks including the SS City of Rio de Janeiro have occurred at the entrance to the Golden Gate and offshore waters now managed by the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, as recorded by George Davidson of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Credit: NOAA Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
Multibeam sonar image at San Francisco's Golden Gate highlighting the shipwrecks City of Rio de Janeiro, City of Chester and Fernstream.
Credit: Gary Fabian for NOAA
Entrance to San Francisco Hydrographic Chart 5581 (cropped) U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey 1901
Credit: NOAA U.S. Office of Coast Survey
Bay Marine Services LLC, research vessel Eaglet with Hibbard Inshore LLC Saab Sabertooth Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) / Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with Coda Octopus 3-D Echoscope sonar.
Credit: Robert V. Schwemmer, NOAA
Bay Marine Services LLC, research vessel Eaglet off the Golden Gate, with Hibbard Inshore LLC Saab Sabertooth Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) / Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with Coda Octopus 3-D Echoscope sonar.
Credit: Robert V. Schwemmer, NOAA
Bay Marine Services LLC, research vessel Eaglet preparing to launch the Hibbard Inshore LLC Saab Sabertooth Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) / Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with Coda Octopus 3-D Echoscope sonar.
Credit: Robert V. Schwemmer, NOAA
CodaOctopus 3-D Echoscope sonar images of the SS City of Rio De Janeiro.
Credit: Coda Octopus/NOAA
CodaOctopus 3-D Echoscope sonar profile view of the SS City of Rio De Janeiro.
Credit: Coda Octopus/NOAA
CodaOctopus 3-D Echoscope sonar downward view of the SS City of Rio De Janeiro.
Credit: Coda Octopus/NOAA
Present day photo at the entrance of the Golden Gate with Fort Point at the far right where the SS City of Rio de Janeiro struck the rocks and foundered on February 22, 1901.
Photo: Robert V. Schwemmer NOAA
Present day photo at the entrance of the Golden Gate looking westward with Fort Point at the far left where the SS City of Rio de Janeiro struck the rocks and foundered on February 22, 1901.
Photo: Robert V. Schwemmer NOAA
SS City of Rio de Janeiro built by John Roach & Son in 1878 at Chester, Penn. regularly transported passengers and cargo between Asia and San Francisco, photo taken at Nagasaki, Japan, 1894.
Credit: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park safr_21374_h06-04135_n
Marine painting of SS City of Rio de Janeiro with sails set.
Credit: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park safr_21374_j07-18337_gl
Advertisement for the SS City of Rio De Janeiro and SS City of Para under the flag of the United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Line. SS City of Rio De Janeiro was originally intended for Atlantic trade before being purchased by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in 1881 for transpacific trade.
Credit: Mystic Seaport 1959.285
SS City of Rio De Janeiro was rigged with square sails on the foremast and fore and aft sails on the mainmast and mizzenmast to augment her steam machinery and propeller propulsion.
Credit: Mystic Seaport 1959.285
Survivors from SS City of Rio de Janeiro after the sinking at Baker's Beach.
Credit: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park safr_21374_a11-14617_p
Recovered life ring from the wreck of the SS City of Rio de Janeiro.
Credit: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
Captain William Ward, master of the SS City of Rio de Janeiro at the time of the loss.
Credit: Robert Schwemmer Maritime Library
Captain William Ward, on board a vessel, he was lost during the sinking of the SS City of Rio de Janeiro. His body was identified by a watch tangled in his rib cage after being washed ashore at Baker's Beach seventeen months after the disaster.
Credit: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park safr_21374_k09-06796_pl
Five officers on board the SS City of Rio de Janeiro. Standing left to right, Joseph Matthews, Chief Engineer, O. K. Freeman, Purser, Harry Kirulff, Surgeon, Caterinich, First Officer, center with dog, J. Tremain Smith, Captain.
Credit: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park safr_21374_j09-30981_nl
On July 22, 1898, "A thousand Boys in Blue S.S. [City of] Rio de Janeiro bound for Manila." During the Spanish American War, the U.S. Government charted Pacific Mail Steamship Company steamships as troopships.
Credit: Robert Schwemmer Maritime Library
SS City of Rio De Janeiro bill of lading written in Chinese, they were considered part of a private transaction between the owner of the goods and master of the ship.
Credit: National Archives San Bruno, California, Record Group 21 U.S. District Court, Northern District of California San Francisco, Admiralty Case Files 1851-1934
SS City of Rio De Janeiro bill of lading, they were considered part of a private transaction between the owner of the goods and master of the ship.
