SS City of Rio de Janeiro
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS City of Rio de Janeiro |
| Operator: | |
| Route: | San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii, Yokohama, Japan and Hong Kong |
| Builder: | John Roach & Son, Chester, Pennsylvania |
| Launched: | 6 March 1878 |
| Fate: | Sank 22 February 1901, San Francisco Bay |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 3500 |
| Length: | 370 ft (110 m) |
| Beam: | 39 ft (12 m) |
| Draft: | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Depth: | 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m) |
| Installed power: | Compound steam engine, 6 boilers |
| Propulsion: | Screw |
| Sail plan: | Barquentine rig |
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In 1898
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| NRHP Reference # | 88002394 |
| Added to NRHP | 11 November 1988 |
The SS City of Rio de Janeiro was an iron-hulled steam-powered passenger ship, launched in 1878, which sailed between San Francisco and various Asian Pacific ports. On 22 February 1901, the vessel sank after striking a submerged reef at the entry to San Francisco Bay while inward bound from Hong Kong. Of the approximately 220 passengers and crew on board, fewer than 85 people survived the sinking, while 135 others were killed in the catastrophe. The wreck lies in 287 feet (87 m) of water just off the Golden Gate and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as nationally significant.
City of Rio de Janeiro was one of many ships that were lost due to challenging navigational conditions in this area.
Launched on 6 March 1878, the City of Rio de Janeiro was originally built for the United States & Brazil Mail Steamship Company, a two-ship shipping line between Brazil and the United States. This proved unprofitable, and she was sold to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in 1881 and refitted to serve as an ocean liner, traveling between her home port in San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii, Yokohama, Japan and Hong Kong.
In 1898 the US Government leased the ship for a short time to ferry troops to Manila in the Philippines as part of the Spanish American War. After the war, she went back to her usual Pacific route.
On 22 February 1901, while trying to pass through the Golden Gate in heavy fog, en route to her home port of San Francisco, the City of Rio de Janeiro collided with rocks, reportedly on the southern part of the straits at or near Fort Point, and sank.
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