Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada is a freshwater lake in Nicaragua. Of tectonic origin and with an area of 8,264 km2 (3,191 sq mi), it is the largest lake in Central America, the 19th largest lake in the world and the tenth largest in the Americas, slightly smaller than Lake Titicaca. With an elevation of 32.7 metres (107 ft) above sea level, the lake reaches a depth of 26 metres (85 ft). It is intermittently joined by the Tipitapa River to Lake Managua.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into leadership positions in the inland water trade and invested in the rapidly growing railroad industry, effectively transforming the geography of the United States.
A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S or PS ; however, these designations are most often used for steamships.
Charles Morgan was an American railroad and shipping magnate. He played a leading role in the development of transportation and commerce in the Southern United States through the mid- to late-19th century.
The San Juan River, also known as El Desaguadero, is a 192-kilometre (119 mi) river that flows east out of Lake Nicaragua into the Caribbean Sea. A large section of the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica runs on the southern bank of the river. It was part, with the lake, of a proposed route for a Nicaragua Canal in the 19th century. The idea of the project has been revived in the last decade, including the possibility of other routes within the country. The Ecocanal project has obtained a Concession from the National Assembly of Nicaragua to re-open the San Juan River to commercial barge traffic.
San Juan de Nicaragua, formerly known as San Juan del Norte or Greytown, is a town and municipality in the Río San Juan Department of Nicaragua.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants. Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland.
The Filibuster War or Walker affair was a military conflict between filibustering multinational troops stationed in Nicaragua and a coalition of Central American armies. An American mercenary William Walker invaded Nicaragua in 1855 with a small private army. He seized control of the country by 1856, but was ousted the following year.
Cornelius Kingsland Garrison was an American steamboat captain, shipping agent, shipbuilder, capitalist, and politician. He served as the 4th Mayor of San Francisco from 1853 until 1854.
SS Pacific was a wooden sidewheel steamer built in 1850 most notable for its sinking in 1875 as a result of a collision southwest of Cape Flattery, Washington. Pacific had an estimated 275 passengers and crew aboard when she sank. Only two survived. Among the casualties were several notable figures, including the vessel's captain at the time of the disaster, Jefferson Davis Howell (1846–1875), the brother-in-law of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The sinking of Pacific killed more people than any other marine disaster on the West Coast at the time.
Chinese Nicaraguans are Nicaraguans of Chinese ancestry who immigrated to or born in Nicaragua. They are part of the Chinese diaspora.
Enrique Gottel (1831–1875) was a German-Nicaraguan journalist, music composer, and historian.
U.S. Mail Steamship Company was a company formed in 1848 by George Law, Marshall Owen Roberts and Bowes R. McIlvaine to assume the contract to carry the U. S. mails from New York City, with stops in New Orleans and Havana, to the Isthmus of Panama for delivery in California. The company had the SS Ohio and the SS Georgia built in 1848, and with the purchased SS Falcon in early 1849 carried the first passengers by steamship to Chagres, on the east coast of the Isthmus of Panama. Soon the rapid transit time the steamship lines and the trans isthmus passage made possible when the California Gold Rush began made it a very profitable company.
John Edward Hollenbeck was an American businessman and investor who was involved in the 19th century development of Nicaragua and the city of Los Angeles, California.
Ocean Queen was a side-paddled wooden ship built in 1857 by Stephen G. Bogert, of the Westervelt & Co. Shipyard of New York City. The engines were built by the Morgan Iron Works, also in New York City. The original name of the ship was Queen of the Pacific.
SS San Juan was a passenger steamship owned by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Navigation Company. Previously, she was owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and White Flyer Line. At the age of 47 years, San Juan was involved in a collision with the steel-hulled oil tanker S.C.T. Dodd. Because of her aged iron hull, San Juan was fatally damaged in the collision and sank three minutes later, killing 65 people. The loss of San Juan was strikingly similar to the loss of Columbia.
There is a long history of attempts to build a canal across Nicaragua to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. Construction of such a shipping route—using the San Juan River as an access route to Lake Nicaragua—was first proposed in the early colonial era. Napoleon III wrote an article about its feasibility in the middle of the 19th century. The United States abandoned plans to construct a waterway in Nicaragua in the early 20th century after it purchased the French interests in the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal was built and that is now the main connecting route across Central America.
Orizaba was one of the first ocean-going steamships in commercial service on the west coast of North America and one of the last side-wheelers in regular use. Her colorful career spanned the business intrigues of Cornelius Vanderbilt, civil unrest in Mexico and Nicaragua, and the Fraser River gold rush. The ship was particularly important to Southern California ports, where she called for roughly the last 20 years of her service.
Orus was a wooden side-wheel steamship built in 1842. After a short commercial career connecting ports in New Jersey to lower Manhattan, she was employed in some of the earliest attempts to develop transcontinental shipping routes across Panama and later, across Nicaragua. She was wrecked in 1850 attempting to ascend the San Juan River in Nicaragua.
Director was a wooden, side-wheel steamship built in 1850 specifically for the river and lake portions of Cornelius Vanderbilt's trans-Nicaragua shipping route. She was the first steam vessel to sail on Lake Nicaragua. She was not only significantly profitable for Vanderbilt, but having proved the transcontinental route viable, changed both Central American and United States history. Her success produced investments in newer, more capable ships and she was retired sometime between 1854 and 1856.
