| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Melrose |
| Owner: | Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries Ltd |
| Operator: | Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries Ltd |
| Port of registry: | San Francisco,  |
| Builder: | Southern Pacific Transportation Company Oakland shipyard |
| Completed: | 1909 |
| In service: | 1909 |
| Out of service: | 1931 |
| Identification: | Official Number: 205918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | auto/passenger ferry |
| Tonnage: | 2662 |
| Displacement: | 1677 |
| Length: | 273 ft (83 m) |
| Beam: | 43 ft (13 m) |
| Depth: | 17.9 ft (5 m) |
| Installed power: | Total 1,340 hp from 4 Scotch marine boilers |
| Propulsion: | side wheels powered by two inclined compound steam engines |
| Crew: |
|
| Notes: | [1] |
Melrose was the first San Francisco Bay ferry designed to carry automobiles. Southern Pacific Transportation Company and predecessor railroads had been operating ferries between San Francisco and Oakland, California since 1862. Some ferries were equipped to carry team-drawn wagons, but the increasing number of automobiles requiring transport encouraged building of a ferry with an unobstructed lower deck for automobiles and 400 seats on an upper deck for passengers. Melrose was launched without engines on 11 April 1906. Installation of engines being built at San Francisco's Union Iron Works was delayed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake a week after launching. The ferry was not completed until 1909. The side wheels were powered by two inclined tandem engines to avoid main deck obstruction by a traditional walking beam engine. [2]
San Francisco Bay is a shallow estuary in the US state of California. It is surrounded by a contiguous region known as the San Francisco Bay Area, and is dominated by the large cities of San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland.
The Southern Pacific was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1998 that operated in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Company and Southern Pacific Transportation Company.
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port city, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the San Francisco Bay Area, the eighth most populated city in California, and the 45th largest city in the United States. With a population of 425,195 as of 2017, it serves as a trade center for the San Francisco Bay Area; its Port of Oakland is the busiest port in the San Francisco Bay, the entirety of Northern California, and the fifth busiest in the United States of America. An act to incorporate the city was passed on May 4, 1852, and incorporation was later approved on March 25, 1854, which officially made Oakland a city. Oakland is a charter city.
The successful design of Melrose encouraged completion of sister ship Thoroughfare in 1912. Thoroughfare cost $170,000 with capacity for 97 automobiles and 45 team-drawn wagons. These two ferries offered departures at 30-minute intervals through the daylight and evening hours. Automobiles were carried on the "creek route" until new loading facilities were completed on the Oakland pier in 1921. Thoroughfare steamed into the ferry slip at full speed when her engine-order telegraph malfunctioned on 14 August 1913. The ferry was less damaged than the slipway and resumed service shortly after the engine-order telegraph was repaired. [3]
Melrose collided with the Southern Pacific ferry Bay City in a patch of dense fog on 26 January 1913. Both ferries continued in service after repairs. Two Melrose deckhands were killed while attempting to rescue a man overboard on 9 July 1917 when the lifeboat they had launched to recover the passenger was drawn into the maneuvering ferry's paddle wheel. Melrose narrowly avoided collision with the freighter K.J.Luckenback in fog on 4 February 1922. Melrose ran aground while maneuvering to avoid collision, and required the assistance of tugs to be refloated. In July 1926, Melrose suffered a mid-bay mechanical breakdown requiring assistance of tugs. The rescue tug accidentally rammed Melrose while passing a tow line. Melrose started flooding and was grounded on a mud bar to prevent sinking until repairs could be made. [4]
"Man overboard!" is an exclamation given aboard a vessel to indicate that a member of the crew or a passenger has fallen off of the ship into the water and is in need of immediate rescue. Whoever sees the person's fall is to shout, "Man overboard!" and the call is then to be reported once by every crewman within earshot, even if they have not seen the victim fall, until everyone on deck has heard and given the same call. This ensures that all other crewmen have been alerted to the situation and notifies the officers of the need to act immediately to save the victim. Pointing continuously at the victim may aid the helmsman in approaching the victim.
Melrose was retired in 1931 and Thoroughfare was sold in 1935 to become a fish reduction plant in Benicia, California. Completion of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in 1936 ended the need for automobile ferries between Oakland and San Francisco. [5]
Benicia is a waterside city in Solano County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It served as the state capital for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population was 26,997 at the 2010 census. The city is located along the north bank of the Carquinez Strait. Benicia is just east of Vallejo and across the strait from Martinez. Elizabeth Patterson has served as Mayor of Benicia since 2007.
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 vehicles a day on its two decks. It has one of the longest spans in the United States.
