1888 Shipwreck Found Under Golden Gate Bridge Was Bay Area’s Second Deadliest

A shipwreck from 1888 which had 16 passengers on board has been found again beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Brand new sonar images of the boat have been released which show it sitting upright and covered in mud.

The director of maritime heritage for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Sanctuaries, James Delgado, said the rediscovery of the ship, named City of Chester, is remarkable for a number of reasons.

One of those reasons, according to Delgado, is that its revelation allows the public to learn more about people from another time who were put in extraordinary circumstances, and to get an insight into the 19th century.

The City of Chester sank following a collision with a boat carrying Chinese immigrants, which was originally blamed for the collision. Later, it was discovered that the Chester was, in fact, at fault and the Chinese immigrants had worked hard to save the lives of those on it.

Delgado said: “History is made up of a lot of people who never made it into the books. Same with this shipwreck. It was filled with everyday people who got into a situation beyond their control. Not every discovery is the Titanic.”

The 1888 shipwreck, which was rediscovered in 2013 at a depth of 200 feet close to the Golden Gate Bridge, was found by mistake by coastal teams scouring the area ahead of the America’s Cup.

The clear sonar imagery shows the defined hull rising about 18 feet from the seabed and the massive gash on the vessel’s port side. Ninety people were on the Chester when it sank on August 22, 1888. The vessel used to make regular trips from the Bay Area to British Colombia, and was named after the city in Pennsylvania where it was constructed.

Apparently on the day of the 1888 shipwreck the captain took an unsafe turn, forcing it to collide with the oncoming boat. The City of Chester was impaled, and sank quickly.