doc241 - Schoenherr Home Page in Sunny Chula Vista

The coastwise trade opened briskly under American rule. In the first number of
the Herald, May 29, 1851, the marine list for ten days shows eleven vessels of all
classes arrived and ten cleared, and the following week four arrived and three cleared.
In December, traffic was so brisk that the steamer Sea Bird was chartered from the Pacific
Mail Company, and put on the route between San Diego and San Francisco by
Captain Haley.
In 1857 two packets ran regularly to the Sandwich Islands. The fare for passengers
was $80, and the trip was made in about twelve days.
The first boat of American build regularly used on San Diego Bay is believed to
have been the one brought here in 1850 by Lieutenant Cave J. Couts. It was built for
the use of the boundary survey expedition under Lieutenant A. W. Whipple and first
launched in Lake Michigan. This boat was 16 feet long and 5 feet 6 inches wide. It was
equipped with wheels on which it traveled overland, and was used for crossing rivers on
the way. At Camp Calhoun, on the California side of the Col-
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[Mrs. Carson (formerly Mrs. George A. Pendleton]
orado River, late in the year of 1849, Couts purchased this boat and used it for a ferry.
On his return to San Diego, he brought it with him and used it to navigate the waters of
San Diego Bay.
On August 13, 1857, occurred one of those historically important "first events."
The schooner Loma, the first vessel ever built on the San Diego Bay, was launched.
She was built at the shipyard of Captain James Keating, and was christened, as the
Herald informs us, "in due and ancient form."
As traffic increased, and as there were neither lighthouse nor buoys, it was inevitable
that wrecks should occur, although storm seldom ruffled the surface of the bay.
The first wreck at San Diego was that of the pilot boat Fanny, on the night of December
24, 1851. She had been out cruising for the Northerner, was anchored just outside Ballast
Point, and, a gale rising, was driven ashore and lost.
The only other wreck during this period of which there is any record was that of
the Golden Gate, Captain Isham, in January, 1854. This steamer came up from Panama
with a large number
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[House of John C. Stewart, Old Town]
of passengers. She broke a shaft, below San Diego, and came in with only one wheel
working, arriving on Wednesday the 18th. Her provisions were nearly exhausted and the
passengers very hungry. After securing supplies, she put to sea again on the evening of
the same day, in a storm. Her engine gave out, and, in spite of attempts to anchor, she
was driven ashore on Zuñinga shoal. The Goliah was in the harbor and went to her assistance,
but could do nothing. The next morning the passengers, after a night of terror,
were taken off in safety with the exception of one man, I. M. Gibson, who was killed by
falling down the steamer's hold in the night. The passengers were distributed among the