Pier 45 ablaze!

Excuse my language, but, that sucks. I hope no one was hurt. Any idea what started the fire?

Not yet.

If the fire were to go onboard, she'd be a gonner. My daughter dated a kid for a while who was an engineer on the volunteer crew. He used to give me great tours of the engineering spaces.

But, no crew, no real fire control team, buckets and cans of everything you can imagine all over the place,

Looking at the photo, it seems the FD cut the shed fire off before it got up to Pampanito

Man that’s terrible. I’m glad to hear that the ships are ok. But the museum loss is very sad news. We were there a couple summers ago and thoroughly enjoyed the place.

I thought that lookd like the O'Brian when I saw the earlyvideos last night!

The reporter on NBC news tonight stated that the arriving firefighters were told that the most important thing was to save that ship.

Hat's off to the firefighters, then.

I wish I'd have known about Pier 45 and the two ships there during our short visit to San Francisco a few years back. I love ship tours.

Well you will just have to come back and I will lead the tour.

We also have Hornet at Alameda and the red Oak Victory in Richmond.

Bill

That would be pretty awesome, Bill.

I had no idea about the Hornet or Red Oak Victory, either. Looking at the Hornet on a map, I also didn't realize Oakland has it's own Chinatown. Ship tours and Dim Sum, oh my....

I grew up in north California - SF was a great city back then... sorry to hear it's burning but it's not quite the city I remember.

Reports say the "Musee Mechanique" was saved.  A warehouse containing a large fish processing operation for the northern California crab fleet was destroyed.

Yes those are the LaRoccas. 

Those old piers are full of creosote and burn for a long time.

Looks like the JoB will need to find a new berth.

Bill

Bill;

    I have to ask. Did they Move the Pampanito and the O'brian? I thought they were closer to the old Maritime Museum. Well it's been almost 15 years now and things change I know. I wonder what the Red Oak Victory and the Hornet look like now. Remember I was a Docent on the HORNET in her early Museum Years.

Wanted to share some shots from the last couple of times we were there

Nope that pier is also the eastern side of the National Maritime site. The Hyde Street pier is in the middle where Balclutha is and there's a breakwater to the west.

Im waiting for reopen to go to the archive at Fort Mason and look at the Marinship collection of the launching ceremonies for the Mission class T 2 ships.

Long story I'll tell later.

Bill

August 2017 (didn’t think it was that long ago...)

T

Did you know that those doors on the pier shed match up with the doors of a string of 40 foot box cars?

GMorrison

Did you know that those doors on the pier shed match up with the doors of a string of 40 foot box cars?

 

I did not... but it makes perfect sense... places like that were designed with transportation logistics in mind. A lot of old Army warehouses I visited here and there had loading docks like that.

Where did she go? Your faithful recorder is on the trail.

Bill

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/4566296-historic-wwii-liberty-ship-jerimiah-obrien-moved-away-from-pier-45-after-weekend-fire/

Yes;

    I got some specs when I was doing a Dio for a rail Museum( Not ours). Oh Yeah, Looks like they moved the Pampanito too! 

Tanker-Builder

Oh Yeah, Looks like they moved the Pampanito too! 

My daughter's former boyfriend showed me the manual steering gear on the JOB. He said they used it once and it was a real ***.

He took me down to the engine room, said the rite of passage as an honorary crew member was to go down to the end of the shaft tunnel and back. 150 feet.

Nope.

The two pics of the fire are sad to look at.

Darn it.

The JOB was saved by the SFFD ship St. Francis. Her berth is under the Bay Bridge, about a mile from Pier 45.

The head of the JOB volunteer effort said that she came within minutes of being destroyed. Mostly for the reasons I noted earlier. There were only two people aboard at the time of the fire.

Still do not know the whereabouts of Pampanito.

Hi Bill;

   You know what.Thats the same for the old Victories that were in civilian service back in the 70s. I was on the OCALA Victory as my first ever Merchant ship. Interesting that shaft alley. Gotta check the bearing temps and vibration once an hour. She sailed for OLYMPIC Steamship Company. Out of Seattle!

     And boy it was stifling in there. Now, what I liked about the Victories over the Liberties was the more kindly sea keeping bows they had. My Quarters were at the aft Port-side of the main deck in the center house. We did have the old machine/carpenters shop on the stern where the Gun would,ve been mounted on top!

 You know riding those ships, either type, in fairly rough seas was a learning experience even after all the years I spent on the Destroyers, Before I went into the Corps. I didn't think the Victories were as bad as the Liberties.They Weren't.

     One aside. After reading that journal about the Destroyers Crewman, as a Second Engineer, chow and eating area were downright fancy on the OCALA! tablecloths and silverware. I thought once about sailing on the O'Brian but could never get the times to work out for that. 

 I am glad they saved those two. Seeing the rust in one photo makes me worry about the Hornet! 

Please write down as much as you can.

Turbine versus piston.

The after hold of JOB has the machine shop. My guide thought it was quite funny that the big lathe had leveling bubbles.

Bill

Hornet like anything is always starving for money. I knew a guy, a doctor who served on her in Viet Nam. He restored the sick bay, scrounging up old furniture all over.

The Navy had a standard aluminum side chair that's a collector's item now.

the Emeco 1006.

Bill