AH-WR-0071

SS City of Rio de Janeiro

Passenger And Cargo Steamship · United States · Lost 1901 · San Francisco & the Northern California Coast

Called 'San Francisco's Titanic,' this immigrant liner sank in minutes after striking Fort Point in thick fog in 1901.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Documented Likeness. Drawn from surviving builder's plans or clear photographs of this vessel. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Built in 1878 at Chester, Pennsylvania, the City of Rio de Janeiro carried passengers and freight across the Pacific for Pacific Mail Steamship Company. On February 22, 1901, arriving from Hong Kong via Yokohama and Honolulu, she struck rocks near Fort Point in heavy fog and sank within about ten minutes because her bulkheads were not watertight. Many of the passengers, mostly Chinese and Japanese immigrants, were lost. NOAA and partners produced the first detailed sonar imagery of the wreck in 2014.

Vessel

Built: 1878
Builder: John Roach & Son
Yard: Chester, Pennsylvania
Material: Iron
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam, single screw
Owners: Pacific Mail Steamship Company

Loss

Date: February 22, 1901
Cause: Grounding
Location: Fort Point, entrance to San Francisco Bay
Water: San Francisco Bay / Golden Gate
Voyage: Hong Kong, via Yokohama and Honolulu → San Francisco, California
Cargo: Passengers and freight
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Widely regarded as one of San Francisco's deadliest maritime disasters; many victims were Chinese and Japanese immigrant passengers, and an exact toll is not firmly settled in the sources reviewed.
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Broken and deteriorated on the bay floor
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 2014
Protection: Within Golden Gate National Recreation Area waters, surveyed by NOAA