Farallon Steamship Disaster - History of S.S. Farallon

History of S.S. Farallon

On January 27, 1902 the S.S. Farallon became the fourth ship in the Alaska Steamship Company fleet. It was a wooden steam schooner. A schooner is a two-masted fore-and-aft rigged vessel with both a fore and main mast. The boat was named after the Farallon Islands, located 26 miles (42 km) from the coast of San Francisco. These islands were named after the Spanish word "farallones", meaning rock or cliff in the sea. Quite a coincidence, seeing as the ship would eventually meet its end from the damage of the very mass it was named after. The boat was 171 feet (52 m) long with a 34 feet (10 m) beam and a cargo hold more than 10 feet (3.0 m) deep. This deep hold allowed the ship to transport over 400,000 board feet of lumber, including Pacific Coast fir, pine, redwood and cedar.