Senator was a wooden, side-wheel steamship built in New York in 1848. She was one of the first steamships on the California coast and arguably one of the most commercially successful, arriving in San Francisco at the height of the California gold rush. She was the first ocean-going steamer to sail up the Sacramento River to reach the new gold fields. After more purpose-built river steamers became available, Senator began a 26-year long career sailing between San Francisco and Southern California ports. Age and improving technology finally made the ship unsuitable for passenger service by 1882. Her machinery was removed and she was converted into a coal hulk. She ended her days in New Zealand, where she was broken up sometime around 1912.
Construction Senator was built in 1848 at the shipyard of William H. Brown at the foot of 12th Street on the East River in lower Manhattan. She had a wooden hull built primarily of white oak. She was long, in beam, and in draft. She displaced 1,012 tons.
The ship was rigged as a two-masted schooner and could sail, but her primary propulsion was provided by side-mounted paddle wheels, in diameter. These were driven by a coal-fired, single-beam steam engine that produced 450 horsepower. The single cylinder had a bore of with a stroke of . The engine was built in New York City at the Archimedes Iron Works of H. R. Dunham.
She was built for steamboat entrepreneur James C. Cunningham, who also owned the steamers Admiral and Governor. Her original cost was reported to be almost $90,000.
Senator had staterooms on deck for her first class passengers, a salon where they could take their meals, and a separate "ladies cabin" where the women could retreat from the smoking and drinking men. Her tableware was custom-made solid silver and her bedding had "Senator" woven into its fabric. She had a separate cabin forward for steerage passengers which had kitchen facilities for these passengers to cook their own meals.
Senator underwent a major refit in 1869. Her deck was raised by which increased the depth of her cargo hold. Her passenger accommodations were completely rebuilt. She had 42 staterooms, of which four were bridal suites, giving her capacity for 93 cabin passengers. The outside staterooms were paneled in rosewood. The floor of the salon was made of alternate panels of walnut and ash.
Another major refit took place in 1875. In addition to significant strengthening of her aging hull, her accommodations were increased to 140 cabin passengers and 50 steerage passengers.
Atlantic coast service (1848 - 1849) Senator began her commercial service in June 1848 with less than a month of service sailing between Portland and Bangor, Maine. After this brief shakedown period, she began running between Boston, Saint John, New Brunswick, and Halifax, Nova Scotia in conjunction with Cunningham's steamer Admiral. This routing was short-lived. By the start of 1849, Senator sailed for the Boston and Fall River Line. She sailed from The Battery in lower Manhattan on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 4 PM. She stopped at Newport, Rhode Island and then went on to Fall River, Massachusetts. Her arrival was coordinated with the Fall River and Old Colony Railroad, which would take travelers on to Boston. Alternately, passengers could sleep aboard Senator and catch a train the next morning arriving in Boston at 8:30 am.
Repositioning to the Pacific (1849)
The United States Exploring Expedition surveyed the Sacramento River and its tributaries in 1841. At the start of the California gold rush, in 1848, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Lafayette Maynard studied this survey and became convinced that the river could be navigated by an ocean-going steamer, a superior vessel to the small craft in use at the time. He organized an investment syndicate to fund the purchase of such a vessel. Edward Minturn, a wealthy ship owner in New York, agreed to invest so long as his brother, Charles Minturn, was the business agent for the company once the ship reached San Francisco. The Minturn's invested cash for a 25% share of the company. Maynard received a 25% share and in return gave James Cunningham a mortgage on the ship and bought an insurance policy with Cunningham as the beneficiary in case the ship was lost. Cunningham owned 50% of the new company. The new venture bought Senator from Cunningham, in January 1849 for $80,000.
Senator sailed from New York for San Francisco as soon as she could be readied for the trip. Lt. Maynard, on furlough from the Navy, and Charles Minturn would sail as owners' representatives, but the ship would be under the command of another serving naval officer, Lieutenant Richard Bache. Bache was granted leave from his duties so that he might take the opportunity to learn about running a steam powered vessel, still a novelty at the time. While there was no freight carried on the trip so as to allow for more coal, Charles Minturn did advertise for passengers, offering the New York to San Francisco passage with a stateroom for $600, or $300 for steerage. It appears that few, if any, passengers were actually carried.
Senator left New York harbor on March 11, 1849. She stopped in Havana for coal on March 31. She stopped in Belem, Brazil for coal. She stopped at Rio de Janeiro for fuel, sailing on again on April 29. On the next day she encountered a storm which caused significant damage, and was forced to put in at St. Catherines Island for repairs. She had a number of broken starboard hull frames replaced there. She sailed from St Catherines on May 23 and arrived at Port Famine in the Strait of Magellan on June 13.
The ship had been driven to port on several occasions because she ran low on coal. Now at the tip of South America, there was none to be had. The crew took the ship's axes ashore and began cutting wood to fire the boiler. This was slow going. There was snow on the ground in the austral winter, and it took five days to chop enough wood to sail for one day. Senator crawled north up the coast of Chile. She ran so late there was concern that she had sunk somewhere along the way. Senator finally arrived in Port San Carlos, (now Ancud, Chile) on August 8, 1849. Here she was able to renew her coal supply. She left on August 14 and arrived in Valparaiso, Chile on August 17. She left on August 24 and arrived at Callao, Peru on August 31, 1849. She sailed again on September 4 and reached Panama on September 14. There were many gold rushers waiting there that had come to Panama from the Atlantic coast and crossed the isthmus over land. Senator picked up 200 passengers and sailed on October 6. The ship finally reached her new home port of San Francisco on October 27, 1849, almost eight months en route.
People's Line (1849 - 1854)
On Monday November 5, 1849 Senator steamed from San Francisco to Sacramento, the gateway to the gold fields, for the first time. She was the first ocean-going steamer to make this trip. She departed at 8 am and reached Sacramento at 6 pm, at the time seen as a feat of great speed. After this initial success, Charles Minturn established a two round-trip per week schedule, sailing to Sacramento on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and back to San Francisco on Thursdays and Sundays. By March 1850, Senator's sailings were increased to three round trips per week. The fare to Sacramento was $25 one-way. The ship also stopped at Benicia, for which the fare was $15. Freight was carried to Sacramento at a rate of $2 per hundred pounds for "heavy goods", and $0.75 per foot for "measurement goods". Minturn exploited Senator's popularity by arranging connections to shallow-water steamers that would take her passengers from Sacramento up the Feather and Yuba Rivers to the heart of the gold diggings. With minimal competition on the river and the gold rush still booming, Senator usually had 300 passengers and 200 to 300 tons of freight aboard for each trip, netting her $60,000 per month in her first year in San Francisco. Competition stiffened as more ships reached the Bay Area, but even so Senator earned her investors more than $1,500,000 in her first five years in California.
With few accurate charts, buoys, lights, or other navigational aids, no navigation instruments beyond a lead line, and the fogs for which the Bay Area is known, accidents were common. Senator found herself involved with all aspects of this marine reality. In November 1849, she assisted the grounded and flooding Kronprinzesson by towing her to Yerba Bueana Island before she sank. On September 7, 1850, Senator collided with the brig Caleb Curtis, which was anchored. The night was foggy and the brig had neither any lights on or a person on deck keeping watch. On the night of December 29, 1850 Senator rammed the ship Rhode Island, and opened her hull to the sea. She was prevented from sinking by the cargo of lumber aboard. Senator and Confidence collided on the Sacramento River on April 10, 1851, perhaps in an attempt to beat a competitor to San Francisco. Senator collided with Miner in June 1851. While in drydock in 1851, a tree trunk nine inches in diameter was found driven into Senator's hull. The snag acted as a plug, so little harm was done, but this incident underscores that the Sacramento River had its share of navigational hazards, too.
Drama on the competitive scene was also the order of the day. While Senator was successful as an individual ship, Charles Minturn was building a larger company. In 1850, New World, another New York-built ship, arrived in San Francisco. The owners of the two ships combined their interests under the People's Line brand in 1851, with Minturn as business agent for both ships. The two vessels offered sailings in both directions on the Sacramento River six days a week, with Senator leaving San Francisco on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and New World leaving Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Attracted by gold rush riches, many new ships reached the Bay Area by late 1851. Prices for steam travel crashed as the newcomers attempted to steal customers from the existing businesses. In October 1851, Senator charged only $5 for a trip from San Francisco to Sacramento and $5 per ton for freight. Profitability went out of the industry, so the owners of ten Bay Area steamers, including Charles Minturn representing Senator, agreed to a uniform set of rates in January, 1852. A cabin passage from San Francisco to Sacramento would henceforth be $10 and freight would ship for $10 a ton.
The wear and tear of continuous use required a major refit in January 1852. Worms had eaten the wood of Senator's hull and her machinery needed replacing. Two new boilers and two new chimneys were shipped from New York. They weighed 49 tons, and created such stability problems for the clipper ship carrying them, Hornet, that its captain was forced to throw them overboard to prevent capsizing. With her new boilers at the bottom of the sea, Minturn was forced to idle Senator in February 1852. A second set of boilers was ordered, and Senator went into the shipyard to receive her new equipment in December, 1852. She completed her sea trials with her new machinery on February 3, 1853, attaining a speed of 16 knots. The ship was immediately placed back on her old run between San Francisco and Sacramento.