The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-11
A SHIP FOR A WAREHOUSE
The Use Made of Stranded Hulk In
San Francisco..


| (From the New York Tribunc.) g.
The Front Street building which rests
| upon the wreck of a beached ship may be
| the only one of the sort in New York,
| but at least in one other city there is a
similar structure, and locally better
known one. for the reason that the build
ing still preserves the name Of the ship
This is in San Francisco. where none
may aspire to rank in the pioneer or
Forty miner class unless he can d.s-
tinctly remember when the water came
up to Montgomery Street." which rel
atiyely to the present pier and bulkhead
line represents distance much further
inland than Front Street in New York
At the time when Montgomery Street had
only one side, being In reality the beach
the bay of San Francisco was crowded
with all sorts Of ships lying Idle for the
simple reason that all hands and the
cook had skipped out for Suffers Fort
and the mines. 1t was impossible to get
the ships discharged; men would never
consent to be stevedores on the beach
when they could be nillionaires at the
mines. That is why many of the cargoes
were never preached except when there
was need of something to fill up the mud
holes On the beach streets. No Argonaut
would respect himself II he could not tell
of the time when he saw the streets along
the waterfront paved with plug tobacco
in boxes.
One of this feet, abandoned and dere-
lict at her anchors, the good ship Man
tic, parted her cables in one of the stiff
winds for which the Golden Gate is noto-
rious. drifted ashore on the mud fiat at
the foot of Clay Street. and found a con-
venient and sticky berth about q hundred
yards off shore on the line Of present
I1r a
the loss, for at the current rate Of wages
and the absence Of labor it would have
cost half dozen times her worth to get
her off, and even then she would be OF
no use without sailors. Having paid the
loss. the underwriters in turn abandoned
her. and probably felt in luck that they
were not called upon by some owner Of
real estate to take the ship away.
The presence of the ship aided in silt
ing up of the mud fiat, and in a short
time it was awash only at high tide, and
finally dry all day long. Then 1t was
recognized that this was new addition
to the front of the city, and some bust
ness man took possession of the ship and
made 1t over into warehouse. The yes
sci was sound in every timber. spars all
standing and sails on the yards. the hold
as tight drum, and il she did make
as much as a foot month, 1t was only
short trick at the pumps to clear it
out. In fact nothing could have been
better for a warehouse and general
chandlery. The hold made an excellent
cellar. the floor of the second story
was supported by the lower masts at thu
tops, the roof was fixed at the cross
trees. and the royal masts were left
standing above the roof, with the signal
halyards ready rove, to serve for flag
STATS.
Gradually the building was altered and
patched, and the traces of the original
ship disappeared from view, but the name
Mantle was a fixture, and people entering
the warehouse continued to speak of COM
ing aboard or coming over the side. When
the city decided to expand at the expense
of the bay, and filled in the fats and
formed Sansome and Battery. and all the
other streets which have put the wreck
OF the Mantle half mile inland. the fill
ing in buried out Of sight the hull and
channel plates of the ship, and 1t ceased
10 resemble anything that had ever float
ed. When this first building went into
decay and WAS condemned. the old ship
was found TO be the soundest part OF 1t
all. But it was buried still deeper By the
of the large and for that time |
modern building that took its place. Now |
there is nothing OF the ship left except |
he name Of the building and the old main
mast. which runs up from story to story, |
and is used to support its due share of the |
weight. Some of the pioneers stoutly aver |
hat the mainmast OF the Mantle prophe-
sizes the coming of gales upon the bay by |
the way 1t creaks for two or three days |
before the wind comes. and that these |
forecasts are much more to be relied on |
han the gucsses CT the Weather Bureau.