page_title: Senator (1848 ship)
section_title: Repositioning to the Pacific (1849)
hierarchical_section_title: Senator (1848 ship) / Repositioning to the Pacific (1849)
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of Lafayette Maynard taken in 1876. The original is in the collection of the California Historical Society.
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: 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 8 months enroute.
caption: Lafayette Mayard, who first thought to bring Senator to California, shown in 1876
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