San Diego
The U.S. Department of Interior has bestowed National Historical Landmark status upon the ferryboat Berkeley, one of the San Diego Maritime Museum’s fleet of historic ships and a familiar sight along the city’s embarcadero.
According to Ken Franke, the museum’s executive director, maritime experts consider the 289-foot vessel, the first propeller ferry to operate on the West Coast, to be in better condition than any other 19th-Century ferry in existence.
“What this does,” Franke said in a statement, “is it gives the vessel recognition as a national asset of the people of the United States.”
The Berkeley was launched in 1898 as an experiment in screw propulsion. It served for 60 years on San Francisco Bay. During the 1906 earthquake, the Berkeley worked for three days and nights ferrying thousands of residents who were fleeing the burning city to Oakland, across the bay.
From 1960 to 1973, the Berkeley led a more sedate existence as a water’s-edge gift shop in Sausalito. She was then purchased by the maritime museum.
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