Fhelsing's Fotothing

taking a walk along the waterfront in San Francisco, California
Sunday, December 16, 2007

Here's something to boggle your mind! The shoreline of the San Francisco Bay has changed quite a lot since the Gold Rush days of 1849, and the places that we've been visiting during this photo tour were all built upon landfill.

However, there's archaeological evidence that approximately forty ships have sunk during this mid-18th century, and the landfill that was dumped into the Bay has buried them in place. If you view the original size of this photo -- and can read the small print on the plaque -- there's some interesting information about this.

The map at the top of the photo shows some of the buried ships along with the changes in the shoreline.

Here's more information, including a detailed map showing the buried ships:
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hgshp1.htm