James P. Delgado . Gold Rush Port: The Maritime Archaeology of San Francisco's Waterfront . Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press . 2009 . Pp. xiv, 238. $45.00.

Abstract

James P. Delgado's impeccably researched and highly innovative history lays out quite clearly the centrality of San Francisco to U.S. control of the Pacific and explores how the city rose to dominance as a strategic port. The author's methodology blends Annales School social history and world systems theory “with urban and mining-site historical archeology and with new western history” (p. 167). Delgado's mission here is two-fold: to break away from the tradition of investigating preciosities inherited from pioneer marine archeologist George Bass, quoting Immanuel Wallerstein to the effect that “in the long run, staples account for more of man's economic thrusts than luxuries” (p. 110); and to extend marine archeology to the excavation of some of the vast number of ships buried beneath the landfill that makes up much of the waterfront of the city of San Francisco. Many of the crews that sailed to California after the discovery of gold deserted. So many unusable ships crowded into the harbor that they became a floating city used for offices, accommodation, and storeships (warehouses). The British had pioneered the use of such hulks to house French prisoners in the Napoleonic Wars and as storeships off Chinese ports in the 1830s to avoid Chinese interference in the opium trade. Much of this city of hulks was razed in the fire of 1851, and the area along Market Street from First to the Embarcadero subsequently infilled. Today's financial district sits atop this razed city.