Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
2007.046.0535Scope and Content
Color Photograph
Stamboul - West K Street at West 12th Street
Site of Matthew Turner/James Robertson Shipyard
Parcel Number: 86-121-01 and -02
The approximately 80% intact hulk of the 1843 whaler Stamboul rests off shore, preserved and encased in silt and mud at the Mathew Turner Shipyard Park. Only the stubs of the foremast and mizzzen masts are visible at a -1.8 tide. She was last registered in 1896 "Record of American and Foreign Shipping", New York. Her hailing port was New Bedford but she was sailing out of San Francisco. She was rigged as a bark with a gross tonnage of 260; length: 106.2; breath of beam: 25; depth of hold: 14.5. Her dimensions today [1989], though under water measurements, appear to be about the same, but some splaying is evident. Her hold is filled with gravel and sand. Both Matthew Turner and James Robertson used her as a shear hulk which means that she was stabiized off shore at the end of a wharf and the newly constructed wooden vessels, once off the ways, were tied to her to be out-fitted and rigged. She was afloat in 1901 and still visible in 1918. However, she had been rigged down. The shipyard was abandoned circa 1920 and Stamboul disppeared from view sometime thereafter.
Stamboul was built at Medford, Mass. in 1843 and was first used as a coastal packet. She was converted to a whaler in 1860ish and sailed in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. She was registered out of New Bedford under the ownershiip of J.C. Hitch et al. She appears to have sailed out of San Francisco from 1883 until her last registery in "The Record" 1896. Her last known survey was at San Francisco in 1885. Apparently Matthew Turner purchased her after 1896 and brought her to Benicia to be rigged down and used as a shear hulk. The historical importance of Stamboul is two-fold: She is the only known largely intact whaler on the west coast accessable to scientists. Her connection with Matthew Turner and with James Robertson following over 50 years of active service in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans places her at the site of one of the most important shipyards operating (1883-1915) in the Western North America area. She is a significant maritime archaelogical find in California and U.S. History.
Only two other whalers are known to exist in the United States: Lydia is buried under sewer lines in San Francisco and is presumed to be broken up. The Charles W. Morgan has been restored and is at Mystic Seaport, Conn.Collection
Benicia Architectural Study - 1989
