This short film clip is from the Thomas Edison collection in the Library of Congress. It is a marvelous example of a documentary from the early days of the motion picture camera.
The vessels, "SS Australia" and "SS City of Sydney" and "SS City of Peking" (visible only as a distant smudge of smoke in the last few seconds of the film) were ocean liners fresh from the San Francisco-Sydney, Australia route. They were leased by the US Army from the Pacific Mail Steamship Company for $1000 a day to carry the California and Oregon Volunteers to the Philippines. They are prime examples of iron-hulled ocean liners of the 1880s.
The second scene shows the "City of Sydney" passing through the Golden Gate 40 years before the famous bridge was built. You can easily make out Fort Point in the background which still stands beneath the arch at the South approach to the bridge.
It is well worth watching.
The vessels, "SS Australia" and "SS City of Sydney" and "SS City of Peking" (visible only as a distant smudge of smoke in the last few seconds of the film) were ocean liners fresh from the San Francisco-Sydney, Australia route. They were leased by the US Army from the Pacific Mail Steamship Company for $1000 a day to carry the California and Oregon Volunteers to the Philippines. They are prime examples of iron-hulled ocean liners of the 1880s.
The second scene shows the "City of Sydney" passing through the Golden Gate 40 years before the famous bridge was built. You can easily make out Fort Point in the background which still stands beneath the arch at the South approach to the bridge.
It is well worth watching.