Dr. Jim Allan concludes Breaking the Candace: The 300 Spear Street Project

Unlike any of the other 19th century wood sailing vessels that have been discovered buried beneath the streets of downtown San Francisco, the Candace is the only vessel to have been recovered. All of the other buried ships have either been destroyed, or remain entombed in their original resting place, covered by modern development. Recognizing the potential significance and the historical importance of the Candace, Tishman Speyer, sponsor of the 300 Spear Street Project, directed the project's engineers to design and build a steel cradle beneath the ship, arranged for a crane large enough to lift the ship's remains from the excavation site, and had the ship moved to a waterfront warehouse not far from the spot where she had met her fate.

The Candace, having been gifted to the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society (SFMHS), remains in storage to this day. The SFMHS is engaged in a long-term capital campaign to refurbish the Old United States Mint (Old Mint) in downtown San Francisco, a National Historic Landmark that will become the SFMHS headquarters once its refurbished. The SFMHS plans to move the Candace into the atrium of the Old Mint, where it will be on display to convey the stories of early 19th century ship architecture, the early South Atlantic and Indian Ocean trade routes, Pacific and Arctic whaling, shipboard life and discontent, shipbreaking, the life of the Chinese in mid-nineteenth century California, and so many others.




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