A history of the deadliest maritime disasters on the San Francisco Bay 4%
By Aldo Toledo3%
7/15/2026, 8:41:54 PM
Keywords: Bay Area, San Francisco
BS Summary: This article contains 13 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Recency Bias, with Overconfidence Bias as the most egregious example at 11.7% saturation with 59 hits. Analysis detected 323 faulty-reasoning hits from 505 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 16.2% and a BS Rank of 4% (21,204 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 96.90% of the article peer group.
The sinking Tuesday of a recreational boat near Alcatraz Island became the latest deadly episode in the long maritime history of the San Francisco Bay.
One person died and three passengers remained missing Wednesday after the 49-foot cabin cruiser Volare capsized in rough seas with 20 people aboard.
Sixteen people survived, and authorities are investigating what caused the boat to sink.
The bay’s dangers have been known for centuries.
When Spanish naval officer Juan Manuel de Ayala became the first known European to sail through the Golden Gate in 1775, he described the waters as difficult and urged caution because of powerful tides.
A combination of high winds, strong currents and sharp rocks has led to multiple disasters within San Francisco Bay.
Here are some of the deadliest known vessel disasters on the bay:
Port Chicago explosion, 1944 — 320 dead
The deadliest maritime disaster in the Bay Area occurred July 17, 1944, when munitions being loaded aboard two military cargo ships exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine on Suisun Bay, part of the greater bay estuary.
The blast killed 320 sailors, many of them African American enlisted men assigned to load ammunition under the Navy’s segregated labor system.
The explosion also destroyed two ships: the E.A.
Bryan and the Quinault Victory.
City of Rio de Janeiro, 1901 — 128 dead
The passenger liner City of Rio de Janeiro struck rocks near Fort Point while entering the Golden Gate through dense fog on Feb.
22, 1901.
After hitting the rocks, the vessel flooded and sank in about 10 minutes, killing 128 of the roughly 210 people aboard.
The disaster helped lead to reforms including the creation of San Francisco’s first foghorn.
The Jenny Lind, 1853 — at least 18 dead
A boiler aboard the steamboat Jenny Lind exploded during an April 1853 voyage from Alviso in San Jose to San Francisco.
Reports from the era counted 18 people dead and 30 badly burned, but historical accounts differ on the final number of deaths.
An investigation into the disaster found that many passengers had been gathered near the boiler for a meal when the explosion tore through the vessel.
USS Benevolence, 1950 — at least 18 dead
The Navy hospital ship Benevolence collided with the freighter Mary Luckenbach in heavy fog near the Golden Gate on Aug.
25, 1950.
The Benevolence rolled onto its side and sank in about 20 minutes.
Rescuers saved hundreds of others from the cold water, though Navy records listed 18 people dead and 13 missing.
City of Chester, 1888 — 16 dead
The passenger steamer City of Chester had just departed San Francisco for Eureka when it collided with the much larger Oceanic near the Golden Gate.
The Oceanic’s bow tore into the smaller vessel, which sank in about six minutes.
Sixteen people died.
Chinese crew members aboard the Oceanic were initially subjected to racist blame despite accounts showing that they risked their own lives to rescue passengers.
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100%flagged-word coverageJuan Manuel de Ayala
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