The General Harrison
A full rigged, three-masted ship, Harrison was 126 feet long, and 26.7 feet wide. Inside her 13 and half-foot deep hold, the ship could carry up to 409 tons of cargo. In 1849, news that gold had been discovered in California swept through the United States. Sailing from Boston on August 3, 1849, the ship rounded Cape Horn in a seven-month voyage that ended on February 3, 1850 in San Francisco Bay. With her passengers off to the gold fields, and her cargo sold, the General Harrison would have been ready for another voyage. But the lure of gold was too much for her crew. They deserted and headed for the mines. The General Harrison, along with hundreds of other ships, lay idle on the San Francisco waterfront.
In 2001, the General Harrison, was uncovered at the corner of Clay and Battery Streets. The Oakland-based archaeology firm Archeo-Tec was allowed to painstakingly uncover the ship and document its findings.
As development of the site was imminent, the developers commissioned a work to commemorate the finding. Based on drawings and photographs a piece of public artwork was mounted on the side of the new 4-story building. Repeating the design of the outline of the ship, the sculpture is a 60-foot, flatted hull made of copper with supporting ribs that attach to a stainless steel grid and frame.