SS Japan Photo Archive

Period lithograph - the Pacific Mail flagship as her contemporaries saw her.

Plan of the Saloons - 50 first-class staterooms and 908 steerage berths.

Non-colorized SS Japan plan - a cleaner archival view of the ship's deck and saloon arrangement.

Steamship Japan in the California Dry Dock at Hunter's Point, c. 1869.

Another view of the Steamship Japan at the California Dry Dock, Hunter's Point - hull exposed alongside the timber works.

SS Japan in dry dock, c. 1873 - hull exposed alongside the timber gangway, a rare look at the Pacific Mail flagship between voyages.

The Japan at the foot of Brannan Street, c. 1873 - coal chute and passenger brow alongside.

Period painting of the SS Japan under steam.

Pacific Mail Steamship Company - federal mail contractor, 1865.

Pacific Mail Steamship Company chart showing the trans-Pacific mail routes linking San Francisco with China, Japan, and Australasia, c. 1870s. Artist unknown.

P.M.S.S. Co.'s Wharf - Off for China and Japan, San Francisco, c. 1874. Artist unknown, National Parks Gallery.

Pacific Mail Steamship Co.'s Wharf, No. 257 - Eadweard J. Muybridge stereoview, c. 1869-1871. The foot of Brannan Street - first landfall in San Francisco for nearly every Chinese immigrant of the era.

Chinese Emigration to America - shipboard life aboard a Pacific Mail steamer crossing to San Francisco. Artist unknown, Bancroft Library.

Pacific Mail dock from Rincon Hill, c. 1864-1872 - Carleton Watkins (after Mammoth Plate CEW 611). Sidewheelers Colorado and Senator among the sailing ships, with Yerba Buena Island beyond.

Pacific Mail Steamship Co. docks, San Francisco, c. 1871 - Carleton Watkins.

'The Coming Man' - passengers disembarking at the Pacific Mail pier and being met by friends. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, May 7, 1870.

1888 political cartoon - Chinese immigrants streaming from Pacific Mail and Canadian Pacific wharves into San Francisco's factories and Chinatown. Artist unknown, Bancroft Library.

Pacific Mail Steamship Co. derrick and coal yard, San Francisco, c. 1871 - Carleton Watkins, California Historical Society.

Pacific Mail Steamship Co. wharf, San Francisco - Carleton Watkins, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Pacific Mail Steamship Co. offices, southeast corner of Market and First streets, San Francisco, c. 1896. Photographer unknown.

Period photograph.

Period photograph.

AI interpretation - SS Japan at anchor in harbor with full rig and sidewheel visible.

AI interpretation - sepia harbor composition with the ship framed against a hazy shoreline.

AI interpretation - minimalist sepia study with the SS Japan isolated on calm water.

AI interpretation - golden-hour rendering of the SS Japan under steam.

AI interpretation - the SS Japan resting on the seabed, hull broken in two with shafts of light reaching down through the South China Sea.

AI interpretation - the loss of the SS Japan rendered as a night fire at sea.

AI interpretation - dusk fire scene with reflected flame across the water.

AI interpretation - sunrise view of the ship's final fire.

AI interpretation - closer sunset study of the SS Japan engulfed in flames.

AI interpretation - Chinese passengers boarding the SS Japan, evoking Pacific Mail's trans-Pacific steerage trade.

AI interpretation - passengers gathered at the stern rail at dawn, the Pacific opening out behind them.

AI interpretation - the SS Japan fully ablaze at night, side view with the sidewheel still turning under the flames.

AI interpretation - the ship listing under fire as lifeboats pull away beneath a full moon.

AI interpretation - sunset study of the sidewheeler under steam.

Contact sheet - a composite of AI renderings explored during the SS Japan project.

Raw 1874-CC Trade Dollar - obverse, as recovered.

Raw 1874-CC Trade Dollar - reverse, as recovered.

A row of 1874-CC Trade Dollars recovered from the SS Japan.

Chris Olive with a freshly attributed 1874-CC Trade Dollar.

Cataloging session with Matt - attributing the collection coin by coin.

Signing Provenance Certificates for the collection.

Custom NGC label designed for the SS Japan attribution.

Custom Provenance Certificate designed for the collection.

Digital microscope work - inspecting recovered Trade Dollars in their slabs.

Matt at the table - another cataloging session attributing the collection coin by coin.

Chris with the SS Japan Provenance Certificate binder - one certificate per coin in the collection.