On July 27, 1862, a horrific fire broke out aboard the side-wheel wooden steamer SS Golden Gate as it journeyed from San Francisco to Panama. Dubbed one of the fastest ships of her day, she was packed with 242 passengers, 95 crew members, and an incredible $1,400,000 fortune in gold treasure. The fire spread with terrifying speed, cutting off the lifeboats and forcing panicked passengers to jump into the churning sea.
The ship eventually ran aground and broke apart in the heavy surf off Manzanillo, Mexico. Out of the 337 souls on board, only about 100 survived the disaster. The harrowing event was famously immortalized in a dramatic print by Currier and Ives. It also sparked decades of intense underwater salvage operations, turning the wreck site into what locals still call Playa de Oro (Gold Beach).
