CA-HISTORY-L Archives

From: carolyn <>
Subject: [CA-HISTORY] Ship REBUBLIC- 1915 (German Steamer WALKURE)
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 09:42:44 -0700

(this information is in response for a request on history of the ship
REPUBLIC entering SF Harbor- )

It was August of 1915 that the Chehalis stood out through the Golden
Gate, bound for Papeete Harbor, fully equipped as a salvage ship with a
crew of expert salvage men on board: Captain Strousland was in command.
The Chehalis had been chartered by two San Francisco lumbermen,
Christensen and Hooper, who had purchased the wreck of the German
steamer WALKURE, at Papeete, for $29,000, on a "where-is", as is"
basis. It was no easy job: but Strousland was equal to it , and after
building coffer dams and doing other extensive work, he brought the
Walkure to the surface late in March 1916. The salvaged ship was towed
to Hawaii, where she was reconditioned for the trip to San Francisco.
She was renamed REPUBLIC and was granted American registry; a full cargo
ws rounded up for her in Hawaii, and she went on from there to San
Francisco under own steam. Captain Strousland, a practical soul, also
succeeded in filling the Chehalis with a capacity load of copra for the
homeward voyage. The owners then gave him a well-earned vacation, which
included the use of an automobile- a luxury in itself in those days.
The REPUBLIC was placed on the market; but early offers were not
satisfactory to her new owners, who were in no immediate need of cash
and who could use her profitably in their own lumber operations. Finally
she was sold for $1,200,000 the profit on the job having been
approximately a cool million.........

this taken from _Ships of the Redwood Coast_ McNairn and MacMullen, pub
1945

information on the ship WALKURE being sunk off Papeete
http://www.geocities.com/darrenmilford/GrafSpee.html

And just to make it interesting this is a reference to another ship
named WALKURE--------------
http://pc-78-120.udac.se:8001/WWW/Nautica/Ships/Fourmast_ships/Alsterberg(1902).html

1912 June 21
Sold to H. Fölsch & Co., Hamburg, and was renamed Walküre.
1921
Assigned to the United States as war damage compensation and
transferred to Robert Dollar Co.,
San Francisco, and renamed William Dollar.


Hope this is of some help

Carolyn

This thread:

• [CA-HISTORY] Ship REBUBLIC- 1915 (German Steamer WALKURE) by carolyn <>