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A guide to the Alaska Packers Association motion picture film, 1909-1918
P79-179a (SAFR 14965)
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Title: Alaska Packers Association motion picture film
Date: 1909-1918
Identifier/Call Number: P79-179a (SAFR 14965)
Creator:
Alaska Packers Association
Physical Description:
1 item.
Repository:
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Historic Documents Department
Building E, Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA 94123
Physical Location: San Francisco Maritime NHP, Historic Documents Department
Language(s):
In English.
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The descriptions in this collection guide were compiled using the best available sources of information. Such sources include
the creator's annotations or descriptions, collection accession files, primary and secondary source material and subject matter
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[Item description], [Location within collection organization identified by Collection Number/Series Number/File Unit Number/Item
Number], P79-179a (SAFR 14965), Alaska Packers Association motion picture film, San Francisco Maritime National Historical
Park
SAFR-00001
The film was donated in 1979 by Del Monte Corporation to the San Francisco Maritime Museum.
Historical or Biographical Note
The Alaska Packers Association (APA) began with a prospecting mission by the schooner NEPTUNE to Bristol Bay in 1883. The
Bering Sea's first modern cannery was established near Nushagak by the then Arctic Packing Company. On September 2, 1891 a
meeting was held of several Alaska independent canners and the concept of an industrial association was approved. Incorporation
of this association came on January 13, 1892. That year, 15 vessels were chartered for use. The next year, on February 9,
1893, the association reincorporated under the formal name of Alaska Packers Association, with the main office on Market Street,
in San Francisco, California.
Revenues from the sale of company stock were used to buy 28 canneries, 19 fishing stations, 19 steamers, 15 launches and hundreds
of acres of land in Alaska. The vessels were put to sea each Spring, sailing from San Francisco for the Pacific Ocean. Sailing
vessels took about one month to arrive at the salmon fishing grounds, while steamers could speed to the fisheries in nine
days. Summers were spent going back and forth from fishing grounds to canneries. The fleet returned to San Francisco in the
Fall.
In the 1960s, APA moved their central office to Blaine, Washington, on Puget Sound, after having been sold to the Del Monte
Corporation. [Source: Alaska Department of Education, Division of State Libraries and Museums. A Preliminary Inventory of
the Alaska Packers Association Record Series on Microfiche].
The Alaska Packers Association motion picture film (P79-19a, SAFR14965) consists of one reel of 35mm silent black-and-white
motion picture film known as "Old Sailing Ships" approximately 1,000 feet of the Alaska Packers Fleet, circa 1909-1918.
The film's run time is 00:18:29. A digital preservation copy made from the original 35mm print is available for streaming
on the Internet Archives at https://archive.org/details/csfmm_00002 and digitized by the California Audiovisual Preservation
Project (CAVPP). A 16mm copy projection print was made by San Francisco Maritime Museum in 1979.
- 00:00:09 - Unloading cargo dockside.
- 00:00:37 - Star of Lapland unloading.
- 00:00:53 - Loading supplies: hogs into hold, hay bales, barrels and bedding.
- 00:02:18 - Star of Alaska? OR Iceland.
- 00:02:36 - Star of Finland.
- 00:02:59 - Star of Chile.
- 00:03:33 - Star of Iceland.
- 00:04:04 - Tacoma.
- 00:04:14 - Star of Alaska.
- 00:04:19 - Loading vessel.
- 00:04:30 - Donkey engine and operator.
- 00:04:35 - Star of France.
- 00:04:44 - Vessel departure.
- 00:05:25 - Pier 54 - with fleet in background and workers moving lumber and dogs in foreground.
- 00:05:37 - Loading lumber and crates.
- 00:05:57 - Vessel at China Basin Warehouse Co. dock loading.
- 00:06:24 - Vessel at dock with sails unfurled.
- 00:06:54 - Star of Zealand departure with close up of crowds and men boarding vessel.
- 00:07:46 - Star of Lapland.
- 00:08:03 - Star of Iceland.
- 00:08:12 - Tacoma?
- 00:08:38 - Ships being towed out.
- 00:08:45 - Star of Greenland under tow.
- 00:11:27 - Vessels at dock (camera panning up rigging.)
- 00:12:07 - Vessel under way.
- 00:12:44 - Crew boarding vessel.
- 00:13:13 - Supplies being loaded.
- 00:13:25 - Star ship departing dock.
- 00:14:44 - Fishing dory under sail.
- 00:14:58 - Fishing dory hauling in net.
- 00:15:17 - Nushagak (built 1904; steamship) loaded with 2 large motor vessels.
- 00:16:26 - 4-masted bark underway possibly Star of Greenland or Star of Lapland.
The collection consists of a single reel of motion picture film.