Troops embarking at San Francisco /

Shows troops of the First Regiment, California Volunteers, boarding the Pacific Mail steamer City of Peking to serve in the Philippine theater of the Spanish-American War. The film was shot at the Pacific Mail Steamship Company dock between 10:50am and 1:50pm on Friday, May 13, 1898. The dock was located at First Street between Brannan and Townsend streets. The camera is probably facing north.. The film begins with flag-waving relatives in the foreground [Frame: 0108]. The troops are seen climbing the gangplank with full travel kits and rifles [0787]. As the crowd watches the troops, at least one woman raises a handkerchief to her eyes [1059]. In the bright background between the ascending soldiers, troops are seen lining the ship's rails and a lifeboat is visible [1500]. Over a thousand troops boarded the City of Peking after marching across San Francisco from their bivouac at the Presidio army base. After loading, the steamer pulled out into San Francisco Bay and re-anchored, awaiting the loading of two more steamers, the Australia and the Sydney. The fleet departed for the Philippines on Sunday, May 15. Built in 1874, the City of Peking was a long-serving 5,070-ton steamer of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. The ship made 116 round trips between San Francisco and Hong Kong before being scrapped in 1920.
38256 U.S. Copyright Office
Copyright: Thomas A. Edison; 22Jun1898; 38256.
Camera, Frederick Blechynden.
Duration: 0:52 at 15 fps.
Photographed: May 13, 1898. Location: Pacific Mail Steamship Company Dock, San Francisco.
Paper print shelf number (LC 0065) was changed when the paper prints were re-housed.
Additional holdings for this title may be available. Contact reference librarian.
Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as digital files.
Sources used: Niver, K. Early motion pictures, p. 337; American Film Institute catalog, film beginnings, 1893-1910, p. 1102; Musser, C. Edison motion pictures, 1890-1900, p. 436.
Early motion pictures : the Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress / by Kemp R. Niver. Library of Congress. 1985.