paddle wheel guard. Boxing matches were held on her lower deck. Perhaps somewhat incongruously with hosting boxing matches, Yosemite on July 20, 1907 or 1908, advertised a "Grand Temperance Excursion" tickets $1.00 each "under the auspices of the International Order of Good Templars": Another typical charter excursion was carrying the Georgetown Volunteer Fire Department, who were all employees of the Rainier Brewery. In one atypical incident, in August, 1907, Yosemite rammed into a dock in Seattle, knocking over a horse and wagon, apparently becoming the only paddlewheeler to collide with a harnessed horse. Wrecked Yosemite was wrecked on July 9, 1909 at Port Orchard Narrows, in broad daylight. The circumstances of the wreck were never entirely cleared up. As she approached Bremerton through the narrows at about 6:20 p.m., with Capt. Mike Edwards in command, she suddenly veered sharply towards the shore at about . Striking ground, her back was broken and she was a total loss. The captain said he expected the current to strike her differently than it did. Although there were over 1,000 people on board, no one was killed or drowned, with the passengers and crew being taken on board the steamer Transport, the first on the scene, with Inland Flyer and Norwood standing by. Yosemite had recently been sold to real estate promoter C. D. Hillman. He later was sent to prison, and this gave rise to talk and accusations that she had been wrecked recklessly or even deliberately for insurance. This doesn't seem to square with the facts, as it would have required the collusion not only of her master, but also the pilot and two quartermasters who struggled to hold the ship on course, and strong tidal currents had wrecked and continue to wreck vessels. External links Photograph of Yosemite in California service Rawls, James J., ed. and Orsi, Richard J., ed., A Golden State: Mining and Economic Development in Gold Rush California (California History Sesquicentennial Series, 2), at 257, University of California Press 1999 (showing Yosemite departing San Francisco with another apparently similar sidewheeler still at the dock) (accessed 2/24/2008) Historic images from on-line collection of the University of Washington Yosemite late in her career following 1907 reconstruction Historic images from the British Columbia Provincial Archives Websites Notes Victorian-era merchant ships of Canada Merchant ships of the United States Paddle steamers of British Columbia Steamboats of Washington (state) Sidewheel steamboats of Washington