The Niantic and the Gold Rush

Nearly 250 fortune hunters from Panama boarded a ship named the Niantic. The crew were just convinced they had a better chance at making their fortune if they looked for gold rather than, you know, try and sail on a boat. But the great fire of 1851 burned the ship down to the waterline along with much of San Francisco. Now these days that intersection is about five blocks away from the piers at San Francisco.