Packing Companies Shaped Alameda’s North Shore

I will tell this story in two parts. This week we will have a look at the Alaska Packers. Next week we’ll uncover the arrival of Calpak on the scene. With Calpak came Warehouse No. 48, where Calpak stored merchandise ready to ship, and the terminal to the north where ships arrived to carry the merchandise to market. At the same time Calpak was adding its elements to the scene, the Alameda Belt Line not only extended its rails from Grand Street to accommodate Calpak but built a railroad yard to the west.

Our story begins under the leadership of Arctic Packing’s Henry F. Fortmann, who merged a number of smaller West Coast fishing businesses into the Alaska Packers Association. Beginning in 1893, the association sailed square-rigged ships north from San Francisco’s Fremont Wharf, fished from small boats in Alaskan waters, packed the salmon in the local canneries, and sailed back to San Francisco each autumn with a full salmon pack.

The Association began purchasing lands along the estuary in Alameda in 1904. The Packers built a safe and sheltered anchorage where they could winter their large fleet of wooden sailing vessels. The following year, the Alaska Packers introduced the successful Argo brand canned salmon to the consumer market.

The Alameda operation grew to about 25 acres, including the man-made rectangular mooring basin known as Fortman Basin. Whoever renamed the basin misspelled Fortmann’s name, using just one ‘n’ at the end. The yard employed about 300 men to repair and maintain the fleet.

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Our next walking tours along Alameda’s North Shore will give us a first-hand look at how the Alaska Packers Association and California Packing Corporation shaped the Brooklyn Basin into a center of commerce that included a pioneering harbor and a successful railroad.

Join us on Saturday, August 3 , or Sunday, August 11 at 10 a.m. as we discuss the evolution of this shoreline from commerce to a residential area and get to know a company that has played a leading role in developing embedded software used in industries that include aerospace, telecommunications, and robotics. Tickets are $20 each. Visit our Walking Tours page for more information.

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San Francisco’s Fremont Street wharf closed in 1907. A seawall took its place. A historical marker, located on the Embarcadero between Pier 38 and the Brannan Street Wharf Park, describes the Alaska Packers’ presence. The wording at the base of the marker reads:

• “These are the men that kept her goin’
• Through fog and big gales blowin’
• Skipper and bosun, mates and sails,
• Tough as leather, hard as nails.”

The Alaska Packers opted to join three large fruit-and-vegetable canning operations:

• The California Fruit Canners Association, which was formed on June 15, 1899, as a conglomerate of 18 canning companies.
• Griffin & Skelley, founded by William Griffin and Edgar Skelley.
• Central Canners, formed by J. K Armsby Jr. and his brother George in 1901. They were California Fruit Canners’ exclusive agent.

On October 16, 1916, these four companies merged to form the California Packing Corporation (Calpak for short). Calpak consolidated its operations at 101 California Street in San Francisco. After 1916, Alaska Packers’ products were marketed and sold under the popular “Del Monte” and “Pioneer” labels.

In 1917 Calpak began marketing 50 of its 72 brands under the name Del Monte, a brand that had existed since 1886, when it “borrowed” the name from Charles Crocker’s Hotel Del Monte.

Calpak’s partners introduced a sanitary three-piece can that did not need to be hand soldered. This innovation allowed mechanized canning that did not require cans to be individually handled. Calpak continued to use Del Monte as a major brand. This is evident here in Alameda, where Warehouse No. 48 morphed into the “Del Monte Warehouse.” It took Calpak 50 years—until June 30, 1967—to officially rename itself the Del Monte Corporation.

Alaska Packers sailed their last ships from Alameda in 1927. By then the name of the Alameda yard had been formally changed to Fortman Basin. Take a closer look at Fortman Basin below .

As time went on and wooden sailing vessels became too old for the strenuous weather of the northern Pacific Ocean, the Alaska Packers Association purchased large steel sailing vessels and retired its sailing from service. By 1936, Alaska Packers Association had divested itself of all its sailing ships. There was talk of preserving Star of Finland , but that was not done. Learn more about Star of Finland’s interesting tale in “Meet one of the ‘Stars’” below .

Only two sailing ships remain: Star of India survives as a museum ship in San Diego harbor, and Star of Alaska , now rechristened with her original name, Balclutha , is also a museum ship berthed at San Francisco’s Hyde Street Pier.

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Welcome to Fortman Marina

The story of Fortman Marina dates back to 1926, when the name of Alaska Packer Association’s harbor was formally changed to Fortman Basin. The basin has evolved over the years into today’s Fortman Marina.

According to the marina’s website, Pat Clintsman launched motor cruisers from the Basin that he constructed in a boatworks building that no longer stands. He was the first to build berths to launch his cruisers.

“These vessels were launched and berths began to appear along the Basin’s westerly shore,” the marina’s website informs us.

Lou Hulsey purchased Fortman Basin in 1935. He expanded operations to 100 berths. Everyone called the place Hulsey’s Sunken Gardens. In 1942, Pat Kirrane stepped in and ran California Marine Sales and Service. He renamed the facility the Alameda Yacht Harbor and doubled its size.

The marina’s website also tells us that in 1945, Walt Latham and Emerson Doble moved in and built wooden yachts at the harbor. Nine years later the men purchased the Alameda Yacht Harbor itself and expanded it to 300 berths.

In 1967, Dean Anderson purchased Alameda Yacht Harbor and doubled its size. He owned the harbor until March 1984, when he sold the business to the current owner, Hunting Gate Investments, which renamed the harbor “Fortman Basin.”

Today the basin houses 497 berths as Fortman Marina and has been home to the Alameda Yacht Club since 1985. A year after the yacht club opened its doors, the Basin got a new neighbor when Dean Anderson returned and built the 400-berth “Grand Marina” at the foot of Grand Street.

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Meet One of the ‘Stars’

The Alaska Packers’ ship Star of Finland began life in 1899 as Kaiulani , named for the daughter of the last king of Hawaii. Kaiulani sadly passed away the same year that Arthur Sewall & Co. built the three-masted barque in Bath, Maine, and christened the ship in her name. Williams, Dimond & Company purchased Kaiulani to transport coal to and sugar from Hawaii. In 1910, the Alaska Packers acquired Kaiulani and renamed the ship Star of Finland . She plied the Alaska salmon cannery trade for 17 years, voyaging north every summer until 1927.

After her last canning voyage, the Alaska Packers laid up Star of Finland in Oakland until the mid 1930s. In the meantime, the company sold ship after ship, whittling the once proud Star fleet down to three: Star of Finland , Star of Alaska , and Star of India . The latter two ships have survived to this day; Star of Finland has not.

In 1937, the ship appeared in the film Souls at Sea . Two years later, D. H. Bates purchased the ship, but left her “in ordinary” (to languish) in Alameda. The Hammond Lumber Company took over Star of Finland and gave the ship back her original name, Kaiulani . The ship witnessed a frightening incident when a crew was jailed for mutiny after refusing to leave Durban, South Africa, with explosives in Kaiulani ’s holds bound for Australia.

The United States Army purchased the ship, dismasted her, and converted Kaiulani to a barge. The once-proud barque lived out her life as a lumber barge in Manila. “The ship sank near Manila years ago,” writes Dr. Donald Dyal in his book, Dyal Sailing Ship Collection . He does not state exactly when Star of Finland (Kaiulani) met its end.

Dennis Evanosky is the award-winning Historian of the Alameda Post . Reach him at dennis@alamedapost.com . His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Dennis-Evanosky .

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