Sea Captains: San Francisco 1800s

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Robert Henderson Horner

December 1, 1859 (Advertisement), Daily Alta California, San Francisco

Atlantic and Pacific Steamship Company
for New York and New Orleans.

The steamship Cortes, R. H. Horner, Commander, will leave for Panama, from Mission Street Wharf, on Wednesday, November 30, 1859 at Nine O'clock A.M.

Passengers for New York and New Orleans by this vessel will connect at Aspinwall with the steamship Northern Light, leaving New York December 5th, and the Daniel Webster for New Orleans.

For Freight or Passage, apply at the office of the Company, southeast corner of Sacramento and Leidesdorff streets.

J. T. Wright, Agent

From Professor John Haskell Kemble, Pomona College (1936): Following are voyages from San Francisco and from New York indicating that Captain Horner was in command of a Panama steamer:

San Francisco to Panama
Ship	Line	Sailing
Cortes	New York & California Steamship Co.	July 6, 1859; October 5, 1859; November 30, 1859
Cortes	Atlantic and Pacific Steamship Co.	January 20, 1860; March 5, 1860
Uncle Sam	Pacific Mail Steamship Co.	August 1, 1862
Golden Age	Pacific Mail Steamship Co.	March 23, 1863
Uncle Sam	Pacific Mail Steamship Co.	June 23, 1864: August 3, 1864
Nebraska	North American Steamship Co.	April 15, 1868; June 5, 1868; July 20, 1868: September 5, 1868

August 11, 1859; November 20, 1859; December 1, 1859, Daily Alta Caliifornia, San Francisco:

Multiple listings in the Daily Alta California and Sacramento Daily Union of Captain Horner sailing to/from Panama under Shipping News

December 10, 1859, Los Angeles Star, Los Angeles, California

The Steamer Cortes.

The Atlantic and Pacific steamship company's steamer Cortes, after a considerable detention, arrived safely at San Francisco last week. We copy the following, which duly accounts for her protracted absence:

MEMORANDA. -- The Atlantic and Pacific Steamship Company's steamship Cortes. R. H. Horner, commander, left Panama November 9, at 10:30 a. m., with 553 passengers and United States mails, from New York, October 20, per Company's steamship North Star, and passengers and United States mails from New Orleans, October 23 via Havana, per Company's steamship Daniel Webster. The Cortes was detained in consequence of the North Star running on a coral reef, October 26, at 4 a. m., off Plana or French Key (one of the Bahama group of islands), situated on the western side of Maraguana passage, where she lay for 6 days and 10 hours. After throwing overboard some 450 tons coal and lightening the ship by landing the passengers on the island, she was finally got off uninjured, and the passengers re-embarking, she proceeded on her voyage, stopping at Kingston, Jamaica, for coal and provisions, and arriving at Aspinwall November 8.

The steamship Daniel Webster carried for New York most of the passengers that left San Francisco October 20, per steamship Uncle Sam. November 14 and 15, off Tehunantepec, encountered a most severe gale from the North, with a terrific head sea.

Old shipmasters pronounced the weather to be more boisterous than any they had ever experienced on the Pacific. The ship behaved beautifully. November 17, at 8 a. m., arrived at Acapulco; took in coal and provisions and left same day at 10:30 P.M.

February 29, 1860, Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, California

August 21, 1861, Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, California

September 28, 1861, October 21, 1861, Sacramento Daily Union

New York - Aspinwall.
Baltic	Pacific Mail Steamship Co.	November 21, 1865; December 21, 1865
New York	Pacific Mail Steamship Co.	January 20, 1866:February 21, 1866;: March 21, 1866

April 5, 1868, Daily Alta California, San Francisco, California

April 8, 1868, Daily Alta California, San Francisco

AN ARREST - United States Marshal Rand arrested, yesterday, Captain Homer of the steamship Nebraska, on a charge of having forcibly put ashore at Panama, on the upward trip of his vessel, his Chief Engineer, Campbell. The Captain instantly gave bonds, adn was discharged from custody.

April 9, 1868, Daily Alta California, San Francisco

Captain Horner Discharged

U. S. vs. R. H. Horner -- Charge: That the defendant, Matter of the steamship Nebraska, for leaving Chief Engineer Campbell of the steamer at Panama. The evidence showed that Horner and Campbell disagreed, and the former transferred the latter to another steamship belonging to the same Company, with a ticket to return to San Francisco. Commissioner Whitney held that this was not putting a man ashore and abandoning him in a foreign port. The defendant was discharged.

April 9, 1868, Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, California

Captain Homer, of the steamer Nebraska, arrested for putting a sailor ashore at Panama, was examined today and discharged from arrest.

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The Illustrated History of Nautical Maps and Navigational Charts

John Blake
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The Sea Chart
The Illustrated History of Nautical Maps and Navigational Charts

John Blake
The sea chart was one of the key tools by which ships of trade, transport and conquest navigated their course across the oceans. Herein is a history and development of the chart and the related nautical map, in both scientific and aesthetic terms, as a means of safe and accurate seaborne navigation. 150 color illustrations including the earliest charts of the Mediterranean made by 13th-century Italian merchant adventurers, as well as 18th-century charts that became strategic naval and commercial requirements and led to Cook's voyages in the Pacific, the search for the Northwest Passage, and races to the Arctic and Antarctic.

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