Peter Discovers Fresno

Tips help county identify ferryPORT COSTA:

Sheriff's office says the vessel is the Fresno and a nearby hull what's left of the San LeandroBy

Tom LochnerCONTRA COSTA TIMES

A boat moored off the Port Costa shoreline and a hull alongside it are the ferry Fresno and what's left of the ferry San Leandro.
"We've solved the mystery," said Contra Costa County sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee, bolstered by solid information as well as hunches and educated guesses that dozens of readers, including many maritime history and ferry buffs, phoned and e-mailed to the Times throughout the day Tuesday.
The two San Francisco Bay auto ferries, launched in the 1920s, were docked at Mare Island in Vallejo for 21/2 years, said their former owner, Phil Wright of Healdsburg. The new owner, whose name Wright declined to disclose pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, had the boats towed out of Mare Island Nov. 29, ostensibly bound for Stockton.
But over the last two weeks, Port Costa and Crockett residents reported an old ferryboat moored across the strait east of Port Costa, along the waterfront of the closed Port Costa brickyard.
Two men working on the demolition of the closed brickyard told the Times on Monday they did not know when the boats arrived.
Coast Guard officials said they had received complaints from the owner of the brickyard -- TXI Pacific Custom Materials -- but could not do anything because the docking is privately owned. The Sheriff's Office investigated. TXI did not return calls Tuesday.
Michael DeOrian, a Richmond police officer, said he recognized the Fresno, which he had seen moored in Richmond some time ago, from a photo the Times ran Tuesday.
Peter Olsen of Crockett, who frequently walks along the shore, recognized the boat as one he had seen moored in the Mare Island Strait: the Fresno -- although he conceded the boat in the picture could be a sister ship, if one still existed.
"If it's not there at Mare Island, it's the same boat," Olsen said.
By and by the puzzle fell together Tuesday.
"I understand that there was some dispute that the owner had with either the tug company or a fellow doing some work," Wright said.
Lee, too, said the boats were docked at Port Costa pursuant to a dispute, which has since been resolved.
"We involved the brickyard and the owners, who said they'd move the ships at the end of the week," Lee said. "We wanted to make sure there was a peaceful outcome. It was a happy ending. It was definitely a mystery for a short period of time."
No one was cited for any violation, Lee said.
The episode of a 250-foot boat docking on the shore of a metropolitan area dotted with chemical and other industries without maritime authorities taking much notice raises interesting homeland security issues, several readers said. What if, for instance, a barge loaded with explosives were to dock unannounced near an oil refinery?
Coast Guard officials referred the question to a public affairs officer who did not return calls Tuesday. Another Coast Guard official, Petty Officer Jonathan Cilley, said he heard about the boat for the first time Tuesday morning and therefore could not comment on any specifics. But he said that typically, and certainly if there were a known homeland security issue, the Coast Guard would board a "foreign" vessel -- foreign meaning one that would not normally be expected in a given port -- to do a safety check. He did not know if the Coast Guard ever checked the Fresno.
The 256-foot-long Fresno was built in 1927 for the Southern Pacific Railroad, according to Web sources. With the construction of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges, the San Francisco Bay ferries became obsolete, and most if not all were sold to be redeployed in Washington state.
"I'm just hoping the guy restores it," Wright said. "That was kind of my dad's dream."
Wright's late father, entrepreneur Arnold Gridley, wanted to restore the two ferries and dock them in San Francisco, Wright said. "But that wasn't in the cards for us."
It would have cost $3 million or $4 million, Wright said, not to mention $6,000 a month in carrying costs during the time the boats were docked at Mare Island.
Another San Francisco Bay ferry, the Santa Rosa, is docked in San Francisco and serves as the headquarters of Hornblower Yachts, according to Web sources.
Reach Tom Lochner at 510-262-2760 or tlochner@cctimes.com.

Scientific American

Read the entire article. Keith

Fact or Fiction?: Archimedes Coined the Term "Eureka!" in the Bath
The famed mathematician made many important scientific contributions. Was this exclamation really one of them?
By David Biello

Let's begin with the story: the local tyrant contracts the ancient Greek polymath Archimedes to detect fraud in the manufacture of a golden crown. Said tyrant, name of Hiero, suspects his goldsmith of leaving out some measure of gold and replacing it with silver in a wreath dedicated to the gods. Archimedes accepts the challenge and, during a subsequent trip to the public baths, realizes that the more his body sinks into the water, the more water is displaced--making the displaced water an exact measure of his volume. Because gold weighs more than silver, he reasons that a crown mixed with silver would have to be bulkier to reach the same weight as one composed only of gold; therefore it would displace more water than its pure gold counterpart. Realizing he has hit upon a solution, the young Greek math whiz leaps out of the bath and rushes home naked crying "Eureka! Eureka!" Or, translated: "I've found it! I've found it!"