San Francisco Steamer

Everybody is in a rush to get there in the morning. The tall building beckon as the little steam ferry battles its way across the bay on a wet and blustery day. Down in the engine room, men are busy shoveling coal into the incandescent maw of the boiler. There are gauges that need to be watched, valves that need to be twiddled with, levers that need to be pulled and passengers to be delivered on time.

On weekends it is entirely different. The weather is always warm and balmy. The passengers smile and joke and the seagulls drop candy bars for the crew.

But weekends are short and weekdays are long and the boiler will still need feeding.