The remains of an 1818 whaling ship will have a home in the Old Mint in San Francisco when it becomes a museum.
Its hull almost intact, the 188-year-old ship, found last fall by workers digging the foundation for a high-rise building, will be the featured attraction of the San Francisco History Museum when it opens in 2008, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The article says maritime archeologists believe the ship, one of dozens thought to be hidden under the streets of San Francisco, is the three-masted bark Candace.
Similar to the whalers of Herman Melville?s novel Moby Dick, the Candace was built in Boston and was used for years to hunt sperm whales in the South Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian oceans.
According to the Chronicle, the ship was also one of the first American flag merchant ships to trade in the Pacific, long before California and the Oregon Territory gained statehood.
