Domingo Marcucci Jugo (

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

, 1827 -

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, 1905), was a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n born 49er,

shipbuilder Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

and shipowner in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He owned or captained some of the many steamships, steamboats, ferries, and sailing ships he built at San Francisco and elsewhere on the Pacific coast. Scott, Erving M. and Others, ''Evolution of Shipping and Ship-Building in California, Part I'', Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, Volume 25, January 1895, pp.5-16
from quod.lib.umich.edu accessed March 10, 2015

Early life and education

Domingo Marcucci was born in

(

) on April 28, 1827, to Juan Bautista Marcucci, a native of

Santiago de los Caballeros Santiago de los Caballeros ("James, son of Zebedee, Saint James of the Knights"), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of ...

(

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

), and Catalina Jugo, a native of Caracas (Venezuela). He came to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in the 1840s to study American shipbuilding techniques at the behest of the Venezuelan government. He worked as an apprentice in the shipyard of Mathew Van Duzen, the Byerly and Van Dusen Shipyard in Philadelphia.

Shipbuilding in California

At the age of 22, Domingo Marcucci came to start a shipyard in San Francisco from Philadelphia. He came from Panama in the Pacific Mail Steamship Company steamship ''SS Oregon''. Arriving on September 18, 1849, within days they began assembling a knock-down steamboat, previously delivered, on the beach of

Yerba Buena Cove Yerba Buena Cove was a cove on San Francisco Bay where the Mexican town of Yerba Buena, California, Yerba Buena was located. It lay between Clarks Point (San Francisco), Clarks Point to the north (southeast of Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, Teleg ...

at Happy Valley, at the foot of Folsom Street, east of Beale Street. Marcucci's company assembled the ''Captain Sutter'' in six weeks. Built for George W. Aspinwall, brother of William Henry Aspinwall, it was the first steamboat that ran between San Francisco and Stockton, in 1849. Nancy J. Olmsted, Vanished Waters: A History of San Francisco's Mission Bay", Mission Creek Conservancy, 1986, Chapter 7, Steamboat Point, 1851-1864
from foundsf.org accessed February 19, 2015 Also for the Pacific Mail, Marcucci next converted the 153 ton side-wheel steamboat ''El Dorado'' that had been rigged as a 3 masted schooner for the trip around

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

, to be used for the

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

run. Subsequently, in March 1850, for the same company, he assembled the ''Georgiana'', a small 30 ton side-wheel steamboat made in Philadelphia, knocked down and sent by sea also for the Sacramento run. That April ''Georgiana'' pioneered the shortcut route between Sacramento and Stockton through a slough in the

Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta The Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, or California Delta, is an expansive inland river delta and estuary in Central California and Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that ...

that was between the Sacramento River and Mokelumne River, which afterward became known as Georgiana Slough. In the 1858, Marcucci moved to a shipyard at Steamboat Point, around Fourth and King Streets on Mission Bay. Here he built the side-wheel steamboat ''Flora Templeton'' in 1859, the barkentine ''Monitor'' in 1861, the side-wheel steamer '' Cyrus Walker'' for the Puget Sound in 1864 and the propeller steamer ''Reliance'' for the Alviso Transportation Company in 1866. From 1866 to 1869, using Henry B. Tichenor’s Second Street marine railway, Marcucci built the stern-wheeler ''Pioneer'', the twin screw propeller steamer ''Santa Cruz'' in 1868 and the large propeller steamer ''Vallej''o for the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1869.

Later life

Marcucci was appointed assistant inspector of steam vessels for the port of San Francisco, by the Treasury Department, in December, 1890. On September 2, 1893, he was struck on the head by a falling timber while inspecting the railroad ferry ''Thoroughfare'' in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. He survived a fractured skull, recovered and continued to work. He resigned the position in January 1900 and retired. Domingo Marcucci died in 1905, and was buried in the San Francisco Columbarium.

References

External links

Photograph of Captain Marcucci, from EVOLUTION OF SHIPPING AND SHIP—BUILDING IN CALIFORNIA. II, Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, Volume 25, 1895, January 1895, p. 12
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcucci, Domingo American shipbuilders American businesspeople in shipping Businesspeople from San Francisco 1827 births 1905 deaths People of the California Gold Rush People from San Francisco Venezuelan emigrants to the United States 19th-century American businesspeople

Early life and education

Shipbuilding in California

Later life

See also

References

External links