Ask the Author: James Chiao
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James Chiao
The ship Balclutha is the crown jewel of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. In 2018, my brother and I were visiting the ship moored in Hyde Street Pier, because we were interested in the history of Balclutha as a salmon cannery ship in early 20th century when it was known as Star of Alaska.
While touring the forward hold of the ship, we watched a video introducing the history of the ship as a salmon packet. In the video, we learned of a San Francisco Daily News reporter, Max Stern, and his 37 articles about his undercover experience as a part of the Chinese gang who sailed from SF to Wood River cannery in Bristol Bay in 1922.
That information was intriguing for us because we have not seen many historical personal accounts of salmon cannery worker's experience in books or newspapers. We decided to locate the newspaper articles and publish them in a book.
While touring the forward hold of the ship, we watched a video introducing the history of the ship as a salmon packet. In the video, we learned of a San Francisco Daily News reporter, Max Stern, and his 37 articles about his undercover experience as a part of the Chinese gang who sailed from SF to Wood River cannery in Bristol Bay in 1922.
That information was intriguing for us because we have not seen many historical personal accounts of salmon cannery worker's experience in books or newspapers. We decided to locate the newspaper articles and publish them in a book.
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