Torpedo at Fort Funston: Where Did It Come From?

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Back in the 1980s when San Francisco had a mile long levy and barge at Fort Funston while they were constructing the new sewer system, I found about a 4 foot long green painted torpedo that had washed ashore. I picked it up and wanted to take it home but instead brought it up higher ground on the beach so I could drive down the next day and pick it up. In the meantime, someone else must have grabbed it because it wasn't there the next day. I never heard anything about it so I was wondering where it came from. Was it something that was burried and got uncovered during the sewer construction or was it something that was used for the sewer project.

-- Bellermine (Bellmine@aol.com), March 30, 2002

Answers

I'm a former military history curator and am not familiar with torpedoes such as you describe, especially since torpedoes usually measuere about 10-14 feet in length. I suspect from the size and color that it may actually have been an oxygen cylinder. These cylinders are frequenly found on construction sites coupled with acetylene tanks for "oxy-acetylene welding."

-- John Martini (martini@slip.net), March 30, 2002.

Well, I might of thought it was something else like an oxygen cylinder except that it had a propeller at the end that was protected inside a surrounding metal. I have never known an oxygen cylinder to have a propeller on it so the only assumption I could make was that it was a torpedo.

-- Bellermine (Bellermine@aol.com), April 01, 2002.

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