Seized government cars are available at police auctions in San Francisco. The local residents will vouch for the good conditions of the cars and their maintenance in police auctions. These police auctions are very popular among the locals especially for buying a second car for the family. Repo car auctions are another good source for buying good condition cars at cheap prices.


San Francisco has many auction firms. These auction firms hold auctions at various locations everyday. These auctions are advertised in local media like television and newspapers. This allows the participation of local residents in the auctions. Online auctions are also held these days. Online police auctions are increasing in popularity because of the convenience involved and the prices the cars are sold at. If you have a computer and an internet connection you can take part in the online auctions held and purchase a car without even stepping out of your house. This is possible by registering online for the online auction. Once this is done you can view the cars and bid for them online and on winning the car would be delivered at your home.


There are live auctions conducted by the firms. These are good to attend. They also require you to register before taking part. The police auctions usually have cars from criminals, illegal cars, abandoned cars, from the state government, the military, the FBI, the banks, hospitals etc. The cars are all pooled together and their papers verified and legalized if found to be illegal or new papers drawn up for cars without them. These cars are then auctioned off. The cars are in good condition and maintained very well and clean to be taken home as soon as it is bought.

Balclutha

The 1886 square-rigged ship Balclutha.
Overall length 301 feet
Length of deck 256.5 feet
Beam 38.6 feet
Depth 22.7 feet
Gross tonnage 1689
Height of mainmast 145 feet

• Balclutha is a three-masted, steel-hulled, square-rigged ship built to carry a variety of cargo all over the world.

• Launched in 1886 by the Charles Connell and Company shipyard near Glasgow, Scotland, the ship carried goods around Cape Horn (tip of South America) 17 times.

• It took a crew of about 26 men to handle the ship at sea with her complex rigging and 25 sails.
  

C A Thayer

Extreme Length 219 feet
Length on Deck 156 feet
Beam 36 feet
Depth 11.38 feet
Gross tonnage 453
Height of mainmast 105 feet

• The CA Thayer is a wooden-hulled, three-masted schooner, designed for carrying lumber.

• She was built in 1895 in Northern California at Hans D. Bendixsen's shipyard in Fairhaven, CA.

• The original hull was made of dense, old-growth Douglas fir carefully chosen for shipbuilding.

• She sailed with a small crew consisting of four seamen, two mates, a cook, and the captain.

Once, hundreds of sailing schooners carried lumber to San Francisco from Washington, Oregon and the California redwood Coast. Built in 1895, C.A. Thayer was once part of that mighty Pacific Coast fleet. Today, she is a rare survivor from the days when strong canvas sails billowed over tall deckloads of freshly-milled fir and redwood.

Eureka

Overall length 299.5 feet
Extreme Width 78 feet
Gross tonnage 2420
Horsepower 1500
Passengers 2300
Automobiles 120

• Eureka is a wooden-hulled, sidewheel paddle steamboat.

• From the passenger deck up, she is nearly identical fore and aft. Her "double-end" design made disembarking quicker and easier.

• Eureka's large, "walking beam" steam engine remains intact.

Alma

Overall length 80 feet
Registered length 59 feet
Beam 22.6 feet
Depth 4 feet
Gross tonnage 41.76
Height of foremast 67 feet

• Alma is a wooden-hulled scow schooner built in 1891 to carry bulk cargo.
  

• The flat-bottomed hull was designed to navigate the shallow waters of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and to rest on the bottom at low tide.

• With few bridges and connecting roads, scow schooners delivered goods all over the Bay and Delta much as trucks do today.

• By 1880 there were 250 sailing scows on San Francisco Bay.

Situated in the northern center of the Presidio, the San Francisco National Cemetery offers a breathtaking final resting place for the nation's military veterans and their families. Framed by Monterey Cypress and other majestic trees, the cemetery rests on a slope overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Among the 30,000 Americans laid to rest here are Civil War generals, Medal of Honor recipients, Buffalo Soldiers, and a Union spy.


Shortly after the United States assumed control of the Presidio, the Army established a post cemetery on the current site of the National Cemetery. The first known American burial at this location occurred in 1854. After a petition to the War Department by Presidio commander Lt. Col. George P. Andrews, General Order 133 established "a part of the reservation at the Presidio, including the post cemetery thereon...to be known as the San Francisco National Cemetery." Originally less than ten acres large, it was placed under the control of the Quartermaster General's office in 1884 as the first National Cemetery on the west coast.


The cemetery experienced a great increase in both interments and acreage over the next fifty years. It also sported a number of architectural changes. In 1915, a concrete rostrum was built to hold official services, and in 1921 the Quartermaster Department built a mortuary chapel on the premises. In 1928, the cemetery walls were repositioned and the original main entrance was relocated to the west. The current main entrance dates to 1931. During a five-year improvement plan finished in 1929, the Army remodeled the lodge to conform to the Mission Revival style architecture prevalent throughout the Presidio. The final expansion of the cemetery occurred in 1932, when it reached its current size of 28.34 acres. In 1973, the cemetery officially closed to new interments except in reserved gravesites.


The Department of Veterans Affairs attends to gardening at the cemetery as well as the cleaning of tombstones. For more information about the San Francisco National Cemetery or to get help locating gravesites:

• write to the address below:

US Department Of Veterans Affairs
1300 Sneath Lane
San Bruno, CA 94066