High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The whaleship Niantic brought fortune-seekers to San Francisco (formerly Yerba Buena) in the California Gold Rush of 1849. Run aground and converted into a storeship and hotel, she was a prominent landmark in the booming city for several years. The site of the Niantic beside the Transamerica Pyramid is now a California Historical Landmark. Artifacts excavated in 1978 and the ship's log from her last voyage are on display in the San Francisco Maritime Museum.