The Raccoon of the Bay

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The men of the San Francisco District of the US Army Corps of Engineers help keep the bay clean for the Transbay traffic. Based in Sausalito, the Navigation Mission began life after a June 1942 seaplane crash. Admiral Chester Nimitz was aboard from Hawaii to Washington, D.C. via San Francisco. While landing in San Francisco Bay, his seaplane struck floating debris, ripping up the bottom of the aircraft, causing it to capsize, killing the pilot but sparing Nimitz.

They must navigate the waters of the San Francisco Bay aboard one of two repurposed ships, the fittingly named Raccoon, which is a former seaplane catcher much like Admiral Nimitz would have used, to hoist trash, debris, and abandoned vessels from the bay. Often led by tips from the San Francisco Bay Ferry, as storms pass through, breaking apart rotting docks and piers. However, the ferries are not allowed to touch the crumbling structures themselves; the Corps comes and pulls out the debris with harpoons from a small boat or the crane with a massive claw attached at the bow of the ship while opening the front gate of the boat to trawl the currents for any small debris, sucking it up like a vacuum.