California gold rush

[DrDeth]

@TriPolar

Steamship businesses were big winners early on as most of the prospectors traveled to California by sea and most of their supplies were sent that way.

Except many ships were simply abandoned by their crews and left rotting.

@Schnitte

They were, however, often struggling to find a crew willing to sail the ship back - in many cases, sailors who came to California on a ship deserted to mine for gold themselves.

Yep.