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Barbary Coast

Red-light district along and near the waterfront of north-eastern San Francisco in the mid- to late-19th century.[1]

Named in the 1860s by sailors for the Barbary Coast of North Africa where pirates and slavers openly plied their trades.[1]

During the Cailfornia Gold Rush of 1849, San Francisco became a major port on the California coast. The city's rapid growth and lack of law enforcement bred a seedy environment along the waterfront where immoral and criminal activity could thrive.[1]

The Wrecker: In December of 1871,[2] Bret and Bart Maverick visited several waterfront dives and mariners' hangouts in the Barbary Coast to find any crewmen of the Flying Scud who could tell them about their shipwreck on Midway Island. Bart found Jamie Craven in a bar and bribed him[2] $100[3] for the name of Jerome Braus, a member of the Flying Scud's crew staying at the Squarerigger Hotel. Upon investigating Braus' room, Paul Carthew knocked him out from behind before he could be seen. After recovering later that night, Bart visited another Barbary Coast bar and offered Captain Nares a 35-percent take of the salvaging of the Flying Scud to charter a voyage to Midway on Nares' Norah Creina.[3]