seventeen minutes past one in the morning
The officer of the port conducted them to the telegraph office through a concourse of spectators . Blomsberry and Bronsfield entered , while the crowd crushed each other at the door . Some minutes later a fourfold telegram was sent out -- the first to the Naval Secretary at Washington ; the second to the vice-president of the Gun Club , Baltimore ; the third to the Hon. J. T. Maston , Long 's Peak , Rocky Mountains ; and the fourth to the sub-director of the Cambridge Observatory , Massachusetts . It was worded as follows : In 20 @ 7 ' north latitude , and 41 @ 37 ' west longitude , on the 12th of December , at seventeen minutes past one in the morning , the projectile of the Columbiad fell into the Pacific . Send instructions . -- BLOMSBERRY , Commander Susquehanna . Five minutes afterward the whole town of San Francisco learned the news .