The SS Point Reyes was once a beautiful place, however it slowly began to decay on the shores of Tomales Bay.
But now, its hull is broken; its interiors are rusted and burned. Moss is clinging to its damp wooden planks, and graffiti stains its cracked paint. It tilts precariously on its starboard side.
Residents say the derelict fishing boat – which has been stuck in the mud in the small town of Inverness since the late 1990s – gained fame long after its purpose was over.
Its resting place, marked on Google Maps as “Point Reyes Shipwrecks,” proved irresistible to travelers on nearby Highway 1. It was geotagged on Instagram, where it became the muse for hordes of cellphone photographers.
The SS Point Reyes, as it is known, has been the backdrop for engagement photos and Music videoFor quiet lunch breaks and illegal night-time drinking of beer. People would climb on it, break it and, once, even accidentally set it on fire.
It has been loved and abused, and it looks like its days are numbered.
this winter’s wind and rain Record-setting storms The death knell sounded for the boat, which is located on the shore of Tomales Bay, a narrow inlet above the San Andreas Fault that separates the Point Reyes Peninsula from mainland Marin County.
The ship, fondly called the ‘Shipwreck’, National Park Service lands “The purpose of this is to ensure that this is a step that will eventually lead to its removal,” Point Reyes National Seashore spokeswoman Anella Kopshever said in an email.
“The boat’s condition has deteriorated over time, but recent winter storms, strong waves and vandalism have resulted in its condition,” Kopshever said.
But first, another casualty: This spring, he said, the Park Service is focusing more attention on removing the Westerly, a boat that crashed at the end of march A Dungeness crab fisherman was killed near Chimney Rock on the Point Reyes Headlands.
Kopshever said the Westerly, which park officials hope to remove from the rocks by the end of this summer, “has a serious impact on the environment and wildlife,” with nets, crab pots, engine blocks and other materials posing a hazard to seabirds.
He said Point Reyes isn’t currently affecting the environment or wildlife — it’s mainly a threat to careless humans — and there’s no set date yet for its removal.
Still, whether they like it or not, the townspeople of Inverness say it’s time for the boat to go.
Duncan Shaw of Inverness, Scotland, rides his bike over a small river to get a better view of the SS Point Reyes.
“I’m so past that. It’s a sad story,” said Rebecca Dixon, whose business, Dixon Marine Services, a wetlands restoration firm, is located across from the dilapidated ship.
On a fence behind his business, next to the path people walk to reach the SS Point Reyes, is a metal sign that reads: Have a Little Respect.
The Point Reyes Peninsula, surrounded by cold, rough waters, dangerous rocks, and impenetrable fog, has caused havoc for many generations of sailors.
Let’s start with the San Agustin – a three-masted Spanish galleon Lost in Drake’s Bay In 1595 – More than 50 ships were discovered wrecked around the Point. These included “wooden ships and oil tankers, fishing vessels and dairy schooners.” According to National Park Service.
A trail sign on a wind-blown mound near the Point Reyes Lighthouse says, citing an 1887 newspaper article: “Punta de los Reyes — Point of the Kings — Spanish sailors named it … and they did well to fear it. God help the unfortunate sailor who washes up on it.”
The Point Reyes Peninsula, surrounded by cold, rough waters, dangerous rocks, and impenetrable fog, has caused havoc for many generations of sailors.
(Tayfun Coskun/Getty Images)
Although it is a saltwater-rich location, Point Reyes’ fate has been greatly exaggerated.
First off: This is not a shipwreck. Viral posts on social media claim the boat is a 380-foot-long steamship — longer than a football field and about 10 times its actual size — and that it crashed 100 years ago.
“That’s just silly,” said Freedom Roca, whose late grandfather, an indigenous Coast Miwok fisherman, was one of the boat’s last owners.
She said her grandfather, Merel Roca Sr., sold the boat to a man who wanted to restore it but eventually abandoned it on the shore. Roca, 41, grew up in Marshall, an oyster-farming town where fishing boats were a common sight. She has long been amazed by the boat’s fame Point Reyes.
“Sometimes, I go to art galleries, and it’s like, ‘There it is! The boat!’ People paint it. They take pictures of it. … I don’t understand what the big deal is. It’s a boat that’s overturned on the beach.”
Still, she wishes she could have known more about it and about her grandfather, who died in 1989 when she was 6.
“The older I get, the more I like it,” Rocca said. “I think, you know, it’s my grandfather’s boat.”
The SS Point Reyes bridge has seen better days, too.
Ownership of the land where Point Reyes is located has also changed hands over the years, complicating the ship’s removal. Several federal and state agencies have jurisdiction over the bay and surrounding areas, and they often squabble over who’s responsible for paying to clean up wrecked boats and other marine junk.
In 2022, the California State Lands Commission sought a $14.9 million grant from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to clean up marine debris off the coast of Sonoma and Marin Counties but was unsuccessful.
The project would have raised funds to clean up hundreds of discarded tires in Marconi Cove, which lie in eelgrass beds that would otherwise be used for fish farming, as well as clean up a crumbling pier in Bodega Bay. And it would have raised funds to remove 14 ships — including those at Point Reyes and American Challenger, The 90-foot-long fishing boat that broke free in 2021 while being towed This train from Puget Sound, Washington to Mexico will be cancelled. Trapped On a rocky reef in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, about an hour north of Inverness.
“NOAA did not explain why our grant application was not selected,” Land Commission spokeswoman Sherry Pemberton said in an email.
American Challenger did not have insuranceThat would hold public agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard, accountable. A multi-million dollar rescue operationThe boat is right there.
Point Reyes National Seashore spokesman Rich Moorer said officials are monitoring Point Reyes’ decline. He said funding for potential removals could be provided by the park.
“When the SS Point Reyes is finally removed, we will certainly miss it,” says Raj Singh, owner of the Inverness General Store. “But I know a lot of people won’t miss it.”
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
After years of slow decay, Point Reyes really began to fall apart when it caught fire in 2016, shortly after After a photo is posted A photo posted on Instagram showed sparks being produced as someone lit steel wool and spun it around, a technique known as light painting.
The fire badly damaged the rear of the boat. Eventually, the starboard portion of its hull – which bore the ship’s much-loved name – collapsed, and a grinning green skull and crossbones was painted on the front of its cabin.
Still, the tourists come.
On a recent foggy Tuesday, Raj Singh, owner of the Inverness General Store across from the boatyard, said it was getting more and more dangerous.
“It’s gotten a lot worse over the past year,” he said. “It’s gotten to the point where they have to get rid of it because … people do stupid things.”
The boat was stuck in the mud when Singh, who immigrated from England, bought the store two decades ago. He had an outdoor oyster bar next to the store called The Sunken Boat and sold hoodies with its image on them.
He said, “Some people don’t like the damn thing. And there are some people like us who think it’s good.” When it is eventually removed, “we’ll certainly miss it – but I know a lot of people won’t miss it.”
Outside, a steady line of people waited in Singh’s parking lot, making their way across wet grass and a rickety wooden plank constructed as a bridge over ankle-deep water flowing in front of the boat after recent rains.
Duncan Shaw, professional bike rider A man from Inverness, Scotland, took a selfie with his neon-green Marin Bikes two-wheeler, with Point Reyes in the background.
“I just made a little video on Instagram. I said I was in California for a week and I didn’t see a single cloud in the sky, and as soon as I got here, it started raining,” Shaw said, just like his often rainy hometown. “The power of Inverness is far-reaching.”
Diana Oppenheim (left) and her friend Charity Kahan visiting the “Inverness Wreck.”
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Diana Oppenheim, a yoga teacher who lived in San Francisco for many years but moved home to Detroit during the COVID-19 pandemic, was moved to tears when she saw Point Reyes. It was her first visit there in years.
She led volunteer groups at Point Reyes National Seashore, repairing sand dunes and then doing yoga on the beach. Often, they stopped near the wreck to rest, eat lunch and take photos.
He said, “If the ship had been alive, it would have had no idea that it was still standing and bringing so much joy, amazement and mystery to people.”
Oppenheim was traveling with her friend Charity Kahan, an Oakland-based meditation teacher and composer of children’s music who recently Vegan albumabundant songs like, Oh, if you care about animals // and you love them and adore them // and you want to be kind // then don’t eat them anymore.
Khan said that for him, the dilapidated boat represents the passage of time, “even as we try to avoid impermanence.”
“It’s a man-made creation at the edge of the Earth. And yet, at the same time, it’s going back into the Earth and becoming Earth again,” he said.
