If you've walked to the end of Hyde Street recently and wondered where the tall masts went, you're not imagining it. San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park's fleet of historic ships is no longer at Fisherman's Wharf. As of August 2025, the National Park Service says, the Balclutha, the ferryboat Eureka, the schooner C.A. Thayer, the tug Hercules and the paddle tug Eppleton Hall had all been towed to Mare Island in Vallejo.

Why they left

Hyde Street Pier is more than 60 years old, and the park service says it is no longer sound enough to safely hold the ships or the thousands of people who visit each year. The pier will be replaced, and the work and the Eureka's restoration are funded with $102 million from the Great American Outdoors Act's Legacy Restoration Fund. The timeline is open-ended: as of the park's latest update, no demolition or construction contracts had been awarded, and the NPS says the return date is uncertain. The Eureka needs the most work, including hull, deck and electrical repairs. The Balclutha and Eppleton Hall are expected to need only minor fixes.

The ship worth the drive

The Balclutha is the star of the fleet. It is a three-masted, steel-hulled square-rigger built in 1886 near Glasgow. According to the park service, it made its maiden voyage from Cardiff, Wales, to San Francisco in 1887 during California's wheat boom, and it rounded Cape Horn 17 times, earning the title "Cape Horner."

The ship then had a second career. In 1902 it was chartered to the Alaska Packers' Association, and after striking a reef near Kodiak Island in 1904 it was bought for just $500 and renamed Star of Alaska. For decades it carried cannery workers north each spring and canned salmon home each fall. In 1933 it became the Pacific Queen and appeared in the film Mutiny on the Bounty with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton. Later it was shown off as a "pirate ship." The San Francisco Maritime Museum bought it in 1954, restored it and gave it back its original name. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1985.

How to visit

The park says it opens one or more ships to visitors at the Mare Island Coal Sheds, 860 Nimitz Ave. in Vallejo, on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., depending on staff availability. Check the park's website before you go. General admission to the park is free. In San Francisco, the Visitor Center at Hyde and Jefferson streets and the Maritime Museum are still open. Nearby Municipal Pier, damaged in a 2022 earthquake, is closed permanently.