Wooden Boat AtlasDesigners, builders & classes · v3.0

Atlas / Classes & Types

peak c. 1880; last built in the 1930s · San Francisco Bay and the Delta

San Francisco Bay Scow Schooner

The Bay's cargo craft, c. 1850 – 1930s

Flat-bottomed, shallow, cheap and able to take the ground at low tide — more than 250 of them worked the Bay and Delta by 1880. They were the reason boatyards existed here at all.

Fleet size
More than 250 working the Bay and Delta by 1880
Yards
The India Basin row on Innes Avenue: Dirks, then Anderson, then Anderson & Cristofani
Survivor
Alma (1891), built at Hunters Point — the last scow schooner; National Historic Landmark 1988; preserved at Hyde Street Pier

Wooden Boat Atlas v3.0 · built 30 July 2026 · a project of the Golden Gate Wooden Boat Foundation · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · open data · corrections