Alma

Built by Fred Siemers at Hunters Point in San Francisco Bay in 1891, she is the last of some four hundred scow schooners that carried cargo around the bay from the 1850s to the turn of the century.

Her masts and bowsprit were removed in 1918 when she was converted into a barge and her main hatch enlarged. In 1926 she was modified again as an oyster shell dredger with a petrol engine, replaced by a more powerful diesel in 1951. Sold again in 1944, she carried on dredging — and so became the last San Francisco scow schooner in operation. In 1957 she was laid up on the Alviso mudflats.

The State of California acquired her in 1959, removed her dredging machinery and deckhouse, and used her for several years as a floating work platform for other museum vessels. Restoration to her original configuration began in 1964 when she was lifted onto the pier, drawing on old photographs, evidence in the hull itself, register information, plans of other scow schooners and parts of scow hulks around the bay. The work was finished in 1968 and she returned to the water.

She is owned and operated by the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, appears at maritime festivals and parades around the bay, is crewed by volunteers and lets trainees learn traditional sailing and wooden boat maintenance. She has been a National Historic Landmark vessel since 1988.