What Lies Beneath: The Ships Buried Under San Francisco
Every day in San Francisco, people walk the city’s streets unaware of the history that our concrete jungle holds in its depths.
Little do most people know that roughly 40 ships are buried underneath the Embarcadero and the Financial District, which used to be the city’s original shoreline.
Most vessels are remnants of the Gold Rush, left behind by men who arrived in the San Francisco Bay from near and far in search of fortune. Today, the abandoned ships are all around us—a hidden reminder of the city’s history.
So much of San Francisco is its relationship to the water.
“Other cities have their claims to fame,” said archaeologist James Delgado, who has been studying SF’s ships for decades. “But beneath our streets and sidewalks lie the bones of the Gold Rush city and the decks of sh...