The Hyde Street Pier has several historic ships and boats that you can climb aboard and explore. The pier is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. Admission for adults $2.00, children 11-17 $1.00, free for children under 11 and seniors over 62.

While we are down at the pier I will take you aboard one of the historic boats, when you come to San Francisco you can explore all the boats and maybe have someone take your picture behind the wheel of a historic sailing ship.

Now let's walk aboard the Eureka Ferry, it's docked right in front of us.

The Eureka was built in 1890 as the railroad ferry Ukiah. In 1922 the ferry was renamed the Eureka which operated until 1941. The ferry could haul as many as 2,300 passengers and 120 auto's at one time.

This old antique truck is on exhibit in one of the areas where autos were parked for their trip across the bay. It is really hard to believe they could get 120 cars in such a small space.

These two machines are an example of some of the old penny-arcade machines. For just 1 penny you could see hundreds of photos flicking in front of the view finder, it resembled a short silent movie. You can see a real penny-arcade museum on my Cliff House Page.

The Eureka was powered by a massive four story steam engine with a paddle wheel on each side, which they could also use to control the direction of the ferry. The reason the wheels are on the sides and not one big wheel in the rear is because the ferry could travel forwards or backwards, they could drive the cars on one end of the ferry and off on the opposite end.

In the photo above you can see a pilot-house on each end of the Eureka, I don't think the ferry really had a bow or stern because it could travel in either direction. You can get a better idea of it's size from this photo.

The Hercules was built in 1907 in New Jersey, it was an ocean-going tug. The tug was used to haul log rafts down the West Coast to the lumber mills, it was also used to tow large sailing vessels out to sea.

The Eppleton Hall was built in 1904 in England to operate on the London Thames River. This side paddle tug is reminiscent of tugs that towed ships into San Francisco Bay.

The Balclutha, a square-rigged Cape Horn sailing vessel, was launched in Glasgow, Scotland in 1886. The ship was used to carry grain from California at a top seed of 300 miles a day. While you are here don't forget to have someone take your photo behind the large wheel used to steer the ship.

The photo above was taken at Aquatic Park, it is located just to the left of the piers entrance, if you go a few steps to the right from the entrance you will be at the foot of Fishermans Wharf.

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