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San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park WWII Shipyard workers with woman foreman.
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San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
Park Fun
 
A panel from a comic strip.

NPS

Check out the latest comic!

 
Flying saucer seen in visitor center.

NPS

Flying saucer seen in visitor center.

Visitors From Space Return to Park in New Craft

 
A nautical chart of SF Bay from 1983.

NPS

A section of a nautical chart of San Francisco Bay published in 1983.

Some Things Change and Some Stay the Same

Compare and Contrast Two Charts of San Francisco Bay

 

Zig and Zog visit the Maritime Museum and get a BIG shock!
(PDF 425KB)

 

Click here for the further adventures of Zig and Zog!

 
An odd-looking cartoon creature with a body shaped like a spiral shell.

CAB

After landing their space ship (which looks sort of like the top section of the Maritime Museum) on Hyde Street Pier, Captain Zog and First Mate Zig go to the visitor center.

 
A picture of a space ship that looks like the Maritime Museum.

CAB

Flying Saucer lands on Hyde Street Pier.

A Flying Saucer on Hyde Street Pier??

 
Man standing with his dog on the deck of a sailing ship. P50.76,542
NPS, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, P50.36,542n
Animals have always been important crew members on ships. Click on the photo to see more.
 
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NPS Photo

Pigs at Sea!

Activity page for young sailors.

 

 
A photograph of a park ranger in uniform with a view of the hat and arrowhead patch on the left sleeve of the grey shirt.

NPS

A park ranger wearing her uniform.

Why is there a pine cone on a park ranger's hat?
 
Four light brown and white beef cattle standing together.

NPS

A Moooo-ving Experience

Read all about a cattle stampede aboard the ferryboat Eureka.

 
A yellow-colored cat, named Stretch, asleep on Hyde Street Pier.

NPS

Of Flying Fish and Sailing Cats

The cook on board the sailing ship Balclutha has a very interesting tale to tell.

 
Sea lettuce (green) and red algae growing on a mooring buoy near Hyde Street Pier.

NPS

Nice and slimy! Sea lettuce (green) and red algae growing on a mooring buoy. Yum, pass the salad dressing!

Plants Rock! Where would we be without them? 
 

San Francisco Maritime is a park of many uses.
Check out this cool scavenger hunt!


 
Nine signal flags arranged in two rows.
NPS
These signal flags spell out a message.
 
Click here to figure out what it is.
_______________________________________
 
A colorful mural showing a staircase and imaginative-looking sea creatures.
NPS
Colorful murals cover the walls inside the Aquatic Park Bathhouse building (the big, white, ship-shaped building in the park). This is a section of one of the murals. It was painted 70 years ago by an artist named Hilaire Hiler. Do you think he had a good imagination?
How many different sea creatures can you find in the picture?
Do they remind you of animals you have seen?
Where did you see them?
 
A young boy on the deck of a sailing ship feeding chickens that are running around.

NPS

What if your home was on a ship?
 
Plimsoll Mark
NPS
Float or Sink?
How do captains know how to safely load their ships?
 
Scow schooner Alma sailing on San Francisco Bay.

NPS

Scow schooner Alma sailing on San Francisco Bay.

Have you ever thought about learning how to sail?

Meet someone who has sailed around the world!

 
A sailmaker and his assistant repairing a sail laying on the deck of a ship.

NPS

A sailmaker and his assistant repairing a sail laying on the deck of a ship. Ripped sails were patched and used again and again.

Did Sailors Recycle?

If you were a sailor on a voyage across the sea and you needed to get rid of some stinky trash, what would you do????

 
Close-up head shot of a seagull.

Photo by Dan Ng

Hercules: A Gull's Eye View
Gertie and Mel,
two seagulls who
live on top of Hercules's 
pilothouse, know all about tugboats!

 
Drawing of a blue, jumping fish.

Illustration by Inge Wessels

Interview Your Elders

Learn about oral histories and then create your own.

 
Agnes Tapley and Baby Della on the deck of a sailing ship in 1898.

NPS Photo

Agnes Tapley and Baby Della on board the sailing ship St. James in 1898.

Baby on Board

What was it like to grow up on a sailing ship 100 years ago? How did kids get their sea legs, and did they have to take a bath every night?

 
A historic photo of the lighthouse on the Farallon Islands with two men and a mule next to it.

NPS Photo

Catherine of the Farallons

Activity page for young salts.

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Last Updated: December 14, 2011 at 09:53 MST