• A section of the bowsprint and figurehead on the bow of BALCLUTHA.

    San Francisco Maritime

    National Historical Park California

Alma

The scow schooner Alma sailing on San Francisco Bay.
The scow schooner ALMA, sailing on San Francisco Bay.
NPS
 
ALMA Statistics
Overall Length
 80 feet
Registered Length
 59 feet

Beam 22.6 feet
Depth 4 feet

Gross Tonnage
 41.76
Height of Foremast
 67 feet

Alma is a wooden-hulled scow schooner built in 1891 to carry bulk cargo.

The flat-bottomed hull was designed to navigate the shallow waters of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and to rest on the bottom at low tide.

With few bridges and connecting roads, scow schooners delivered goods all over the Bay and Delta much as trucks do today.

By 1880 there were 250 sailing scows on San Francisco Bay.

Click here to read more about ALMA's history, and the history of scow schooners on San Francisco Bay.

 
 
 
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Did You Know?

The Balclutha, a sailing ship, built in 1886, now resides at Hyde Street Pier.

The resources of San Francisco Maritime NHP include six National Historic Landmark vessels. 1886 square-rigger Balclutha, 1890 steam ferryboat Eureka, 1891 scow schooner Alma, 1895 schooner C.A. Thayer, 1907 steam tug Hercules and 1915 steam schooner Wapama. More...