Beneath the streets of San Francisco’s financial district lie the remains of dozens of sailing ships that once brought people to San Francisco during the gold rush of the mid-19th century. These ships were beached near what was then a small Mexican village called Yerba Buena. In those early days, the waters of San Francisco Bay came all the way up to where is now Montgomery Street—the site of the iconic Transamerica Pyramid. Once the city started to grow, the cove was filled in and the downtown of the city built over it. Many of the ships that dropped anchor there never moved.

The Buried Ships of Yerba Buena Cove by Michael Warner et al. (San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, National Park Service)