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RIP, SS Pt. Reyes, victim of arson.
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Iconic Tomales Bay shipwreck, the "S.S. Point Reyes," an old military transport cum salmon fishing boat, has been a photographer's wet dream since at least 1998. The fishing boat snoozing on a sandspit behind the Inverness market, was a real fixer-upper. You know how the story goes. One man's manaña complex is now a tourist destination. Supposedly it was pulled up onto the sandbar during the 1980s for a little R&R and renovation that never happened. It became an iconic destination. The "S.S. Point Reyes” was slated to be removed by the NPS, but thundering hordes of irate photographers rallied round the vessel, and saved it for pixellated posterity.
It reminds me of that other rustbucket, the S.S. Minnow stranded on Hwy 58 in the Mojave Desert near Tehachapi. Ironic that this iconic boat was burnt to the ground by an overzealous photographer, intent upon snagging a spookily lit night shot, he back-lit the wreck by lighting spun steel wool, And the resulting sparks ignited the bone-dry punky wood. What was he thinking?
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| I can’t find original photo, from the PT. Reyes Light. Merrel Rocca Sr. |
UPDATE: SS POINT REYES BURNED © Darvin Atkeson
“Sad to report that this small iconic landmark caught fire and has burned. Even sadder is that it is thought that the fire may have been set by photographers using a technique known as Wool Spinning where steel wool is set on fire and spun throwing sparks in circular arcs. If true it could have negative effects on all photographers. Very saddened by the loss of this bit of history.”
Original Text:
“The tide rolls into Tomales Bay at sunset making for a near perfect mirrored reflection of an old fishing boat long ago wedged on a small sandbar in the town of Inverness. Wild flowers rise up out of the tide as perfect decoration for the rusted and decaying shipwreck most often referred to as the S.S. Point Reyes. The rolling coastal foothills of California glow creating a great backlight for this popular tourist destination near Point Reyes National Seashore.” © Darvin Atkeson
"A much-photographed Tomales Bay icon, the derelict fishing boat the Point Reyes, was severely damaged by a mysterious fire early Monday morning, and comments from angry Inverness residents are burning up social media over the loss of this beloved local landmark.
The Inverness Volunteer Fire Department was called at 1:30 a.m. when the picturesque old boat was engulfed in flames on the mud flats behind the Inverness Store, where it had been beached since the 1980s."
“I am really sad that someone would do this to the Point Reyes,” Sheila Rocca Moore wrote in a post. “My dad, Merrel Rocca Sr., owned and took very good care of this boat for 54 years, and it makes me very sad that people are so mean.” —IJ
“Sad to report that this small iconic landmark caught fire and has burned. Even sadder is that it is thought that the fire may have been set by photographers using a technique known as Wool Spinning where steel wool is set on fire and spun throwing sparks in circular arcs. If true it could have negative effects on all photographers. Very saddened by the loss of this bit of history.”
Original Text:
“The tide rolls into Tomales Bay at sunset making for a near perfect mirrored reflection of an old fishing boat long ago wedged on a small sandbar in the town of Inverness. Wild flowers rise up out of the tide as perfect decoration for the rusted and decaying shipwreck most often referred to as the S.S. Point Reyes. The rolling coastal foothills of California glow creating a great backlight for this popular tourist destination near Point Reyes National Seashore.” © Darvin Atkeson
"A much-photographed Tomales Bay icon, the derelict fishing boat the Point Reyes, was severely damaged by a mysterious fire early Monday morning, and comments from angry Inverness residents are burning up social media over the loss of this beloved local landmark.
The Inverness Volunteer Fire Department was called at 1:30 a.m. when the picturesque old boat was engulfed in flames on the mud flats behind the Inverness Store, where it had been beached since the 1980s."
“I am really sad that someone would do this to the Point Reyes,” Sheila Rocca Moore wrote in a post. “My dad, Merrel Rocca Sr., owned and took very good care of this boat for 54 years, and it makes me very sad that people are so mean.” —IJ
Yeah, mean people really suck.
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| What’s left of the S.S. Point Reyes, 10/2022 ©️Maureen Hurley |
Roadside America noted that the SS Point Reyes “was built in 1944 and used to transport military troops between their ships and San Francisco near the end of World War II.
It later became a fishing boat owned by Merrell Rocca used to catch salmon before being bought for rehabilitation, likely sometime in the late 1990s, and moved to Tomales Bay, where it eventually washed up on a sandbar in Inverness, which became its final resting place.
Who owns the boat and why it never got fixed up has been lost to sands of time — like the vessel itself. But the beached old boat soon became a tourist attraction, drawing photographers who captured it in various stages of its decay.
A 2016 fire, rumored to have been started by someone trying to photograph the boat with sparks in the background, caused significant damage." SFGate
That was no rumor about that fire being started by a photographer using steel wool for dramatic lighting. Not too sure why SFG is hedging its bets here.
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