Maritime Museum

This free museum is located in the Aquatic Park Bathhouse Building, a 1939 structure designed to look like an ocean liner. The building was a joint project of the City of SF and the New Deal Works Progress Administration. Inside, the historic landmark showcases vivid 1930s murals by Sargent Johnson and Hilaire Hiler. The building was occupied by WWII troops until 1948, when it became the permanent home of the Maritime Museum. The collection features all manner of nautical relics, from wrecked fishing boats and 19th century photographs to scrimshaw and knotwork. Walk a few blocks over to Hyde Street Pier to view the Balclutha, an iron 1886 sailing ship that sailed between England and the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.