King Philip shipwreck 1878
Marker: recorded wreck position (Steam era).
Key facts
| Name | King Philip shipwreck | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1878 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Steam era | derived from year |
| Ship type | shipwreck | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nationality / flag | United States | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Nearest coast | United States | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | 37.7515, -122.5098 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
King Philip was a 19th-century clipper ship launched in 1856 and wrecked in 1878. The wreck of this ship is only rarely visible; very infrequently the timbers can be seen protruding from the sands of Ocean Beach, on the Pacific Ocean coast of San Francisco, California. The wreck is the "most complete remains of an American medium clipper."
This is a shipwreck of one of many ships that were wrecked in and around San Francisco Bay.
Diving & visiting
Left in place at extreme low tide level in 1878, what is left of the wreck of King Philip is usually completely covered in sand. Sometimes, as the profile of the sand on the beach shifts and changes, the timbers reemerge and are visible during low tides.
The wreck was partially visible when the schooner Reporter wrecked on the same site on March 13, 1902. Contemporary accounts noted that Reporter was "fast digging her own grave alongside the bones of the King Philip, whose ribs are still seen ..." The wrecks of both ships were buried in 1910 when bulldozing of the sand dunes to build the Great Highway pushed large amounts of sand onto the beach.
Location
- Recorded position: 37.7515, -122.5098 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: United States
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article King Philip (clipper) (revision 1366951052), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Reappearing wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- SS City of Rio de Janeiro 7 km
- SS City of Chester 8 km
- Frederick Griffing's 11 km
- Lydia 1907 · 11 km
- USS Thompson 38 km
- USS Conestoga 40 km
Browse more: North America wrecks · wrecks off United States · Steam era