Perched on a sand bank in Tomales Bay, CA, the ship nicknamed the “S.S. Point Reyes” has sat for a great number of years, left to rot and decay naturally. The exact number of years it’s been there is something of a local secret, adding to the mystery of the wreck, which has been a significant local tourist attraction.

Sitting in the bay, and not the Pacific Ocean is the reason why the wreck has remained around for so long, and has been of great interest to photographers visiting the area, which has a long history of shipwrecks.

On Sunday night, it became of particular interest to one unnamed Instagram user who thought it’d be a great idea to start spinning red hot wire wool behind the boat for a photo. As one might expect, this caused a fire which went on to consume about half of the wreck, and was still being battled by local fire fighters into Monday morning.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

The original post has since been removed from Instagram while we were preparing this post, however, the comments stated that the photographer who created this image is denying responsibility. The claims are that he just happened to be walking by with his camera while others were already “performing” around the boat.

Personally, I’m disinclined to believe these claims, as without somebody there holding a camera, I’m not sure what the point of standing in the middle of a bay spinning molten steel wool would be.

With the sun risen, and the fog beginning to clear, the true damage to the wreck has become immediately obvious, thanks to Facebook user Jane Vait.

Before all this happened, it was a fascinating sight to see and photograph, and there are a great many images on Instagram and Flickr to stand as testament to that.

Now, a Park Ranger has deemed the wreck unsafe, and it has been suggested that it will be getting removed.

While this was obviously a very public and popular spot, events such as this are one of the main reasons why many photographers keep their shooting locations a secret.

The vast majority of photographers are very responsible and thoughtful people, but it only takes one inconsiderate person to ruin it for everybody.

The feature image at the top of this article is from a screenshot from the removed Instagram post.