INVERNESS, Calif. — It once was beautiful, the S.S. Point Reyes, even as it slowly rotted on the banks of Tomales Bay.

But now, its hull is shattered; its innards, rusty and charred. Moss clings to its damp wooden planks, and graffiti mars its chipped paint. It lists precariously toward its starboard side.

The abandoned fishing boat — stuck on a mudflat in the tiny town of Inverness since the late 1990s, residents say — found its fame long after its working days were done.

Its resting place was pinpointed on Google Maps as "Point Reyes Shipwrecks," proving irresistible for travelers on nearby Highway 1. It was geotagged on Instagram, where it became the muse of multitudes of cellphone photographers.

The S.S. Point Reyes, as it is known, has been the backdrop for engagement photos and music videos, for quiet lunch breaks and illicit nighttime beers. People climbed it, trashed it and, at one point, accidentally set it on fire.

It has been beloved and abused. And its days appear to be numbered.

The wind and rain from this winter's record-setting storms sounded the death knell for the boat, which rests at the edge of Tomales Bay, a narrow inlet above the San Andreas fault that separates the Point Reyes Peninsula from mainland Marin County.

The vessel "endearingly termed 'the shipwreck' " is on National Park Service land and will eventually be removed, Anela Kopshever, a spokeswoman for Point Reyes National Seashore, said in an email.

"The boat has deteriorated over time, but recent winter storms, king tides, and vandalization has contributed to its current state," Kopshever said.

But first, another wreck: This spring, she said, the Park Service has been more focused on removing the Westerly, a boat that crashed in late March near Chimney Rock on the Point Reyes Headlands, killing a Dungeness crab fisherman.

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