When thinking of the Grand Canyon National Park, one does not think of shipping or castles, let alone beached ones. However, the South Rim is home to one of the park's most interesting and curious features, the Sinking Ship, which has been renamed, but still invites visitors to its base and has interested onlookers from nearby viewpoints snapping photos. It is definitely a conversation piece.

North of a local picnic spot on the park's East Rim Drive, a strange section of bedrock rises up above the canyon depths below it, sitting on a tilted angle like a sinking ship. In fact, from other vantage points it appears more like three beached smoke stacks, but to others it has appeared to be three leaning turrets of some medieval castle. However, whatever one's opinion of what they resemble, they have become a topic of many a conversation for probably thousands of years. Back in 1930 there were called the Three Castles.

At the base of the ship is an ancient Native American ruin, once the home possibly of an Anasazi tribe family. In fact, most find this amusing considering the stacks would make for even more interesting conversations around the fireside, even thousands of years ago.

The best viewpoint to see the ship is at Moran Point, which overlooks the western portion of the canyon. It was discovered by Thomas Moran, who too must have been intrigued enough with the site that beheld his interest because he painted it on canvas for the American congress as a way of showing the importance of preserving the area.