El Capitan was a side-wheel steam-powered passenger ferry operated on San Francisco Bay.

The ferry offered connecting service to San Francisco for train passengers arriving in Oakland, California.

El Capitan collided with the Central Pacific ferry Alameda in dense fog on 20 February 1879.

The hull flooded from a hole forward of the port side paddle box, and the ferry sank onto a mud bar.

El Capitan spent its last decade crossing the Carquinez Strait between Crockett and Vallejo before being retired in 1925.