While San Diego is most well-known for its detention centers for miscreant animals, I’m in search of history on this trip! What better place, I ask, is there to set sail than the San Diego Maritime Museum? It’s right next to the airport and Seaport (Village), so there’s no excuse not to go because of distance! There are ten historic vessels moored here, and they’re hardly just clunky old sloops!
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The museum entrance is located on the Steam Ferry Berkeley, a California and National Historic Landmark, and for good reason! It’s been afloat since 1898, when it ferried folks across the San Francisco Bay. It even aided in the rescue of thousands of people during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake! It was the little boat that could, but now it’s not just a boat! It has a gift shop, offices, a full display of naval models, a dance floor, and a really swell exhibit of art and artifacts from the voyages of James Cook (who did not lose his hand to a crocodile), Herman Melville, and Paul Gauguin. These three men played a great role in changing the Western perception of the Pacific from a dark, desolate place to a bastion of beach houses and mai-tais! The Berkeley now carries their sextants and chronometers, maps and paintings.
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I really liked Mr. Gaugin’s work, not because it was the most striking I’ve ever seen, but because of how adaptable he was! Part French, part Peruvian, Mr. Gaugin wasn’t doing too well in the French art world, so he went to Tahiti, where he adopted a lot of the local styles in painting, pottery, and sculpture for some really neat culture mixes! They didn’t allow anyone to take pictures, so you’ll have to go see it yourself before the exhibit leaves port on January first!
Off the port side of the Berkeley sits the U.S.S. Dolphin, the world’s deepest diving submarine! I went inside it for a bit, and oh wow! I’ve always wanted to look through a real submarine periscope, and guess what? I did! Looking at it as a whole, though, I don’t know how the crew was able to handle living down there for extended periods of time. Sure, it’s plenty spacious for a beaver, but for a bunch of big ol’ humans, I think it would be pretty cramped! A breath of fresh air was very welcome afterward, so it was time to move on to the crown jewel of the museum: the Star of India!
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The Star of India is the oldest sailing vessel afloat! She (since all ships are ladies) was built 148 years ago in 1863! She started out as the Euterpe, a down-on-her-luck merchant vessel, and rose to be the Star of India in 1906, only to be sold, re-sold, run aground, resold again, trapped in ice… Well, when you’ve circumnavigated the globe twenty-one times in your lifetime, odds are you’ve been through a lot! Who knows? Since she still sets sail every November, there may still be time for a twenty-second!
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Did you know that the Star of India isn’t just a ship? She’s a brig! She has two masts with square rigging, and a spanker on the mainmast! How naughty! Below deck, she has her own exhibits, like the one pictured above, which explains different sail plans from junks to barques, and a really swell display of whale photos from around the world. There are three whole decks on the Star of India; the bottom one is under repair. She’s a living vessel, which means she’s constantly being repaired and having her parts replaced to keep her seaworthy. All that remains from 1896 is her iron frame. Still, how wonderful is that?
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Well, by the end of the day, I was pretty tired and ready for an Amtrak ride. Train riders be warned. The Old Town station is not well labeled at all! I arrived early at the station, but I was on the Metrolink track! The Amtrak train pulled up and pulled out before I could figure out how to get to it! I had to take the Trolley to Santa Fe Station and wait two more hours for the last train north! If you’re going to take Amtrak to Old Town, make sure you remember to wait at the track closest to the parking lot! At least, after all is said and done, getting lost is always an adventure, and it lets you see really cool things, like the rainbow train above!
I have one last note before I wrap up tonight. After the Star of India, I explored the H.M.S. Surprise, the same ship featured in the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World! On board, a nice gentleman revealed that the reason tickets to this place are so inexpensive is because most of the art was donated by a philanthropist who refused to let the tickets be made ridiculous. Also, the place is run completely by volunteers, but he said it’s getting harder and harder to recruit young people. He’s afraid the next generation is losing interest. Young people of the world, let’s prove him wrong!
Con gusto!
