Star of India, Iron-hulled sailing ship at Maritime Museum, San Diego, United States.
Star of India is an iron-hulled sailing ship docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Its black hull carries a red lower section and the name in white capitals on the bow; three masts with yards rise above a long bowsprit, and strings of small white lights outline the rigging at night. The hand-riveted iron hull dates from 1863.
Built in 1863 at Ramsey on the Isle of Man as the iron full-rigged ship Euterpe, she carried jute from Liverpool to Calcutta, then spent 25 years in the New Zealand emigrant trade. Sold in 1901 to the Alaska Packers' Association, she was re-rigged as a barque and renamed Star of India in 1906, hauling fishermen and cannery supplies to Nushagak and returning with canned salmon until 1923. Bought by the Zoological Society of San Diego in 1926, she was restored from 1957 and sailed again in 1976.
The name comes from the Alaska Packers' Association, which renamed the ship in 1906 to match the rest of its salmon-fleet vessels. Before that she sailed as Euterpe, after the Greek muse of music. A baby born on an 1870s voyage to New Zealand was given Euterpe as a middle name.
The ship is moored in the harbor and can be visited in good weather via steep stairs. Visitors should wear sturdy shoes because the decks become slippery when wet and many passages have low overhead beams.
The ship still sails out to sea several times a year under full sail, accompanied by a crew of volunteers. During these trips you can watch the large sails being set by hand, just as they were over 150 years ago.
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