SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS World Ship Trust Award Installed aboard the Star ofIndia
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T he full ri gger Euterpe (later to become the bark Star of I ndia) was launched at the Isle of Man in 1863, just fi ve days before Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address an ocean away. Today, after a long career carrying everything from lumber and jute to emigrants and woo l, and having survived 2 1 circumnavigations, mutiny, lee shores, fires at sea and neglect, the Star ofIndia is splendidl y installed on the San Diego waterfront, fro m whence she sails regularly, to th e joy of sailors everywhere. She is a testament to w hat an historic ship can accomplish under the care of a skilled staff and a dedicated and enthusias ti c co rps of volunteers. T he Star ofIndia enhan ces the port city she calls h o me and interprets fo r all comers the windships th at shaped the wo rld in which we live . On W ednesday, 28 April 1999, President Gerald R. Ford fo rmally installed the W orld Ship T rust Award in a perman ent display on board the San Diego Maritime Museum 's bark Star of India at a private function . T hrough this award, the World Ship T rust, b ased in London, recognizes superio r examples of historic ship preservation around the wo rld. The ship arrived in San Diego "I could have used one ofthese in the White H ouse, " in 1927, but serious restoratio n did quipped President Gerald R. Ford as he received a not begin until the 195 0s, led by belaying pin from William Dysart, president of the two men-sai lo r/w riter A l an San Diego M aritime Museum. (Photo: Bob Grieser) Villiers and retired sailor Ken R eynard- with an army of volunteers. H er restoration culminated on 4 July 1976, wh en the Star ofIndia went to sea for th e first time in San Diego under her own sails; President Ford was sitting in th e W hite H ouse that year. President Ford gave a moving dedicati on o n the value of ships such as the Star ofI ndia and the very special effort that goes in to keeping such a world heirloo m in wo rking co nditi on. Ford also described the state of historical preservation in the wo rld tod ay, to uching everyone in attendance with his app reciation fo r the Star ofIndia and the o ther Wo rld Ship T rust Award recipients. W illi am D ysart, pres ident of th e Sa n Diego Maritime Museum, in raising his glass for a champagne toas t, saluted th e ship and her people, saying: "To the Star ofIndia and to th e men and women who sailed her, repaired her, restored her, and tell her story . .. the beauty of the ship! " San Diego Maritime Museum, 1306 North H arbor D rive, San D iego CA 92101; 619 2349 153; World Ship Trust, 202 Lambeth Road, London SEl 7JW, England; 44-171-261
9535;fax: 44- 171-401 2537
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1797) ... T he reconstruction of the 1767 schooner Sultana in Chestertown, Maryland , received a $ 100,000 bond bill gran t in April. The original Boston-buil t Sultana was a cargo schooner that was at one time registered on the Royal Navy lists; the new vessel will become a floating classroom offering sail training and environmental studies on Ch esapeake Bay. (Schoo ner Sul tana Shipyard, C hester Ri ver C raft & Art, PO Box 524, Chestertown M D 2 1620; 4 10 778-646 1) . . . T he keel of an Azo rean whaleboat was laid at the New Bedfo rd W haling Museum in May. T he Azorean Whaleboat Project is being undertaken
by the Azorean M aritime H eritage Society under the supervision of Bruce Halabisky, who recendywo rked on a similar whaleboat in the Azores. (NBWM , 18 Johnny C ake Hill, N ew Bed fo rd MA 02740; 508 9970046; www.whaling museum.org) . . . A 21 3-foot replica of Hermione, the frigate that brought M ajor General La Fayette to America in 1780, is being built in Rochefort, F ranee, and is expected to be launch ed in 2007. (Association H ermione-La Faye tte, La C orderie Royale, BP 108, 173 03 Rochefort Cedex, France; fax: 33 546 990 2 16) . . . Mich ael G iglio ofMarietta, Ohio , will tell you "There is magic, and it h ap-
SEA HISTORY 90, AUTUMN 1999