Let's take a look at some of their vessels ...
Star ofIndia Star of India began her life as Euterpe, built in 1863 at the Ramsey Shipyard in the Isle of Man. Sailing o n an iron hull and ship-rigged, Euterpe put to sea as a cargo ship, bo und for India. Through vario us owners, she made 21 circumnavigatio ns carrying cargo and immigrants. At the turn of th e century, she was put into service as part of the fleet of ships owned by the Alaska Packers Association, based out of Oakland, California. The APA changed her name to Star ofIndia and re-rigged her as a barque for voyages between Oakland and the Bering Sea. They finally laid the ship up in 1923 . In 1926, the Zoological Society of San Diego bought the ship for $9,000 and moved her to their city in 1927. 1hey intended to use the ship as a centerpiece for a waterfront museum and aquarium they planned on building. Before that effort got off the ground, the Great Depression hit, then World War II. The ship was left tied to the seawall, neglected . Many can still remember her sitting there, rotting. In 1957, famed mariner and author Alan Villiers traveled to San Diego on a book tour. During one of his lectures, attended by city administrators and dignitaries, Villiers reprimanded the city for sitting idle while an invaluable histo ric treasure, too huge to pass by unnoticed, was ted away in front of them. The citizenry was stung and reacted- positively. Renewed interest in the ship turned into money and labor. Star ofI ndia would be saved after all. Nearly two decades later, Star ofI ndia made a grand spectacle as she set sail for the first time in fifty years in an event to coincide with the 1976 OpSail events for our nation's bicentennial o n the East Coast. Today, Star ofIndia sails yearly, manned by a well-trained crew, most of them volunteers. Daily, visitors can board the ship dockside and tour her decks ab ove and below and learn from the exhibits stationed about the ship. The museum calls her the "oldest active sailing ship afloat" with an emphasis on "active." The title can be debated (USS Constitution was launched in 1797-see pages 10-11 for her story), but no o n e can argue that she is anything but a great success story, both in her worki ng life and as a wonderfully restored and fully-operational museum ship . (For more details on the history of the ship, see Sea H istory 11 8, Spring 2007, cover story.) Steam Yacht Medea This 1904 steam yacht was built for the pleasure of a wealthy landowner and British army officer, William Macalister, for use o n social outings and hunting trips upon the waterways of western Scotland. She has a steel hull and a 254-horsepower compound reciprocating engine. In her lifetime, she has served as a recreational luxury yacht, as a gunboat in Wo rld War I for the French, and in World War II as a barrage balloo n vessel for the British before being used as an accomm odation ship Medea for the Norwegian N avy. After her military service, she joined the charter trade and was eventually purchased by Paul Whittier, who restored and donated her to the museum in 1973. Medea is fully operational and gets underway for a cruise abo ut twice per month.
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SEA HISTORY 120, AUTUMN 2007