History was made today in San Diego!
Star of India’s beautifully restored figurehead made its debut during the 159th birthday celebration of the historic ship!
The Greek Muse Euterpe emerged from the hold of Star of India, raised by a ship’s rope to the main deck. The graceful Muse of music and lyric poetry was shining like new. Applause broke out as a throng of Maritime Museum of San Diego members and visitors ate birthday cake and watched.
Then came the selfies! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be right up close to the classic ship’s figurehead.
In the coming days, museum volunteers will mount the restored figurehead to the bow of the historic Star of India, oldest active sailing ship in the world.
The restoration effort required over a thousand hours of careful work. To see photos I took earlier this year of the restoration in progress, click here!
UPDATE!
Two days later, George Sutherland, who has been in charge of restoring the historic figurehead, was applying epoxy in preparation for Euterpe’s return to the tall ship’s bow.
Water is an enemy of wood, so George was applying the epoxy very carefully, in such a way that water would not intrude and pool where it could do damage.
UPDATE!
The next Sunday, Euterpe was returned to her proper place–at the head of Star of India!
I missed the operation, but I saw her on Monday and took this pic…
…
Thank you for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often, so you might want to bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and check back from time to time.
You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 