I was fortunate to capture some wonderful photographs this evening. I was walking along the beautiful Embarcadero near the Maritime Museum of San Diego as the sun set. Sky and clouds turned for a moment into flame.
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On my way to the Cabrillo Festival yesterday, I swung by Spanish Landing across from the airport to check out the San Salvador. As you might recall from my blog post from early last December, the San Salvador is a replica of the galleon sailed by explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542. The San Diego Maritime Museum is building it.
I was surprised to see the cool ship is nearly completed! Check out some pics I took over the surrounding fence! I spoke to a young volunteer who was working near the ship, and she told me the San Salvador is expected to launch in early 2015. The galleon will be sailing up the coast of California, recreating the historic trip by the famous explorer. And a documentary will be filmed during the voyage!
The peculiar-looking vessel will be able to navigate the open ocean, she assured me, and is ready to go today, but the folks building her are doing as much additional detail work as they can while the ship remains on dry land.
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Here’s my third blog post concerning my visit on Sunday to the Labor Day weekend 2014 Festival of Sail on San Diego’s Embarcadero. My first post concerned the brig Pilgrim; my second contained pics of the other beautiful tall ships at the first temporary floating dock just north of the San Diego Maritime Museum. Feel free to click around Cool San Diego Sights and check them out.
I pick up now where I left off last time–heading from the first floating dock to the second.
I wish I were a kid again! I remember a similar trip on a smaller vessel I took as a high school student, cruising along Alaska’s Inside Passage. I think our bunks were even narrower! But that’s a different story…
I hope my information here is correct. I didn’t take notes. Sally just smiled as she talked about her many memories as a volunteer at the Los Angeles Maritime Institute. She started 22 years ago as a lowly volunteer sweeper. She watched the two nearly identical ships–the Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson–being built simultaneously side-by-side in a parking lot! She told me she has more than a million stories to tell! I believe her!
I haven’t really covered the many ships of the San Diego Maritime Museum in my blog, apart from some dockside pictures of the Star of India, the build site of the galleon San Salvador, and a couple pics of the Pilot out on the bay. I suppose I’ll have to put the many cool ships in the museum’s collection on my list!
I’m standing near the stern of America, a modern replica of the ship that won the original America’s Cup. The boats docked side-by-side along the Berkeley are, left to right, the Jada, Patricia Belle and Medea.
San Diegans often see the sleek Stars and Stripes and the Abracadabra out racing on the big bay. The two participated in somewhat more recent America’s Cup competitions. I have no photos here, but I should in the future! My camera’s memory card was almost full!
The gun produced a huge blinding flash! I couldn’t capture it, because my fingers were firmly pressed into my ears!
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I began a description of the 2014 Festival of Sail in the previous blog post, where I showed photos of the brig Pilgrim docked on San Diego’s Embarcadero. The big Labor Day weekend event features 21 different vessels, so now I’ll provide a quick tour of the other beautiful tall ships that can be seen on sparkling San Diego Bay! I have so many pics that I’ve broken them up into two separate parts.
You might remember having seen HMS Surprise in the Academy Award winning movie Master and Commander, starring Russell Crowe!
The nearest ship is the Pilgrim, a replica of the historic ship described by Richard Henry Dana in Two Years Before the Mast.
That is one loud bell!
Stay tuned! There’s more to come!
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Both before and after work today, I strolled over to the Embarcadero to take a few pics of the big, 50 foot Tony Gwynn flag. It’s been flying for a couple days from the mast of America, a tall ship owned by Next Level Sailing. America is a replica of the yacht that won the original America’s Cup.
The flag in the late afternoon was fluttering in the sea breeze and glowing brightly in the San Diego sunlight. It seemed a perfect symbol of Tony Gwynn himself. The great, always smiling Padres hitter was not only a superstar, but was like sunshine on a perfect day.
I took the first photo in the early morning, and the others in the late afternoon.
During my walk along the Embarcadero on June 29, I happened to notice a big Tony Gwynn Padres jersey hanging from the roof of the County Administration Building!
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Dedicated members of San Diego’s Maritime Museum were hard at work yesterday, working in the Star of India’s rigging like busy spiders on a web.
The rigging of the historic three-masted bark is undergoing an overhaul, a project that is expected to take a full year. That’s according to the person selling tickets. The large yards of the foremast have already been removed and are lying on the sidewalk awaiting inspection and a new coat of paint. I was told the ship’s trees (platforms on the masts) are infested with termites. They’ll have to be repaired. To maintain the 150 year old Star of India, the oldest active sailing ship in the world, requires a lot of work!
I got a quick photo of a San Diego Maritime Museum volunteer working on the yards on an early July morning!
Here come several more pics taken in October. The top third of the foremast has been removed!
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Sadly, my stroll along the Embarcadero today was interrupted by a terrible turn of events. That half-crazed pirate, Captain Swordfish, was out on the sidewalk near the San Diego Maritime Museum, badgering passing tourists and other innocents with his patented piratical mischief. Good grief!
Here he comes now about to draw his sword. There seems to be no escape. Isn’t ordinary pillaging and mayhem enough? Aaarrrrr, matey!
I wonder if Captain Swordfish was responsible for this, too?
Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovered San Diego Bay on behalf of Spain in 1542. His flagship was a galleon named San Salvador. Today, almost 500 years later, a replica of the historic ship is being built on Spanish Landing, across from San Diego’s Lindbergh Field. The ship is coming alive with the help of hard work from San Diego Maritime Museum volunteers, and it’s scheduled to be launched next year! It will soon be another cool sight on the Embarcadero!
As you can see from this first photo, a great deal of progress has been made on the hull. The detailed San Salvador recreation will be seaworthy and will sail out onto the broad ocean! As it passes Point Loma, it will look like the ghost of Cabrillo has returned! I remember seeing the hull about a year ago when there were only four or five “ribs” visible.
The public can visit the San Salvador build site. You’ll see not only the ship, but various items of related interest, including the tools used centuries ago to construct a large galleon.
The walkway you see on the left runs the length of Spanish Landing, behind Harbor Island.
Several volunteers were working on the galleon. Colorful banners were flying in the gentle sea breeze.
Lots of interesting stuff can be found about the build site. Nobody was visiting at the moment, so this pic looks kind of empty. I was told buses full of school kids often come by on educational field trips.
This is the kind of primitive structure native San Diegans lived in at the time of Cabrillo’s “discovery” of the bay.
This friendly lady greeted me as I walked under the Harbor Drive bridge. She smiled for a photo. She told me she was working on the ship’s spars for the sails. I didn’t hear her words precisely, but I believe she’s coating them with linseed oil.
She asked if I wanted to volunteer. A guy I met later asked the same thing! They’d appreciate any help they can get!
All this wood is being used in various ways by the shipbuilders. It looks like a big lumber yard on the other side of Harbor Drive!
Today a 150 year old tall ship was spotted sailing in the wide Pacific Ocean off Point Loma, just beyond the historic lighthouse! Was it a ghost from the past? How is it possible?
It’s possible because San Diego’s own Star of India, the oldest active sailing ship in the world, departed from the dock today for its yearly sail!
I thought about buying a ticket for the historic event, but unfortunately I’m feeling a bit under the weather. This morning I did manage to amble down to the Embarcadero to watch and take some photos of the colorful preparations that are required for the beautiful ship to get underway.
In the first pic, you can see Maritime Museum members and some passengers gathered, getting ready to board or lend a hand.
The guy hanging from some ropes just finished decoupling electrical and other lines from the black wrought iron hull of the docked ship.
Volunteers carefully climb up into the rigging to get everything ready for the sail!
Some hardy folks were already up on the yard arms working at the rigging. Once the Star of India is pulled out of San Diego Bay, the sails are unfurled and the tall ship is completely free to run before the wind!
After a bit of work, the ramp was finally disengaged from the ship and pulled backward onto the sidewalk.
One by one the ropes holding the Star of India to the Embarcadero were cast off.
Here’s one of the two tugboats, ready to tow San Diego’s pride and joy out of the harbor. The classic figurehead of the Star will soon be facing the open sea!
Pulling away from the dock… A pair of museum volunteers look on wistfully…
The lady heads out into the bay’s deep channel… Aircraft hangars at Naval Air Station North Island can be seen on the left. Point Loma stretches in the background.
Definitely very cool!
As Halloween approaches, I’ve noticed some changes during my walks about San Diego. A few scary decorations have begun to appear here and there among houses, shops and offices. One change in particular is difficult to miss.
The Star of India has put on her tattered sails!
A spooky Star of India makes a very cool October sight on San Diego Bay. This year, visitors who experience Haunting Tales from our Seafaring Past, in addition to touring the venerable old ship, will hear ghost stories and scary legends about life at sea. Kids attending are encouraged to dress in costume. In the days ahead, I’ll probably see a lot of pint-sized pirates shuffling along the Embarcadero!
The Star of India, owned by the San Diego Maritime Museum, recently turned 150 years old. The world’s oldest active sailing ship, she was originally named Euterpe, after the Greek muse of music and poetry. During her lifetime she’s made 21 circumnavigations of the globe, and has hauled cargo, emigrants and even fish in Alaska. Various people have died on board, including her first captain, and there have been reports of ghostly sightings. Some visitors say they feel the touch of a cold hand when they stand near the mast where a young sailor, a stowaway, fell from the rigging to his death in 1884. Step aboard if you dare!
UPDATE!
Here come a few more pics from October 2014…
Cool San Diego Sights! 