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Photo Diary: Maritime Museum of San Diego [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-17
The Maritime Museum of San Diego has a number of historical and replica ships on display. All of them are seaworthy and go on regular cruises in the Bay.
HMS Surprise
This is a replica of the 18th century British Royal Navy frigate HMS Rose. Built by a private owner to sail in the 1976 Bicentennial “Tall Ships” procession, she was used as a training ship until 2002, when she was purchased by 20th Century Fox for the Russell Crowe movie “Master and Commander”. She was then donated to the Museum.
HMS Surprise
On deck
Captain’s quarters
Gun deck
Star of India
Built in 1863 as the Euterpe, this was one of the first merchant ships to be made with an iron hull. She carried cargo between England and India, then served as a packet ship between London and New Zealand. In 1899 she was purchased by the Alaska Packers Association and renamed Star of India, and carried fishery workers and cargos of canned salmon back and forth. She was retired in 1923, restored by a nonprofit group and sailed in the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976, and was then obtained by the Museum.
On deck
Below deck
Berkeley
Built in 1898, the Berkeley operated as a steam-powered ferry carrying passengers back and forth across San Francisco Bay. After the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 she carried refugees out of San Francisco to Oakland. The Berkeley was retired in 1958 when the ferry service was ended and was bought by a private owner, who used her as a seaside gift shop until the Maritime Museum bought her in 1973 and restored her.
Ferry boat “Berkeley”
Passenger benches
San Salvador
Built in 2011 by the Museum, the San Salvador is a replica of the Spanish galleon which arrived in San Diego Bay in 1542, commanded by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. He was the first European to reach the area and spent six days exploring the bay before moving on.
San Salvador
On deck
Below deck
Californian
Built in 1984 to celebrate the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the Californian is a replica of an 1848 revenue cutter. These speedy ships patrolled the California coast looking for smugglers.
Californian
On deck
USS Dolphin
Built in 1968, the Dolphin was an unarmed experimental submarine that was used to test new technologies. The last diesel-electric submarine to be built by the US, she had a modified pressure hull which allowed her to dive deeply (she set a number of records that are still classified). Retired in 2006, Dolphin was donated to the Museum a year later.
USS Dolphin
Upper engine room
Command bridge
Swift Boat PCF 816
The Patrol Craft Fast (“swift boats”) were armed speedboats that patrolled rivers and coastal areas in Vietnam to intercept Viet Cong supply boats. They were also used to transport Navy SEAL special forces. The Museum’s swift boat, PCF 816, served for several years in the Mekong River Delta before being given to the government of Malta in 1971, where it served as a coastal patrol boat. In 2011 she was donated to the Museum.
Swift Boat PCF 816
Medea
Medea was built in 1904 for the Scottish aristocrat William Macalister Hall as a private yacht. After going through several more owners, she was purchased by the French Navy during World War One and converted to an armed patrol boat. She then went back to Britain, served in WW2 in the Royal Navy and the Norwegian Navy, before serving in the post-war years as a yacht for several wealthy owners. Medea was purchased by a Texan businessman in 1971 and was donated to the Museum in 1973.
Medea
Smoking lounge
The Museum also has another ship, the Pilot, which was built in 1914 and ferried harbor pilots in San Diego bay until 1996. She was out on a cruise when I visited so I didn’t get to see her.
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