Slow, Happy Survivor Of Great Days Of Sail

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30294, 21 November 1963, Page 25

Slow, Happy Survivor Of Great Days Of Sail

[From the London Correspondent of ft The Press”!

LONDON. | The Star of India, which is being restored by the San' Diego Maritime Museum As- j sociation, was formerly the I Euterpe, a sailing ship j famous on the New Zealand I run. Built in the Isle of Man in 1863 and acquired by the Shaw Savill Line in 1871, Euterpe was said to have been a slow ship, and her passages out to New Zealand usually took more than 100 days. But she was a comfortable and happy ship, especially under the celebrated Captain Streeter, whose wife, sailing with him, looked upon the cadets as her own boys. After 28 years in Shaw Savill's service, Euterpe was sold to San Francisco owners in 1899, and a year later was bought by Alaska Packers for salmon-fishing work, later being renamed Star of India. Now the former Euterpe, lying at San Diego, continues to excite the interest of ship-lovers. The anniversary did not escape the notice of the Shaw Savill Line in London. The chairman <Mr John Mac-

Conochie) sent the following: message to the Star of India: “On the achievement of your one hundredth birthday we. your former owners, salute you, Euterpe, and the memory of all those who have sailed in you over the course of this long span of time. “We send you and those to whose care you are now entrusted our warm greetings and good wishes for many years of happy retirement from active service at sea and of giving further pleasure and service to the public as a museum representing the great days of sail of which you are a worthy survivor.”

The fishing launch Florence Kennedy returned to Auckland at the week-end with more than 5000 fish. The boat made its usual 12-hour chartered trip on Saturday and had 58 persons on board. More than 3000 fish were caught and on Sunday a further 2000 were caught in the Hauraki Gulf. The skipper, Mr L. A. Sowerby, said the boat had been fitted with an electronic apparatus to find the fish. The usual catch was about 400 fish.