San Diego’s sailing ship once familiar at Lyttelton

Press, 10 March 1987, Page 20

San Diego’s sailing ship once familiar at Lyttelton

By

JOHN LESLIE

Lyttelton and San Diego, California, are an ocean apart yet there is an interesting historical link between these two prominent Pacific ports. It arose last century when Shaw Savill’s great sailing fleet poured thousands of immigrants into this country. One of these notable vessels was the Euterpe (1197 tons gross), built at Ramsey, Isle of Man, late in 1863. It is more than likely that descendants of passengers who travelled aboard the Euterpe are living in Canterbury today, for she was no stranger to Lyttelton when serving the New Zealand trade as a “square rigger." Today, the Euterpe, now called Star of India, is the pride of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. She is the oldest, iron-hulled sailing vessel afloat and has been fully and lovingly restored. She is now rigged as a barque. This 124-year-old reminder of the romance of sail even makes short voyages, manned by enthusiastic volunteers who keep the museum alive. An earlier, Dundeebuilt, Star of India sailed

in the New Zealand immigrant trade, interestingly enough, under charter to the Shaw Savill Line, about the same time as the Euterpe was in service. This Star of India, a barque, was set adrift as a derelict, in the Atlantic in 1892 — a sad end to a fine vessel. The Euterpe, under the command of Captain William John Storry, her first master, was one of the “big Liverpool East Indiamen,” and she sailed on her maiden voyage, flying the red ensign, and under the ownership of Wakefield, Nash and Company, from Liverpool, on December 31, 1864. The next year, off Madras, in the Bay of Bengal, she all but came to grief, during a storm. Her rigging, masts and spars in wrecked disarray, she crawled back to port and it was eight months later that she was fit for sea again. From the Indian trade, she entered the New Zealand trade and was a member of the Shaw Savill fleet when it amalgamated with “Paddy” Henderson’s Albion Line, in November, 1882. She was neither fast nor comfortable. She had bluff bows. Furthermore,

she never reached New Zealand from Britain in less than 105 days, while others were reeling off the passage in 80 days or fewer. In 1901, the Euterpe was bought by the Alaska Packers’ Association for use in the salmon industry. Then a “square rigger,” she was changed to a barque rig, presumably for practical, utilitarian reasons. In 1906 her name was changed to Star of India. The Star of India was acquired by the people of San Diego in 1926 to preserve a link with San Diego’s maritime heritage. There are two other notable vessels, lovingly restored, in the San Diego Maritime Museum’s “collection.” One is the steam yacht Medea, built in Scotland in 1904 “to accommodate

Captain McAllister Hall’s grouse-shooting and deerhunting parties.” She also saw valuable service in two world wars, and now fully restored, sometimes cruises in San Diego Bay. The third classic vessel is the ancient harbour ferry Berkeley, built in 1898 to carry railroad passengers, commuters, and tourists between terminals at Oakland and San Francisco. All three vessels have been magnificently restored inside and out. The San Diego Maritime Museum, which was founded in 1948, is not a tax-supported facility but one which relies on private funding to keep the spirit of the sea alive, and the veteran ships in trim. The primary goal is to keep the stately Star of India in first-class condition.