page_title: Star of India (ship)
section_title: As Star of India
hierarchical_section_title: Star of India (ship) / History / As Star of India
caption_attribution_description: The stern of the Star of India, part of the Maritime Museum of San Diego in San Diego, California.
context_page_description: Star of India is an iron-hulled sailing ship, built in 1863 in Ramsey, Isle of Man as the full-rigged ship, Euterpe. After a career sailing from Great Britain to India and New Zealand, she became a salmon hauler on the Alaska to California route. Retired in 1926, she was restored as a seaworthy museum ship in 1962–3 and home-ported at the Maritime Museum of San Diego in San Diego, California. She is the oldest ship still sailing regularly and also the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship still afloat. The ship is both a California Historical Landmark and United States National Historic Landmark.
context_section_description: In 1901, Euterpe was sold to the Alaska Packers' Association of San Francisco, who re-rigged her as a barque (converting the square-rigged aftermost mast to fore-and-aft) and in 1902 began carrying fishermen, cannery workers, coal and canning supplies each spring from Oakland, California to Nushagak in the Bering Sea, returning each fall with holds full of canned salmon.  In 1906, the Association changed her name to be consistent with the rest of their fleet, and she became Star of India. She was laid up in 1923 after 22 Alaskan voyages; by that time, steam ruled the seas.
  In 1926, Star of India was sold to the Zoological Society of San Diego, California, to be the centerpiece of a planned museum and aquarium.  The Great Depression and World War II caused that plan to be canceled, and it was not until 1957 that restoration began.  Alan Villiers, a windjammer captain and author, came to San Diego on a lecture tour.  Seeing Star of India decaying in the harbor, he publicized the situation and inspired a group of citizens to form the "Star of India Auxiliary" in 1959 to support the restoration of the ship.  Progress was still slow, but in 1976, Star of India finally put to sea again. She houses exhibits for the Maritime Museum of San Diego, is kept fully seaworthy, and sails at least once a year. With the many other ships now in the Museum, she hosts frequent docent-led school tours for over 6,000 children a year, as well as a Living History Program in which students "step back in time" and are immersed in history and teamwork activities during overnight visits.
  The 1863  Star of India is the fourth oldest ship afloat in the United States, after the 1797  USS Constitution, the 1841 Charles W. Morgan, and 1854 USS Constellation, and is the oldest ship in the world that still sails regularly. Unlike many preserved or restored vessels, her hull, cabins and equipment are nearly 100% original.
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caption: Star of India stern and Taffrail
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