This ship is the world’s oldest active ship and a California and National Historic Landmark, and currently is docked at San Diego’s Maritime Museum. She was constructed in 1863 at the Ramsey Shipyard on the Isle of Man. Iron ships were rare then, with most vessels still being wood. The ship began her sailing life with two near disastrous voyages to India. On her first trip she suffered a collision AND a mutiny. On her SECOND trip, a cyclone hit her in the Bay of Bengal, and with her topmasts blown away, she barely made port.
In 1871 she began a quarter century of work transporting emigrants from England who wanted to settle in New Zealand. The ship made 21 trips around the world during this time, some trips lasting up to a year.
The NEXT stage in her career began in 1902, when she began sailing back and forth between California and the Bering Sea, transporting fishermen and cannery workers on the northern journey, and transporting canned salmon back to California.
San Diegans paid $9,000 for the Star of India in 1926, but, since steam ships now ruled the seas, the once proud ship sat deteriorating for decades, but was finally refurbished and restored, and in 1976 sailed for the first time in fifty years, as over half a million onlookers watched. The ship is now sailed at least once a year and maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers and skilled craftsmen.
The song is Enya’s “Orinoco Flow”. The soaring full orchestra sound and “sail away” lyrics seem to go really well with video clips of this wonderful tall masted ship.
(The above historical information was obtained from printed material from the Maritime Museum. Here’s the website for the museum: http://www.sdmaritime.com There are several vessels that make up the museum, all of which are very interesting (including the Russian submarine I did a video about), so the place is well worth a visit if you like this type of thing. Here also is a great video that shows the ship as it's sailing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSQgab-CwJc )
Rating: User: LifeJourneyGuy 2008-01-23T23:56:40.947Z
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