Unspecified/General

On the Embarcadero waterfront in downtown San Diego just opposite the bustling Broadway Pier, the Maritime Museum of San Diego operates one of the largest collections of historic seafaring vessels in the United States. The non-profit museum was founded in 1948 with the acquisition of the iron-hulled barque Star of India, the oldest active sailing ship in the world, and has grown over the intervening decades into a fleet of more than a dozen historic and replica vessels permanently moored along the waterfront. The fleet's flagship Star of India, built at Ramsey on the Isle of Man in 1863, is a triple-masted square-rigged windjammer that spent decades hauling emigrants between Britain and New Zealand, later carrying salmon between Alaskan canneries and California, before being preserved at San Diego from the 1920s. The ship still sails several times each year under her own canvas, the oldest active sailing ship in the world by some considerable margin. The fleet also includes the Berkeley, a 1898 steam ferry that played a defining role in the rescue effort following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; HMS Surprise, a faithful replica of an eighteenth-century Royal Navy frigate built for the celebrated 2003 film Master and Commander, which the museum acquired after filming completed; the 1914 fishing schooner Medea; the Cold-War-era diesel-electric Russian submarine B-39; the American diesel-electric submarine USS Dolphin (AGSS-555); the Pilot, a 1914 bay pilot boat that continued in active service until 1996; and the 1968 patrol boat PCF 816, a Vietnam-era Swift Boat veteran of the Mekong Delta. Visitors can climb aboard each vessel and explore the engine rooms, galleys, cabins and bridge areas, with knowledgeable docents on hand to answer questions. Themed exhibits in below-deck spaces cover topics ranging from immigration to naval history. Modestly priced and easily combined with the surrounding Embarcadero attractions including the USS Midway museum a short walk away, the museum makes a memorable half-day visit.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: 1492 North Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA, United States

Telephone: 619-234-9153

Website: sdmaritime.org

Opening Date: 01/01/1948