More from Maritime Museum…

After a solid hour of wandering through the Star of India, published last time, it was time to move on to the other ships and subs crowding the museum’s dock. I’ll try to get most of them posted this time because it’s almost August now IRL and there’s new adventures to be documented here on the blog. These boats and ships though…so interesting that I wanted to publish about them.

Here’s another look at the dock map. Press and hold the CTRL key on your keyboard while you rotate the scroll wheel on  your mouse to zoom in on the map.

But first, I wanted to tour the HMS Surprise.

The picture on the wall below was taken while they were making the movie with Russell Crowe “Master and Commander”. I guess this ship is a reproduction, built in 1970, but it’s still pretty cool. From what I understand, the builders tried to make it a near exact replica of the 18th century frigate HMS Rose.

It was easy to duck below decks after boarding the ship as the ladder was right there. So I started the tour below. Here’s a shot of the typical sailors beds.

Poor bastards that had to work down here during a tense standoff or worse, during a battle. Very noisy, choking fumes, obscured vision, dangerous recoil from the guns. You could lose your life down here pretty easily.

The wooden cage was for the chickens kept aboard as a protein source. They also had a small pig sty and goat or sheep corral.

And here’s the bow after climbing back topside using the forward ladder. You can see from those tourists standing on the dock that the ship doesn’t ride very high in the water.And there were plenty of lines (‘ropes’ in landlubber talk) used to quickly repair rigging whenever necessary. Or to tie a misbehaving sailor to the mast. Or tie the ship to the dock. This is why ol’ time sailors were so good at knot tying. Practically everything on a ship involved lines. I learned to do all the basic knots while I was in the Navy but never got to expert level.

And the open poop deck where the ship was helmed (steered). This isn’t a very fancy ship since there wasn’t much cover for the helmsman here. Or for the Captain or Navigator for that matter. Up on the mast, the crows nest. Note the wooden capstan in the foreground. Human powered with long poles inserted into those holes around the top.

A look at the Star of India from the deck of the HMS Surprise.

A nod to ‘modern’ during the construction of this reproduction was the installation of a fire fighting water system. It gets lots of use by the volunteers when they swab the decks. In the olden days, a sailor would just dunk his bucket in the sea, and swab the deck with seawater. That’s how you washed your clothes too. Tie a line to the belt loops of your pants, for example, toss them off the fantail, let the sea wash them for you, reel them in, and air dry. Did it myself many times when I was at sea. Easier and quicker then dealing with the laundry guys.

The picture is a bit fuzzy, but this is one of the staterooms for ships officers. Just off ‘officers row’. Wanted to show with this picture how they’d try to use every bit of a ship’s interior. No wasted space allowed.

And the captains quarters at, or rather inside, the fantail.

He did get a nice breeze sometimes.

And a look at the fantail. Those windows I showed earlier with a shot from inside. —————————————————————————————————————

After that short (it’s not a very big ship) tour of the HMS Surprise, I headed onto the passenger steamer, the steam ferry ‘Berkeley’. I tried to time it so I’d be in the mood for a nice cappuccino there. And I had one, relaxing on the 1st deck, admiring the workmanship that went into these vessels I was touring. I was on the fantail but you can see one of the two bridges up above on a higher deck. There’s two bridges so it could dock on either end and the captain would have a good view. A push me/pull you. I could see three ships from where I was sitting on the Berkeley. Shipwrights tend to be very exacting building a ship since their customers come back (if they come back) and let everyone know what worked on the ship and what didn’t, especially if it didn’t. And word gets around quickly if a shipyard’s or certain builder’s ships don’t tend to come home.

After a refreshing coffee, wandered inside on the main deck and find there’s many models here too. Just like in the Star of India.

Some of the machinery scattered about the decks. All restored. Most of them in working condition now. And here’s a peek inside the modelers workshop. He wasn’t there at the time but I met him later. Nice older gentleman that’s been working on these models for decades. Has many volunteers that he subs work out to as well.  Current project model. And then wandering back from amidships and into the engine rooms we run into this typical ship paraphernalia. Boilers and what not. This entire deck was pretty much devoid of passenger accouterments so I don’t think many passengers hung out here on the 1st deck. Rather common as most would want to be upstairs to mingle and mix.    During foul weather though, many passengers would try to get as low as possible on the ship so these bench seats would be to accommodate them. Most of the other bench seats have been removed to allow room for all the displays and models.

There were gangplanks over to the submarine and swift boats tied up alongside the Berkeley. So took that walk over to the sub for a tour since it’s so handy.I believe this is from down below in the sub. Maybe, not sure. But these following pictures are for sure. Well, that was quick. And I was happy to get out of that claustrophobic space for sure. Not something I wanted to be on when I was in the Navy. Just didn’t want to be that cooped up while at sea. I did so well on the placement exams when I joined, the Navy sent an officer to try to talk me into Nuclear Sub School. No thanks.The sub is the USS Dolphin. Next to it is the swift boat used in Viet Nam. I was going to tour but chose not to, no big reason, just too modern. After the sub tour, it’s back onto the Berkeley and to the next deck up, 2nd deck as it’s called. See there? They had plenty of room up here, refreshments too.

Beautifully made. Lots of elegant detailing. People are still using it for weddings and parties.  And a picture from the Berkeley’s 2nd deck breezeway. Yep, a dance floor. Multipurpose of course, but dancing here was a favorite activity with the passengers. This is the 2nd bridge atop the 3rd deck.  Went down the ladder back to the 1st deck, so it would be easier to go visit the other ships. Oh, more models inside.   So, I left the Berkeley to visit the Medea. A private launch built in 1904, steam powered. When you first get on board, you see this salon where the master and mistress took their meals.

Nice teak deck. Steam powered capstan, even has a bowspritNice galley…even has an ice box. Though where they’d get the ice at sea is a mystery. This vessel set sail before the practical absorption refer (co-invented by A. Einstein) was patented so ice had to do for more than 26 years following laying the keel on this ship. Down into the engine room. It’s a small boat so things are cramped. It’s like a mini-yacht by the standards of today. The smoking room.Would have been pretty nice back here. Has the same sort of venting & glass covered openings to below decks that the Star does only smaller…giving lots of light down below. After that visit, it was on to the San Salvador. A replica of the original sailing ship that mapped the California coast…and that mentions San Diego harbor. As you step aboard, it’s hard not to notice how small the original was. Tiny. Here’s the bow, and a few steps away,…the fantail.

This is the fantail. This is a working ship that sails the harbor on a regular basis so you see modern things on her. Down below decks wasn’t a vacation for the crew so they would have spent most hours of most days up on the weather decks. Here’s the crews quarters. Not very comfy.

And the poop deck is right above this dining/living area.  Another look at the fo’csal.  The glass is modern of course. Wouldn’t have had glass on a ship back in the 1500’s.  Across the harbor, one of those really fast ferries you can find around busy harbors these days. The terminal was pretty close to where I was. It’s a big ass ship that carries both passengers and autos. I think it goes out to Catalina.

This is steerage! That’s it, some ropes attached to pulleys, attached to a wooden rudder. They carried several spare rudders and a carpenter capable of making more. It would be pretty easy to keep an eye on the steerage system. This is the emergency helm so the helmsman wouldn’t have to go above during a raging storm. An up above on the poop deck, you could attach a long lever to the rudder and steer from up there too. And this is where the crew slept.  And ate. Everything is so open to the elements. It’s a wonder ships like this made it across the Atlantic at all. Let alone all the way around the Cape of Good Hope and up the coast of South America to San Diego. Quite the journey. Have to hand it to them. And then it was on to the Californian.  And then it was time to board the USSR sub the B-39.     And down to a lower deck. This is a really big boat. Lots of rust on the sub. They are working on it. Another boat getting the treatment. Don’t know what that one is, you can’t board her at present. And that’s the end of the Maritime Museum tours. Quite interesting. Spent the entire day here. Went home satisfied I’d seen all I needed to see in that one visit.

Went back to the RV park, and relaxed for 2 days. Then headed for the DeAnza Springs Resort, which is a clothing optional resort. The owner offered me a deal if I would spend the week there. So that’s were we’re going next time. To a nudist resort between San Diego and El Centro California. Should be exciting.