Historical Marker · No. 1030
Star of India
San Diego, San Diego County · California
Erected by State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Maritime Museum of San Diego and the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, Squibob Chapter, August 8, 1999
The bronze calls those twenty one circumnavigations trans-Pacific trade. They were not. Shaw Savill bought the Euterpe in 1871 and put her on the emigrant run to New Zealand, eastward around the world and home again, a hundred to a hundred and forty three days out, families packed in the tween deck on hardtack and salt meat. New Zealand's settler population went from a few thousand to half a million in forty years, and ships like this one carried it. She hauled people, not cargo.
What the plaque says
“Star of India” The “Star of India,” a three masted bark, is the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship afloat. Built on the Isle of Man, Great Britain, she was launched in 1863 and christened “Euterpe”. The trans-Pacific trade from 1871-1898 resulted in the “Euterpe” circumnavigating the earth twenty-one times, stopping in San Francisco in 1873 and 1883. She was purchased by the Alaska Packers Association to service the salmon canneries in Alaska, leaving each season from Alameda during 1902-1923. “Euterpe” was renamed “Star of India”. “Star of India” continues to sail the Pacific Ocean as an active reminder of early California's maritime commerce. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 1030 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Maritime Museum of San Diego and the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, Squibob Chapter, August 8, 1999.
Where it stands
32.72026, -117.17350 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Ferryboat Berkeley — steps away
- San Diego Barracks — 0.6 mi
- La Punta de los Muertos — 0.7 mi
- Spanish Landing — 2.0 mi