MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE SAIL CREW OF THE MARITIME MUSEUM OF SAN DIEGO VOLUME 5 NO. 50, May 2010 Elissa Sails Surprise Returns From Dry-dock Courtesyof Adrian Recinos The 1877 bark Elissa put to sea between March 19th thru the 28th on her annual sail (See Story inside). Courtesy David of Litzau HMS Surprise is lifted from the water in early April The electronic edition of the 2010. Emotions ran high as HMS Surprise returned to the Maritime Euterpe Times is now linked! See Museum of San Diego early Friday morning on April 30th, or an email or a url? Just click on it ! perhaps low with sullen hearts regarding her future reverberated through those involved and concerned. Nearly a month at dry- dock revealed sever deficiencies that left her sailing future in doubt. With her return, the MMSD is currently re-considering all options regarding her future. Postponed from last year, HMS Surprise entered the dry-dock at Marine Group in Chula Vista on April 3rd. The dry-dock On The ‘Tween Deck… represented a significant even towards her being established as a sail training vessel, among future film possibilities and the •Raising the Royal MMSD's Museum Underway Initiative. Working guns purchased for Surprise were to additionally add a more dramatic •Tools! experience to gun battles on the water. •Medea Challenged Built in 1969 as the HMS Rose, the 40-year-old hull has reached the average life span of a wooden vessel. As copper plates were •Operation Frequent Wind Remembered (Continued on Page 2) "In issuing this number of our bantling to the Euterpe public, we assure our friends that our pages will ever be open to open and fair criticism whether of ourselves, our friends or of those few who do not come within the latter category." - Stead Ellis, 1879 1 Surprise (cont) David Litzau David Courtesy of With volunteers on board, HMS Surprise enters the dry-dock at Marine Group. removed, bulkheads inspected, and a surprise development in the condition of her fore peak caused the U.S. Coast Guard to rescind her certifications for sail. Worse for the MMSD, would be the cost to make complete repairs to get those COI's back in place. Economic and budgetary limits make the state of Surprise's hull no overnight Creighton Bert fix. With the construction of San Salvador to begin soon and the current state of the National economy, the museum has felt the Courtesy of monetary constraints as much as any organization. John McClure and Capt.. Chris Welton work on replacing fasters. (Note the removed section of copper Yet, the Surprise is not simply for sailing. She is also a museum plating). exhibit and educational platform. Additionally, as Jim Davis commented to the crew, she represents the best case for training As the museum began evaluating the future options for the three- aloft. The continual process of re-rigging her since her masted frigate, an army of volunteers continued through April to appearance in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of remove copper plaiting, locate and replace fasteners and paint the World has technically added to the skill of nearly every the entire hull. During this period, the bulk of the new port side volunteer, sail qualified or otherwise. gun deck was also installed. On the weather deck, one small Bert Creighton Bert Bert Creighton Bert Courtesy of Courtesy of Lynne Eddy, Lori, Davis and Sal Bompensiero joined in David Burgess caulks the seams of HMS Surprise. on the massive task of painting the hull. 2 Surprise (cont) Beginning in May, the re-rigging of Surprise's mizzen mast will begin in earnest. Spars and ironwork have been refurbished, all this leading up to anticipated sail north to Hollywood for film work involving the previously mention Pirates of the Caribbean IV. It is clear that HMS Surprise's presence as a public favorite among the museum fleet will not wane in the future, the ship will continue to have a positive impact on the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Bayshots Wins Award Bert Creighton Bert Courtesy of A unique view of the British naval frigate, HMS Surprise. Darrall Slater battle scar was replaced. During her previous dry-dock, her first Courtesy of time in the sling lift, the rudder was inadvertently driven up thru The award winning photo. the decking. The damage had been covered with a small piece of plywood. With the current dry-dock, traditional decking was finally fitted for a more appropriate scar and war story. It was announced in April that Darrall Slater of Bayshots was the recipient of the 2009-2010 World Ship Trust Historic Ships The British naval frigate still has an exciting future. As Dr. Photography Competition. The photograph illustrates the Star of Ashley notes, "allow[ing] her to continue functioning as an India returning to San Diego with crew aloft furling sail. exhibition vessel (and home to our newest exhibit “Enlightened Voyages”), continue to be a popular private events venue, and The results of the competition are available at the World Ship allow her to take on a new role as a platform for our living Trust's website. In conjunction, the entry forms for the 2010- history educational programs." 2011 competition have also been made available here. In the view from the deck and those out of the inner circle of In congratulating the museum's unofficial photographer, Dr. MMSD machinations, the future for HMS Surprise certainly Ashley notes, "I’m blown away by this image and the message it looked grim as she returned to the museum. Yet, the MMSD is seems to be conveying, or at least to me. The afternoon lighting not without resources. Considering the entire state of the ship, bathes the ship in this kind of Homeric glow – it’s as if she’s Dr. Ashley adds, "We managed to stabilize the ship’s condition some character summoned from a heroic past, standing alone, as the essential step for further restoration, we determined much and starring down the affectations of the present as represented more about the scope of corrective action to be taken, we by the modern buildings “cowering” in the distance. We have addressed several important deficiencies, we established the lots of photographs of the Star of India as a pretty ship, but very basis and a precedent for further sailing operations in the near few, perhaps none, that show her as most of us feel she really is. future (namely film work), and with our naval architect we’ve It’s a photo of time as the ultimate adversary and her defiance of already begun to define the various scenarios for putting her it, despite the odds. It’s a photo of her soul." back into sailing compliance. This process may take longer than we thought while we deal with other matters of pending importance, but that’s life for goodness sake." 3 Medea Takes on Cangarda the Maritime Museum of San Diego Courtesy of The 1901 Cangarda rests alongside the MMSD’s very own 1904 Medea. May 15th saw the friendly competition across San Diego Bay between two Edwardian steam yachts, the visiting Cangarda against the Medea. The Cangarda was restored with a reverse- engineered hull and re-launched in 2009. She represents the last U.S. built steam yacht and only one of three from the era. Being that Medea is one of the other three, their pairing represents two- thirds of the world's surviving steam yachts from the Edwardian period. Mark your calendars for FESTIVAL OF SAIL 2010! Thursday Full coverage of the event will occur in the next issue of the September 2 through Monday September 6th. (9:00am - 7:00pm Euterpe Times. daily). Many visiting tall ships, Cannon Battles, Pilot rides, hundreds of food and souvenir vendors. Although a slightly smaller dockside footprint, Ash Street to Grape Street, there will be a great need for volunteers in the positions we have become accustomed to; Passport sales assistants, merchandise and drink sales assistants, security, NOTICE! information, check-in, stampers, trash & recycle, watch relief. The EUTERPE TIMES Daily shifts are likely to be 7:30am-12:30pm / 12:30pm-4:30pm / 4:30pm-8:30pm. Wants Your Personal Mayflower Volunteers receive t-shirts, credential carriers, snacks and drinks, story. food vendor coupons, a free passport ($15.00 value) and etc. Need help? Let the Euterpe Times Training dates are Wednesday 4 August aboard Berkeley from help piece the puzzle together. 6:00pm-8:00pm. An alternate training day is Saturday 14 August Know the Story? Please share it. from 10:00am-noon. Paper volunteer sign up sheets are available at the museum, Send any information to online at our website soon. You may also call or e-mail (619) 234-9153 ext 135 [email protected]. [email protected] . Please help spread the word, and thanks for all you do! 4 Ancient Mariners Sailing Boatbuilding (cont) Society event’s benefits to families who haven’t yet participated.’” The premise is simple: Offer families kit boats to build, shower them FAMILY BOATBUILDING EVENT with instruction (much of it hands-on)... and they emerge a stronger unit, with their own boats! The only “contest” here is to complete the task. You Can Do It! The theme behind the event is that ordinary people -- in our case, families -- can, with proper instruction, build their own boat in a matter of days. Our experience has been that no prior woodworking or boatbuilding expertise is required. The greatest single ingredient needed for this event is that families be dedicated to completing the task.