San Salvador and the Maritime Museum

This venue will take you to the Maritime Museum on North Harbor Drive, specifically to view the newly completed San Salvador ship. After nearly five years of construction and the assistance from hundreds of volunteers, the San Salvador has finally found a home at the Maritime Museum. The San Salvador is a replica of the galleon that Portuguese explorer Juan Cabrillo sailed into the San Diego Bay in 1542. Construction of the San Salvador cost $5 million and the overall cost came to about $6.5 million. This venue will also include other parts of the Maritime Museum’s collection, including the Star of India, a Soviet-era B-39 submarine, the Berkeley steam ferryboat and the schooner Californian, the official tall ship for the state. This handout will provide some background for your visit.

The San Salvador The San Salvador and Juan Cabrillo arrived at the San Diego port on September 28, 1542. It would only stay briefly, after which it proceeded further north in search of new trade routes to link Mexico to Asia and Europe. She was the first recorded European vessel to sail along Southern California. The crew was generally friendly at first to the indigenous people of the coast. The San Salvador is considered to be the founding ship of San Diego and the State of California. Just as the Mayflower is considered the origin symbol ship of New England, the San Salvador is considered the origin symbol ship of San Diego. (San Salvador, 2015) The San Salvador was originally conceived as a mid-sized merchant galleon and built in a shipyard along the Pacific coast of New Spain (which is now Guatemala) in 1539. Her builder and owner was Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo. Her wood and pg. 1

San Salvador and the Maritime Museum riggings came from tropical jungles, her iron equipment and fittings from across the Atlantic in Spain. It weighed nearly 100 tons and could carry about 90 passengers and crew. It was the flagship of a three-ship voyage of discovery that Cabrillo commanded. The goal of the exploration was to explore northward up the coast until ultimately crossing the Pacific Ocean and reaching the riches of the Orient. On September 28, 1542, the San Salvador reached San Diego Bay. Cabrillo described it as an “enclosed harbor which was very good”. He named it San Miguel. Cabrillo and his group were the first Europeans to view the California coast, and is remembered as a point of “first contact” of Europeans with the Native Americans of California. After leaving San Diego, the San Salvador continued up the coast, exploring San Pedro, the Channel Islands, Big Sur, Monterey Bay and Point Reyes before reaching the approximate border of California/Oregon. She returned to New Spain in April 1542. No records exists of further exploration of the San Salvador, although she was probably involved in trade between New Spain and Peru. Today, her voyage represents an epic American voyage of discovery that occurred well before other European settlements of the US, such as Plymouth, Jamestown and St. Augustine. (San Salvador Build Site, 2015) The ship that you see at the Maritime Museum is actually a replica of the original. To insure that the work is accurate, research was completed in the fields of Early Modern Spanish and Portuguese maritime history and maritime archaeology. Volumes of history books were used to determine accurate images of early sixteenth-century sailing vessels. Shipwrecks were also studied for similarities. Sorry you missed the creation of this replica? This is a time lapse video from January 2013 through February 2015 which shows the work involved in creating this 16th century replica. Click here to view the time lapse video. Would you like to build a replica of the San Salvador? Unless you have hundreds of volunteers and many years (as they had for this model at the museum), you might have to settle for a paper one. Here are some pretty extensive directions on building a San Salvador ship out of paper. Might be a good project for the grandkids! pg. 2

San Salvador and the Maritime Museum

Juan Cabrillo Juan Cabrillo is etched in the minds of San Diego. We have the Cabrillo National Monument and the Cabrillo Bridge. There is the Cabrillo Recreation Center in Point Loma and the Cabrillo ferry which takes you from downtown San Diego to Coronado. There are even businesses such as Cabrillo Insurance, Cabrillo apartments and Cabrillo Bank. So what is known of Juan Cabrillo who was the first European to view the California coast? Little is known of his early life. In fact, his name only shows up around 1519, when it was noted that he served in the army of conquistador Hernan Cortes, and joined in the conquest of Mexico and Guatemala. He was captain of crossbowmen in the battles between the Aztecs pg. 3

San Salvador and the Maritime Museum and the Spanish. After defeating the Aztecs, Cabrillo joined other Spanish military expeditions in what is now Southern Mexico, Guatemala and San Salvador. He eventually settled in Guatemala. By the mid 1530’s, Cabrillo was a leading citizen of Santiago in Guatemala. In 1532, he traveled to Spain, where he met and married Beatriz Sanchez de Ortega. They returned to Guatemala, where they had two sons. In 1540, an earthquake destroyed the city of Santiago. Cabrillo imported and exported goods and traded between Guatemala, Spain and other areas of the New World. In 1542, he led the first European expedition to explore the west coast of the United States. The Gulf of California had recently been explored, and it was discovered that California was not an island. Cabrillo was commissioned by Pedro de Alvarado, the Governor of Guatemala to travel up the California coast under the flag of Spain. Cabrillo was hoping to find the wealthy cities known as Cibola, believed to be on the Pacific Coast in a nonexistent route connecting the North Pacific and the North Atlantic, known as “Straits of Anian”. The Cabrillo expedition sailed out of Navidad on June 24, 1542. Cabrillo was accompanied by sailors, soldiers, Indian and probably black slaves, merchants, a priest, livestock and provisions for two years. Three ships were under his command, including the flagship San Salvador. Cabrillo reached what is now the San Diego Bay (he referred to it as “a very good enclosed port”) on September 28, 1542. He named it “San Miguel”. He stayed for six days, before leaving and going northward and exploring the uncharted coast of California. He visited many of the areas along the way. Cabrillo died January 3, 1542 on San Miguel Island, and may have been buried on Catalina Island. He died from complications of a broken leg, which he suffered from a fall during a skirmish with natives. On February 18, 1543, the expedition turned north under the command of Bartolome Ferrelo. They made it to Cape Mendocino, where they were caught in a storm and blown back to San Miguel Island by March 5. They turned south, and arrived back at Navidad on April 14, 1543. (Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, 2010)

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San Salvador and the Maritime Museum

A little bit about some of the other ships at Maritime Museum Although some of the boats are docked, many of them will take passengers. You can book passageway on the 1914 Pilot boat (for 45 minute history bay cruises), the Swift Boat (tours covering military history of San Diego Bay on weekends) and the Californian (three sailings most weekends). Californian:

The Californian is the official tall ship of California. It was built from the ground up in 1984 at the Spanish Landing in SD Bay. It was launched just in time for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In July 2003, the Governor signed a bill designating the Californian as the official tall ship of the State of California. The Californian is a replica of the 1847 Revenue Cutter C. W. Lawrence, which policed the California coast during the gold rush. The Revenue Cutter Service became consolidated into the US Coast Guard in 1915. B-39 Submarine

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San Salvador and the Maritime Museum The B-39 was one of a fleet of diesel electric submarines of the Soviet Navy, part of the “Project 641”. It was commissioned in the early 1970s and was on active duty for more than 20 years. It is 300 feet long, and weighs more than 2000 tons, and is among the largest conventionally powered submarines ever built. Designed to track US and NATO warships, it was assigned to the Soviet Pacific Fleet, and probably stalked US Navy ships here in San Diego. Now, she lives in the San Diego Bay among those ships that she may have stalked. While in action, she carried 24 torpedoes and was capable of delivering low-yield nuclear warheads. She had a crew of 78 and could dive 985 feet. Star of India The Star of India is the world’s oldest active sailing ship. Her journey began at the Ramsey Shipyard in the Isle of Man in 1863. As an iron ship, she was somewhat of an oddity. Upon launching, she bore the name Euterpe, after the Greek muse of music and poetry. Euterpe was a full-rigged ship until 1901, when she was rigged down to a barque. According to Wikipedia (Contributors, 2015), a full-rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them squarerigged. A ship which is barque will still have three or more masts, but only the fore and mainmasts are rigged square. The mizzen (aftermost mast) are rigged fore and aft. She is currently a barque. She began her sailing journey with two nearly disastrous voyages; one involved a collision and a mutiny, the second a cyclone. Her captain died on board and was buried at sea. However, things improved after that, and she began a run as a cargo ship. She was also involved in nearly 25 years of hauling emigrants to New

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San Salvador and the Maritime Museum Zealand, Australia, California and Chile. She made 21 runs, some of them lasting up to a year. Life aboard the ship was difficult. Emigrants were cooped up, fed hardtack and salt junk, and were subject to sea sickness and other ills. Death rate was low, though, and most went on to prosper in New Zealand. Steam Ferry Berkeley

The Berkeley is an 1898 steam ferryboat which operated for 60 years on the San Francisco Bay. It is a California State Historic Landmark, and a National Historic Landmark. She has been docked in San Diego since 1973. When you visit the Maritime Museum, you can board the ferry, where you will find the museum’s offices, a maritime research library, workshop, model shop, the museum shop, and a special events venue for over 800 guests. There are exhibits and displays on the lower deck and main deck, including her fully restored steam engine, although hydraulics and compressed air are now the power choices for the Berkeley. During the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Berkeley carried thousands of survivors to safety. Captain and crew worked night and day to help victims escape the burning shores of San Francisco. Now, you may have weddings and special events on the upper deck. She represents the 19th century ferryboat, and due to the restoration, is expected to last for 50 years.

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San Salvador and the Maritime Museum

Works Cited Contributors, W. (2015, August 4). Full-rigged ship. Retrieved from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fullrigged_ship&oldid=674584619 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. (2010). Retrieved from San Diego History.org: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/online_resources/cabrillo.html San Salvador. (2015, August). Retrieved from SD Maritime Museum: http://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/san-salvador/ San Salvador Build Site. (2015, May). Retrieved from SD Maritime Museum: http://sdmaritime.org/visit/public-events/san-salvador-build/

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