Roll Playing with Kids on the Star of India
You’ll want to check out the different boats on display at the museum, some of which can only be viewed from afar and others that can be boarded and explored. Some ships even take passengers around the bay.
In addition to these ships, there are also many exhibits at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. These exhibits focus on particular periods of maritime history, aspects of seafaring life, information about different methods for exploring and charting the seas, and related topics such as commercial fishing and even an exploration of sea monster myths.
Sailing Ships
There are four different sailing ships that are part of the museum. These are the HMS Surprise, the Californian, the San Salvador, and the Star of India.
The HMS Surprise is a recreation of a Royal Navy frigate added to the museum in 2004, and the Californian has the distinction of being the official tall ship of California.
San Salvador and Star of India are historic vessels, with the San Salvador considered the “founding ship of San Diego” for being the first European ship to reach the West Coast, and the Star of India maintaining its title as the oldest still-active sailing ship.
Submarine the Californian and the Star of India
Submarines
The Soviet B-39 and the 555 USS Dolphin are the two submarines on display at the museum. The B-39 is one of the largest diesel-electric submarines and it played a role during the Cold War, while the USS Dolphin set the record for the deepest dive by any submarine.
You can board both submarines and check out their interiors with your general admission ticket.
Russian Submarine and the Californian Maritime Museum of San Diego
Steam Powered Ships
The 1898 steam ferry Berkeley and the 1904 steam yacht Medea are both available to explore at the museum.
Berkeley is notable for being a California State and National Historic Landmark that helped hundreds escape the devastation of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Medea has a storied history that includes service as part of both the French and British Navies and personal use.
Two other powered ships, the PCF 816 Swift Boat and the San Diego Harbor Pilot boat, are used to give tours of the bay.
Rising Tide: The Human Consequences of Rising Sea Levels
Rising Tide visualizes the human costs of the climate crisis and the dramatic consequences of climate change across the world through photographs, video, drone images, and sound. It seeks to shed light on the irreversible force of climate change.
The Maritime Museum is the first maritime museum on the Pacific Coast to display this powerful work.
Unlike most maritime museums that discuss when civilization (ships) go to sea, this exhibit is the inverse of that narrative, discussing what happens when the sea intrudes upon civilization.
Steam and Splendor: Treasures from the Ocean Liner and Cruise Ship Ephemera Collection
Drawing on some of the museum’s hidden treasures never shown to the public, Steam and Splendor is a collection of ocean liner and cruise ship artifacts numbering in the thousands from both the Maritime Museum’s collection and loans by local private collectors.
The collection features vintage brochures, passenger lists, menus, cabin plans, and images of dining rooms and recreational areas.
Visitors can travel back in time to the age of steam and the great ocean liners of the twentieth century. Among them are the Titanic, SS Normandie, the SS United States, and the Empress of Britain.
Steam and Splendor allows visitors to relive the experience of a time when ocean travel was leisurely, elegant, and exclusive, where shipping corporations would entice passengers with elaborate brochures to go on leisurely excursions in extravagant surroundings to exotic and distant destinations.
Model Gallery: Celebrating the Art of Model Making
Model Gallery features representations of models, engaging illustrations, and maritime fine art, as well as model making legends such as Bob Crawford and Joe Bompensiero.
Some more notable models now on permanent display in the museum include donations from the estate of Dr. William Brown, whose corpus of work was featured in the 2016 edition of Mains’l Haul - A Model-Maker & His Art.
Other significant donations include representations of Clipper ships such as the Sovereign of the Seas by the Beyster Family Foundation and an elegant Polacca-rigged Xebec and a fine model of Columbus’s Santa Maria from Dr. Charles Stern, a former member of the San Diego Ship Modeller’s Guild.
To the Brink of War
At this exhibit, you’ll venture back to 1962 to learn the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Inside a real submarine, you’ll get an up-close and personal look at the role American and Soviet submarines played in both bringing us to the brink of nuclear warfare and preventing the Cold War from escalating to nuclear devastation.
Man-of-War
Take part in some Maritime Museum of San Diego sailing adventures at the Man-of-War exhibit, which simulates the life of crewmates and captains on board a fighting sailing ship.
Enjoy this interactive adventure complete with the thrill of simulated battle that frequently draws the attention of adults and children alike.
Charting the Sea
Our seas weren’t always as well-mapped out as they are today. At the Charting the Sea exhibit, you’ll learn about the different tools voyagers used to expand our knowledge of the world beyond the coastline long before images from satellites, planes, and drones were possible.
The exhibit covers both the Age of Science and the Age of Exploration, which span hundreds of years of seafaring history. Instruments key to discovery and mapping such as compasses, astrolabes, and sextants are on display, as well as the early maps and charts used by sailors as they voyaged to and from the West Coast of the New World.
Age of Sail
The Age of Sail was a historic period of maritime history from the late 1500s to the mid-1800s. During this time, sailboats were the predominant method of transportation across the oceans, and gunpowder warfare started to replace more traditional methods of naval battles.
At the Age of Sail exhibit, you can climb aboard the Star of India, a real ship from 1863, and see how the technology of the age bested its predecessors while laying the groundwork for the technology in use today.
Age of Steam
The Age of Steam arose with the invention and widespread use of steam engines, which eventually grew to replace most sailing vessels. This age began in the mid-1700s, overlapping with the end of the age of sail, and carried on until the early 1900s.
Like the Age of Sail, the new technology of this historic period is a step up from previous inventions while influencing the future of maritime technology. At the exhibit, you’ll learn how the shift from reliance on wind and weather allowed steamboats to be more precise and spearhead the development of the modern maritime industry.
Harvesting the Ocean
As a coastal town, San Diego has always been involved in commercial fishing, though the prominence it had on the local economy changed greatly throughout the years.
The Harvesting the Ocean exhibit tells the story of how a booming commercial fishing industry helped San Diego become the tuna capital of the world, and how the demand for commercial fishing has lessened in more modern times.
San Diego’s Navy
San Diego has always had a strong connection to the United States military, specifically the Navy. At this exhibit, you can learn about historic events like the development of San Diego’s naval bases, the arrival of the “Great White Fleet” a century ago, and other key roles Southern California has played in military efforts and conflicts.
Retired Exhibits
Just in case you happen to be searching for a past exhibit, I like to include these so you know that unfortunately, the exhibit has been retired.
Previous exhibits have included: Sea Monsters: Delving into the Deep Myth, which showcases the sea monsters of mythology, from kraken to mermaids; Wish You Were Here, a collection of vintage postcards and photographs from San Diego history; and Wind and Water Photography Exhibit, a collection of photographs capturing everything from historic ships to yacht races to recreational wooden boats by local photographers Bobby Grieser and Mark Albertazzi.