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Update on the San Salvador

The Maritime Museum of San Diego has one of the world’s greatest collection of historic ships. You can see them downtown on the waterfront, across from the County Administration Building, the tallest building on the waterfront.

There are ten historic ships in the collection, including the oldest active sailing ship in the world, the Star of India, and the official tall ship of the State of California, the Californian.

Currently under construction — Wait! You can’t construct a historic ship! Aw, not-so-wise grasshopper, you can! — at Spanish Landing Park on Harbor Drive is the San Salvador.

The San Salvador will be a full-size, fully functional, and historically accurate replica of the Spanish galleon that brought Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (1499-1543) to San Diego back in 1542. Cabrillo was the first European to explore the western coast of North America and is given credit for discovering San Diego. When the San Salvador is complete, it will be 80 feet to the top of the masts, 24 feet across, 92 feet long, and weigh more than 200 tons.

The project began in November 2010 and is scheduled for completion in early 2013. I go down to the construction site at Spanish Landing Park each month to track its progress.