Its lucky Star

In the winter of 1864, an iron ship newly christened Euterpe after the Greek goddess of music was sailing off the coast of Wales when she suffered her first collision and subsequent mutiny. Over the years, she has been trapped in ice, been tossed by storms, caught on fire and nearly left for dead.

In 1906, her name was changed to the Star of India, and by World War II there was talk of dismantling the old lady and using her for scraps. Like all the storms of her past, however, she survived and eventually was restored to health and dignity.

In 1976, after 50 years of dormancy, her sails were raised, and she breathed the wind again. It is said that a half-million people cheered as she returned to the tide off the coast of San Diego.

The oldest actively sailed ship in the world, she remains the jewel of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Visitors to Family Day on Sunday at the museum will have a chance to raise her sails, take a ride around the bay on another historic vessel, the Pilot, and learn about the Royal Navy on board the HMS Enterprise, used in the Russell Crowe film “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.”

The museum’s fleet of historic ships also includes the 1898 steam ferry Berkeley, the 1904 steam yacht Medea, and the Californian, a replica of a 19th century revenue cutter.

It is the Star of India, however, that started it all. Founded in 1948, the museum grew out of efforts to acquire the ship in 1927. That she is built of thick iron helps explain her longevity, but strength alone is not enough for any ship to live so long, says Ray Ashley, executive director of the museum. Luck is a factor.

“Most of the bad things that could happen to a ship happened to her,” Ashley says, “and she managed to survive all of them.... Most ships of her period lasted about 12 years.”

Euterpe was built at the Ramsey Shipyard at the Isle of Man. Three other iron ships were built there during the same period, Ashley says. One lasted only a few years, and the others made it to the turn of the century -- the 20th century. Only the Star made it to the 21st.

She has lived many lives, carrying spices, lumber, canned salmon and coal. She also made 22 voyages carrying immigrants from Britain to New Zealand.

“She carried so many people, 300 to 400 a voyage, and made so many voyages and it was so long ago that a goodly number of people who live in New Zealand are descendants of people who sailed there on Euterpe,” Ashley says.

That may be her greatest historical achievement, and while it lacks the romance and glamour of battles and discovery, it was part of what some say was one of the most significant events in history. The migration of people that ships allowed altered belief systems, changed genetics and cultures, introduced new plants, animals, technology, even diseases to parts of the world where previously they were unknown.

“She’s a working-class object made for working-class people to use,” Ashley says.

The vessel continues to sail, although infrequently, never far from shore and never in the dark. Keeping it active is important, Ashley says, for the well-being of the ship, and its significance.

“If you stop sailing it, it’s a little bit like when you go to a natural history museum and see a dead stuffed animal in a case,” he says. “It’s a shadow of the living animal.”

The current captain is Richard Goben, who also helps train the crew of 60, most of them volunteers. To captain such a historic vessel is both a huge privilege and responsibility, he says.

“It’s a constant amazement to me that I’m sailing a ship that has been around the world 21 times,” he says. “I see rivets that were put in there 140 years ago, hardware that has been through every single experience. We take great care, and we’re always mindful that it’s not replaceable.”

The Pilot has its own place in San Diego history. It was the primary pilot vessel from 1914 to 1996. Although it has never been beyond the entrance to the bay, it has played an important role in the development of the city, transporting harbor pilots to and from vessels as they entered and departed the bay.

“If you want to point to any boat on the San Diego Bay that has had a significant impact on building the city and the economy of the city,” says Susan Sirota, the museum’s educational director, “it would be that little boat.”

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Family Day

Where: 1492 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego (on the North Embarcadero)

Price: $8 for adults; $6 for seniors, juniors (13-17) and active military with ID; free for children 12 and younger on Family Day

When: Sunday, with special activities between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Regular hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Info: (619) 234-9153 or www.sdmaritime.org