May 7 will be quite a night for Dr. Raymond Ashley. That\u2019s when he\u2019s going to become a Spanish knight.<\/p>\n
Ashley is the president and CEO of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. As part of his duties, he helped organize the building of a replica of the San Salvador, the Spanish galleon that Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed into San Diego Harbor on Sept. 28, 1542.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the first European ship to go up the California coast,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cWhen it did, our section joined the rest of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n The Spanish government was so impressed with the Museum\u2019s devotion to this important part of Spanish and American history that it decided to honor Ashley with a knighthood \u2014 Spain\u2019s highest distinction.<\/p>\n Despite the prestigious honor, Ashley doesn\u2019t plan to make his friends and family call him \u201cSir.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely not!\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cBut all my friends are having fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Ashley came up with the idea of building a full-sized replica of the San Salvador 20 years ago, but the actual recreation has been a 10-year project for Ashley and the Maritime Museum.<\/p>\n Ashley directed the project from \u201cstart to finish,\u201d said Iris Engstrand, a director at the museum.<\/p>\n \u201c[He] raised the funds, overcame setbacks and watched its launching after a pouring rain,\u201d Engstrand stated in a press release. \u201cCabrillo would have been proud.\u201d<\/p>\n After its christening in July of last year, the ship made its pubic debut and was added to the Museum\u2019s repertoire last September, but work is still needed to make the ship truly seaworthy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still figuring how to set the sails and how they would work separately and together,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of reverse engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s impossible to understate the importance of the original San Salvador to the history of San Diego and California.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t say Cabrillo discovered the area \u2014 there were people living here for 10,000 years, but this is when our section joined the rest of the world,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cThis is the equivalent to the Mayflower in that this is the moment that \u2018we\u2019 started.\u201d<\/p>\n Recreating the San Salvador presented challenges because no plans existed for the ship.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was built in Guatemala, but, back then, sailors built ships in their head using rules of thumb they learned from being at sea,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cWe looked at hundreds of period images that showed galleons, old contracts and treatises and studied ships that had been wrecked and were still underwater.\u201d<\/p>\n The outward appearance of the replica San Salvador looks identical to a ship in the 16th century, but there are significant differences, Ashley admitted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe original ship was only expected to last around 12 years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had to build ours to last between 50 to 100 years. Plus, we had to add outside ballast and an engine \u2014 things the Coast Guard requires if you\u2019re going to sail.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been a lot of advancements in shipbuilding in the last 450 years, but Ashley is impressed with the original San Salvador\u2019s trek from Guatemala to San Diego and up to Northern California.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a difficult voyage,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going against the current. Cabrillo did it in a fast time despite sailing past an area with few natural harbors. Father Serra\u2019s 1769 voyage didn\u2019t make it as fast.\u201d<\/p>\n Ashley isn\u2019t the only person affiliated with the San Diego Maritime Museum to be granted a Spanish knighthood. Douglas Sharp, the Naval architect who designed the replica San Salvador, and Engstrand, who is also a University of San Diego history professor, also previously received the honor.<\/p>\n Ashley feels honored to be in their presence.<\/p>\n \u201cThis would not have happened without my friends who received it previously and thought I was a good candidate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/DSC_2929-1-10-1webtop.jpg\")
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