HMS Surprise

Exploring The HMS Surprise with my father.

The HMS Surprise, permanently docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, is a stunning replica of an 18th-century Royal Navy frigate. Originally launched in 1970 as HMS Rose in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, the ship was designed to match the 1757 British frigate of the same name. For years, she served as a sail training vessel, giving students and adventurers a hands-on experience with traditional seamanship. In 1996, she was purchased by 20th Century Fox and underwent an extensive retrofit in California to transform her into HMS Surprise for the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe. Following the film, the ship was donated to the Maritime Museum, where she continues to draw visitors from around the world.

Now a cherished fixture in San Diego, the HMS Surprise has taken on a second life as both a floating museum and a cinematic icon. After her star turn in Master and Commander, she was featured again in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), where she appeared as a background vessel in several key scenes. The ship has also been used in historical documentaries and maritime television programs, thanks to her authentic rigging and dramatic presence. Despite being mostly docked today, she has embarked on various short voyages along the Pacific Coast, visiting ports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Ensenada, often participating in tall ship festivals and educational events.

Her film appearances have helped make the HMS Surprise one of the most recognizable tall ships in the world. In addition to Master and Commander and Pirates of the Caribbean, she has appeared in several maritime-themed documentaries and promotional works, admired for her accuracy and dramatic silhouette. Her travels, though limited in recent years, have brought her up and down the California coastline and occasionally into Mexican waters, where she served as an ambassador for both history and Hollywood. Today, docked along the Embarcadero in San Diego Bay, she continues to capture imaginations—part museum, part movie set, and part living monument to the Age of Sail.


#sandiego #california #maritime #history #gopro