I’m offering to give away a Benjamin Franklin, or a half dozen. And I’ll do it before May Day!! See the end of the post.
The foto below–never posted here before–comes from 2005 and shows “the schooners,” a handsome Pioneer (1885) and elegant Lettie G. Howard (1893), 244 years of sailing between them. On a personal note, I logged in over 600 hours as a volunteer on these two boats as well as on W. O. Decker between 2004–2006. That means winter maintenance as well as summer sailing.
Such nautical treasures are these vessels (left to right: Marion M, Wavertree, W. O. Decker, and Peking) and so many fine folks, volunteers as well as professional crew, did I meet during this time . . that
current developments at that place created as South Street Seaport break my heart and then make me angry.
When word on the street says Museum administration is looking to “send its working ships to ports elsewhere for long-term storage” and otherwise declining comment on the crumbling state of affairs, I hope to hear that these same administrators abdicate their positions. These vessels are no white elephants. These are no “floating paperweights.”
During my years as an active volunteer, I knew this place could be much more than a red barn with seven masts sticking up above it.
Conditions of giving away my Benjamins: current Museum president Mary Pelzer resign effective immediately and a committee focused on the vessels be installed forthwith. And, I’d like 1000 people (former volunteers, boat fans, former professional crew members, just plain fans of these vessels, or friends and friends of friends of any of the above) to pledge at least a Benjamin each to be deposited with a trustworthy and maricentric steward by May 1, 2011. This could be the “seaport spring.” Let’s not let this go to May Day.
See the selection below from yesterday’s New York Post. Here’s info on a “Save our Ships” meeting for April 28. All fotos above by Will Van Dorp.
“Abandoning ships: City’s old vessels lost in fog of debt, neglect,” New York Post, April 25. “Rotting wood covers their decks, their masts are flaked with rust, and their hulls are corroding.
New York’s last tall ships — once-proud symbols of the Big Apple’s rise to greatness — are in a shameful state of disrepair as the museum that’s supposed to care for them sinks in a Bermuda Triangle of debt and bad management. Seaport Museum New York has closed its landside galleries and is looking to send its working ships to ports elsewhere for long-term storage. The museum’s stationary ships — Peking, one of the biggest sailing ships ever built, Wavertree, a three-masted cargo ship, and Ambrose, a lightship that a century ago guided sailors into New York harbor — face an unknown fate. ‘Those ships, which are emblematic of our heritage on the waterfront, are almost being left to rot,’ said Roland Lewis, president of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, a coalition of nonprofit groups. . . . The museum declined comment, except to say it is ‘exploring various options’ to maintain its vessels.” |
14 comments
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April 27, 2011 at 10:10 am
Bonnie
I’ll join in.
April 27, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Elisabeth Kerr
In.
April 27, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Joe Herbert
I’m in!
Further, I wiould like one of our group, preferably an attorney (NY Bar), because he’d know the form and etc. to write the Governor & other interested persons, especially Mayor Flowerpot, during whose watch this occured, to bring this under the auspices of U.S. Nat. Park Service, they would make an excellent addendum to their existing exhibits in New York Harbor esp Governor’s Island.
April 27, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Jim
I’m in too! It cost that much just to get in there & work a few times. Made it all the more frustrating when we didn’t have customers due to the gag on the advertising. I know a few people at the Parks Service, and they do a great job. However, I don’t know if they would keep the volunteer program going the with the same spirit. e.g. They plan to sail Constitution for its tricentennial, but only says’ls and without the squares. “No one knows how to sail square riggers anymore.” Or so I was told 😉
April 27, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Mage Bailey
Have you seen the condition of the San Francisco National Park ships. It’s appalling. I’m so sorry to read this and hope you keep us posted.
April 27, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Maureen
well, I don’t know how to respond but I sense your passion and mission. My father was with the Rouse Company, who developed the Seaport?? Albeit he developed Columbia MD and Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. But he loved the sea, volunteered on the boats to the Isles of Shoals, and I have fond memories of taking my children to SSSeaport. Yet I am a museum person, entwined with nonprofits, aware of the realities of the world, and I think you need Bloomberg and Cuomo for this one. Waterfront is hugely important to a city like NYC, which lacks green space and has oodles of blue expanse that nurtures the soul and the mind. Seaports may be on their way out, but think of the Intrepid, never stronger. The city continues to recapture the shoreline, and even moved the fishmongers, for better or worse. Perhaps the SSS needs a new mission and identity besides Ben Franklins? Great respect for your commitment, so carry on!
April 27, 2011 at 9:11 pm
eastriver
Yes, I’m in.
Ix-nay on Interior taking on the job. They’ve proved themselves unworthy at S.F., as Mage points out. Took a lot of public pressure to get them to bring things to the state they’re in now.
Karl Kortum founded SF Maritime Museum. Seeing how difficult it was to obtain enough funding to keep the place up to snuff, he managed to have it taken up by Interior, where she is now. Don’t really think he’d be happy about how it all turned out. On the other hand, they’re not bankrupt and in the hands of developers.
Peter Stanford and Karl Kortum were the grand old men of sailing ships in the 60s-70s; realizing that if nothing was done, they’d disappear forever. Karl found WAVERTREE in the River de la Plata (between Argentina and Uruguay) serving as a sand barge. He also brought EPPLETON HALL across the pond, (personally, with his young son on board) to add to the collection there.
Far as I know, the only thing that works out there is ALMA, the scow schooner. I hear that’s only due to the astounding work done by the late Al Lutz.
Love to hear from any Left Coasters who might weigh in on all this.
And of course, Jim, “no one” knows how to sail square rig… really tough to get the skills sitting in an office, writing memos…
April 27, 2011 at 10:23 pm
beverly
Well, the Picton Castle still sails around the world. And many others. I hope all of you will come to the strategy meeting tomorrow night at Meade’s on Peck Slip. Will, those photos are gorgeous.
Ditto on being leery of the Dept. of the Interior taking over. Vast gov’t. bureaucracies aren’t good at looking after things. Also, we need to find out what the Real Estate Barons have planned: that’s the core issue.
April 28, 2011 at 8:07 am
Justin Reynolds
I’d be willing to contribute some cash.
Maybe with enough interested parties we can afford a lawyer. I don’t see any other way to fix the problem — printing t-shirts the say “save the boats” is nice, and I completely agree that we need more eyes on the situation, but I think it all boils down to who’s going to make a payday out of it, and how to stop it — and I think it all ends up as a legal exercise.
This is NYC. Somebody’s got a plan, and we’re just seeing the public parts of it now. There’s a big pile of cash at the end of it, I guarantee.
April 28, 2011 at 9:39 am
Bob Easton
Count me in too…
… but, only on your first condition: “…current Museum president Mary Pelzer resign effective immediately and a committee focused on the vessels be installed forthwith.”
April 28, 2011 at 11:33 am
Fielding Dupuy
Sure. Count me in, too.
April 30, 2011 at 6:45 am
Philip Orton
I’m in too, though I also agree we need to wait or learn more about what is happening with big moneyholders behind the scenes.
February 13, 2013 at 12:37 pm
George Dalton
So what ever came of all this?
February 13, 2013 at 1:11 pm
tugster
hi george– ths is what i believe has happened, but others know much more than i do; South Street Seaport Museum is now operating under the auspices of the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY). http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/current/South-Street-Seaport-Museum-Open.html That is the case. Here’s the current SSSM site: http://www.southstreetseaportmuseum.org/Default.asp Among the many changes that have happened since MCNY took over is a reduction of the SSSM “fleet.” Marion M, Helen McAllister, and the car float are gone. Barge Progress is also away, but I think that’s temporary. Pioneer got repairs and sailed the harbor with passengers all last summer. Ambrose had a lot of work done also. Lettie had some work done at Mystic but has return . . .needing more work although I don’t know how much. Peking remains a big question, but ongoing work will be done on Wavertree, not Peking. In addition, Sandy hit SSSM with a lot of costly damage, but again, having said that, the museum is open with new exhibits and an upcoming concert fund raiser. Any errors here are due to my lack of info.