PORT TOWNSEND — The schooner Adventuress was lifted out of the water at the Boat Haven on Wednesday for a new round of repairs and renovation costing $250,000.
The work, which will continue until spring in the Port Townsend Boat Haven, will include the reframing and replanking of the starboard bow and transom, as well as a new mainsail and staysail and restoration of the 133-foot ship’s iconic counter stern.
Rebuilding of the two-masted, gaff-rigged schooner’s port bow and stem was completed earlier this year.
Schooner built in 1913
It’s all part of the “Centennial Restoration Project” for the ship built in 1913 that Sound Experience, the nonprofit agency that owns the ship, used as a floating maritime classroom on Puget Sound.
“This is one of the most ambitious winters that we have seen in a long time,” said Captain Joshua Berger.
“We have our Centennial Restoration, where we are preparing to replace the starboard bow and the stern, so we have a big winter planned.”
The approximately 100-ton tall ship was backed into a sling — which has the ability to lift three times that weight — and taken into the parking lot where crew members set to work removing seaweed and barnacles from the hull.
After the cleaning is complete, the ship will be placed on blocks in the Port Townsend Boat Haven for renovations.
Funding for work
The extensive renovations are partially funded by a grant of $125,000 given to Sound Experience when it placed first in the American Express Partners in Preservation Seattle-Puget Sound Initiative contest this summer.
Website visitors were allowed to vote every day for the projects of their choice, and the Adventuress, which is based in Port Townsend, won with 20 percent of the vote after running neck-and-neck with Town Hall Seattle.
Restoration completed as part of this project is expected to meet a 50-year standard.
This winter’s renovations will provide a boost to the local economy through creating local jobs, Haven Boatworks co-owner Stephen Gale said.
The reframing and replanking of the starboard bow will use the remainder of a 2009 National Park Service “Save America’s Treasures” grant for $180,000, which was matched dollar-for-dollar by donors.
This grant, plus private matching contributions, will also fund a new mainsail and staysail for the Adventuress.
The restoration of the ship’s counter stern will be funded by the American Express grant.
The Adventuress will return to the water next spring, after which time Sound Experience will conduct a full schedule of its environmental education and sail training programs aboard the ship.
More than 3,000 participants sail on the Adventuress every year.
Sound Experience also conducted an October fund drive that raised $57,000 in 29 days to support its educational programs.
________
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.