SEATTLE — Sound Experience staffers celebrated after the Adventuress’ won a contest for historical funds, which assures the tall ship a grant of $125,000.

The crew members were still catching their breath Thursday after a month-long, intense campaign to bring in online votes in a contest among 25 Puget Sound historic sites — including the Customs House in Port Townsend — for a share of $1 million.

“We are all a bit stunned by this,” said Catherine Collins, executive director of Sound Experience, which owns the schooner Adventuress, based in Port Townsend. “We are extremely happy about all the votes we have received and have a lot of people to thank for their support.”

The Adventuress sponsors plan to use the money it won in the American Express Partners In Preservation Seattle-Puget Sound Initiative to fund the previously scheduled reconstruction of its stern.

The Adventuress finished with 20 percent of the vote, after hundreds voted once a day for several weeks.

The ship was near the top of the list at the beginning of the contest a month ago. It moved into first place about two weeks ago.

During the final days of the contest, it was neck-and-neck with Town Hall Seattle, often showing the same percentage of voters even though the Adventuress maintained more votes.

The consistent third-place position was occupied by the Point No Point Lighthouse in Hansville.

Originally, the contest awarded $125,000 to the first place winner and split the remaining $875,000 among the other contestants at the discretion of the contest’s governing board.

Since the race was so close, the board announced on Thursday that Town Hall also would receive $125,000 and the amount to be distributed among the other sites would fall to $750,000.

The Customs House in Port Townsend, which seeks to retrofit the building for handicapped access, is one of those remaining sites.

The historic building that houses the city’s post office finished in 15th place with 2 percent of the vote.

Any site not earning a share of the $750,000 will receive a $5,000 payment, said Nate Cole-Daum, spokesman for the American Express Partners In Preservation Seattle-Puget Sound Initiative.

Other allocations June 15

These allocations will be announced on June 15, Cole-Daum said.

Collins said that the nonprofit agency, which offers educational experiences aboard the Adventuress, hopes to sponsor a “thank you” event for the ship’s supporters, but did not know when it would be.

The boat is not scheduled to return to its home port of Port Townsend until August.

Collins attributed the campaign’s success to social networking, and said that it had tripled its connections on Facebook to more than 1,700.

Additionally, the ship maintained an e-mail distribution list and reminded 700 people to vote every day.

“We could do this campaign within our means because we didn’t have to spend any money on printing and postage,” she said.

Once the buzz of victory wears off, other gains will become apparent, Collins said.

“This grant will bring several jobs to the area,” she said.

“There are a lot of experienced people who are now out of work that we can hire for this project.”

________

Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.