Amen, Mr Hussar. I have visited Mystic twice, and been on both the long and short cruises in SABINO, and found no lack of interest in powered vessels among the staff and volunteers. Visiting the near by home of the Lathrop Engine Works was another more personal delight -- part of the old works is now home to a marine salvage dealer with fascinating stuff to sell.

Bugs? No worse than Alabama or coastal Georgia.

dave

The Nobska used to operate out of New Bedford, I remember riding on her to Nantucket many years ago. But even if the Nobska had been successfully restored and became a museum vessel, New Bedford would not have been a suitable site for it given the long record of community indifference to historic ships. They have had one vessel after another fall into neglect with very little community support for them.

I read this thread with sadness and a sense of
'it is way too late'. I've kept an eye on their web
site for years and it was a slow slide.
Ask yourself if you would be willing to write a
check for 100 bucks right now. On this
entire list we would be lucky, real lucky,
to get 5k.
...and it wouldnt mean a thing.
We here in the states just don't seem
very big on old stuff.
Ross OWNS a close relative of the
NYC 6001 and it just sits. A much
smaller project than the boat too.
You know, he's right: there are not
that many steam fans left.

I have to believe that public opinion can prevent this tragedy--and public opinion is usually measured by correspondence. SO. . . IF we are all writing not only the Director, but all of our friends, so they can write their friends, and everyone takes five minutes to send a note, MAYBE the destruction can be prevented. I already did the research to locate the email addresses for everyone (and that took some searching, especially with my 28K dial up connection). So let us all get to posting!
I'm not talking about restoration to operation, just fix the hull, so the boat can be floated to a safe storage area until the restoration can be funded and finished--and whaterver decisions (operating, stationary, etc.) can all be done LATER.
Thank you all for putting up with this off-topic discussion.
Steamcerely,
David Dewey

mixeddata,

I think your information is out dated. Yes, they let the Brinkerhoff go to rouin, but that was back in the 1950s.

these days they operate the only coal fired steam boat on salt water in the US. She is the SABINO and a treat she is!

they also own and occasionally operate a Socony Oil tug boat engine of considerable size.

Today they are billing themselves as " America's Museum of the Sea".

just a thought

Ted Miles

Having watched the events surrounding the NOBSKA unfold for a long time, I am sorry to have to say that the point has been reached where the only parties that have the means to influence the outcome are the National Park Service and Bath Iron Works (which built her), and both of them are by now very acutely aware that the NOBSKA is a hole in the water surrounded by steel into which you pour money.

The NOBSKA was not a recently retired or functional vessel when the group started this attempted restoration to operation, she was a gutted shell left over from a failed attempt to convert her to a restaurant. She was missing the boilers and some of the other machinery, could not be Coast Guard certified without massive expendature, and was badly deteriorated from decades in salt water. The concept that she could be returned to active passenger carrying service competing on a route with vessels fifty years newer, for less money than it would take to build a tugboat, was at the least quite unrealistic.

I would suggest that regardless of the outcome this vessel provides us with many important lessons, including the need to set reasonable and achievable goals, and the importance of enlisting the help of properly skilled technical people, planners, and estimators for expensive projects. It will be a case history that deserves to be carefully studied by those contemplating similarly complex preservation projects in the future.

Correct, Mystic Seaport has more interest in powered vessels today and formally stated objectives to support powered vessels. Still, would the Nobska be a wise investment? The issue is not how much money has been "invested" in the Nobska, the issue is how much more is required, and whether that is the best use of those funds. Suppose the Nobska requires an additional $20 million to restore to Coast Guard service and subisidize for the first 5 years. Is that the best use of funds? There are a number of preserved ships that are reasonably complete, that could be restored to operation for much less.

My fantasy? If I had $20 million to blow on ships, I would restore either the Eureka or the Ticonderoga to operation. The Eureka is the closest to operation. It is complete in all respects, and has regular hull maintenance. Its engine is still lubed and clean, and occassionally rotated by electric jacking motor. Some of the auxiliary engines down below were restored and operated on compressed air 20 years ago. The Eureka would make a great tourist attraction paddling around SF Bay. The Ticonderoga would also make a great attraction on Lake Champlain, and attract an audience willing to pay good money. She is also complete, however I wonder if real estate development now blocks her path back to the water (she is landlocked now). Another issue, is how much historic fabric would be lost to restoration. Imagine all the fabric that would have to be removed and destroyed to make the Ti safe for passengers: wiring, boiler, sanitary plumbing, food preparation facilities, auxilliaries. The Ti has a belt driven DC generator set in its engine room, with no guards on the belt. That would be the first thing yanked out and put in storage shoreside.

The Belle of Louisville is a classic example of the mutation of fabric over the years. Every year, some other system is changed out, and she looks more and more like a Disney replica. The engines are now competing for visual and audio attention with the two diesel gen-sets.

p.s. for those of you wondering, the Brinkerhoff was a walking beam, side wheel ferryboat that was donated to Mystic Seaport in the 1950's. She was a smaller, east coast version of the Eureka at Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco. She was valuable and appropriate because she was one of three remaining global examples of the walking beam ship (there are now two, Eureka and Ticonderoga, and a dismantled replica at Disneyworld) and she was similar to the railroad ferries that operated at numerous locations on the New Haven RR Connecticut shore line before bridges were built in the 1890's. She was really a very appropriate, Connecticut relevant artifact, but in the 1950's Mystic Seaport really did identify itself as a whaling and sail museum (and of course there were plenty of other steamships still operating, right?). So the Brinkerhoff was de-accessioned to, of course!, a restaurant scheme. She ran aground while being towed to a new location, and of course, the new owner did not have reserve funds for rescue. She was judged a hazard and an eyesore, and so was burned in a firefighters' practice exercise.

I think the issue at present is preserving the vessel for later evaluation and restoration. I just want to concentrate on making her watertight for storage in a safe place, freeing up the drydock. I think the drydock is the pressent issue!
David D.

David,

You are quite right to ask such a question.

And I did also when I was a member of the Friends of the Nobska. But the management insisted on an all or nothing approach. That is an operating museum certified to carry passangers on the coast.

It is not for nothing that steam ships are now in museums. They required a lot more of everything: fuel, parts, and mostly labor.

I wish she had stayed tied up in Providence as a static display. Now we will have nothing more than the pictures to look at in Paul Morris book on the Island Steamers to remember them by.

Ted Miles