Sculpture piece from demolished schooner Wawona designed to 'wither away'

The fate of large chunks of the 1897 schooner Wawona came to light today with an article in the Seattle Times. Local sculptor John Grade is creating a 60-foot-tall abstract sculpture made with salvaged wood from the ship, which was demolished in 2009. A model of the piece shows a column wide at the base and tapering as it rises.

From one side, the sculpture "evokes the shape of a ship's spine," the article says. "From the front, it will look more like a hollowed out old-growth tree." The piece will hang from the ceiling of the new Museum of History & Industry, now under construction at Lake Union Park in Seattle.

Grade has a reputuation for designing sculpture intended to decay. In the case of the Wawona piece, part of the sculpture will be open to the elements on the museum's roof "to slowly wither away," according to the article. The piece inside the building will be preserved.

MOHAI is one of several organizations that received salvaged wood over the winter from the ship, which was once on the National Register of Historic Places. Northwest Seaport, which owned the vessel for nearly 50 years, broke it up after experts concluded restoration would cost too much. Other organizations that have received  pieces include the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority and the San Francisco National Maritime Historical Park.

The Grade sculpture will be installed in November of 2012.

Sign up now to receive a free, exclusive listing of summer maritime heritage festivals!

Video by elementary school in small Washington town wins trip on a tall ship

To the tune of SpongeBob SquarePants, “The Adventuress Chantey” video, created by Mitch Brennan’s Chimacum Elementary School multi-age class in Chimacum, Wash., has sailed to victory in a local movie contest hosted by non-profit Sound Experience.  The prize was a free educational sail aboard the historic schooner Adventuress, which is owned and operated by the Port Townsend-based organization.

The video competition, titled “From Land to Sea – The Adventuress Video Project,” was launched earlier this month to build interest for Sound Experience’s youth programs aboard Adventuress, and to build relationships with communities on the Olympic Peninsula.  The contest encouraged youth from Jefferson, Clallam and Kitsap counties to answer, in video format, “Why do YOU want to sail aboard Adventuress?”

Here's the video of "The Adventuress Chantey," which won a Sound Experience contest.  Can't see the video? Click here.

{qtube vid:=ZvuBDaZX49s}

Voting on the videos lasted just one week, ending on Sunday. In that time the winning video was able to garner over 100 “likes” and was viewed over 900 times—twice as many as the runner up.

When Sound Experience contacted Brennan Monday morning to announce the win, a wild cheer came over the phone from his elated students.  He and his class will be sailing on Puget Sound’s environmental tall ship.

Six videos were submitted from groups in Port Angeles, Chimacum and Port Townsend.  The videos were posted to Sound Experience’s YouTube Channel where they earned votes when people “liked” their movie.

“It was an incredible effort by all of the participating groups,” said Catherine Collins, Sound Experience's executive director.  “I was so thrilled when I first watched the videos that I didn’t stop smiling for days.  I wish we could sail with them all.”

Adventuress will be actively sailing until the end of October.  Space is still available for schools and youth groups in September and October.  Additionally, Sound Experience offers trips for teens, families and adults sailing throughout the San Juan Islands.  For more information, visit Sound Experience’s website, www.soundexp.org, or call 360-379-0438.

Get a free listing of summer maritime heritage festivals in the USA by email!

Malcolm Forbes' ship models now on display at Texas toy museum

Fort Worth, Texas – Exquisite ship models from the extensive lifetime collection of publishing magnate and legendary collector Malcolm Forbes have docked in Texas. DFW Elite Toy Museum is the new home for the ships that will soon be on display for the public.

DFW owner and Fort Worth commercial real estate developer Ron Sturgeon acquired the models from Red Baron’s Auction House in Atlanta. “We are very excited to add these ships to our museum. It is a unique opportunity for people in Texas to view top-quality ship models from a world famous collection.”

The auction, held by Red Baron Antiques, included portions of Forbes’ lifetime collection of ship models, toy boats, toy soldiers and maritime paintings. The most exciting collectable obtained by Sturgeon for the toy museum is a maker’s model of the British passenger liner Rangitiki.

“The detail of Rangitiki in itself is a work of art,” said Bob Brown of Red Baron Antiques. “The maker’s model would have been done to show the new owner what the finished ship would look like.”

The Rangitiki maker’s model was built by John Brown and Co. Ltd., Clydebank, Scotland, in 1929 for the New Zealand Shipping Company. At the time, the actual ship was the largest vessel trading from Southampton, England, to New Zealand through the Panama Canal. During World War II, she was converted for troop transport.

Get a free calendar listing of top USA maritime festivals instantly!

Other models acquired by Sturgeon include a model of a steel side-paddle steamboat used in Swaziland; a model of Monmouth, a British armored cruiser that sank in 1914; a model of the British cruiser Belfast, which was built in 1939 and is still on display in London as a museum ship; a model of the composite clipper Torrens, which survived a collision with an iceberg in 1896, but was eventually sold for firewood in 1910.

“These models give us an opportunity to view history,” said Sturgeon. “Most of these ships no longer exist, but we can see exactly what they looked like, thanks to Malcolm Forbes’ dedication to preserving maritime history.”

DFW Elite Toy Museum houses one of the largest public collections of automotive toys and models in the world. The museum plans to feature the models in its main gallery from June 8 to September 17, 2011.  After that exhibition, the ships from the Forbes’ collection will be on rotating display with other exhibits in the museum.

To see the Forbes’ collection ship models and the entire toy collection in person, stop by DFW Elite Toy Museum at 5940 Eden in Fort Worth. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on most Saturdays. For information on the new exhibition, call Rodney Ross at 817-834-3625 extension 6.

Historic 1864 clipper ship may yet stay in UK, if activists have their way

You have to give the people of Sunderland, UK credit for their pluck. Just when I thought that the battle was over for control of the historic clipper ship City of Adelaide, Peter Maddison and his supporters at the Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation (SCARF) have come up with a new plan to bring the ship to the city in northeast England.

You'll recall that SCARF and an Australian group battled for the chance to move the 1864 vessel from its home in Irvine, Scotland. The local maritime museum could no longer care for the hulk. Last August, the Scottish minister of culture awarded the ship to the Australians, who plan to move it to its namesake city in time for the 175th anniversary of Adelaide's founding. Maddison and SCARF have chafed at the loss ever since, and they vowed to look for a way to wrest control of the ship for Sunderland.

Earlier this month, Maddison unveiled a plan to create a business co-op to raise funds for bringing the City of Adelaide to the River Wear, which flows through Sunderland. He's hoping to raise £5,000 (about US$8,000) in start-up funds. He's signed up SCARF in a competition for the money run by The Cooperative Group, UK's largest cooperative retailer. Maddison says SCARF would use the funds to promote the new co-op and create apprenticeships around restoration of the City of Adelaide.

"We believe we have found the right vehicle to attract sufficient numbers of people to join us as shipmates and save the Clipper for the UK and her home town, Sunderland," Madisson writes.

Check out the contest and SCARF's application on the group's website. You can vote on the application until May 29.

Meanwhile, the Australian group, the City of Adelaide Preservation Trust, says it has lowered its estimate of the cost of moving the vessel Down Under. According to local media, engineers have cut their estimate of the vessel's weight, which will trim the transporation costs by about AU$1 million. The total cost of moving the ship is now thought to be as much as AU$3.5 million (US$3.7 million).

Sign up now to get a free, exclusive excerpt from the Fyddeye Guide!