Ernestina started the year with
the arrival of the ship back in US waters and departure of the captain
and crew from the JTEC trip. Before departure in early February,
dockage and caretaking were arranged and the ship lay alongside at
Dodge Island in Miami, Florida with engineer/cook Mark C. Robinson
aboard as caretaker assisted by David Horvath and Amy Strange. A
ship's survey was accomplished, some fundraising effort was mounted
for a donation of fuel and maintenance work continued. By April 7,
1992 Mark had departed and the first of the delivery crew were
arriving as David Thomasset from New Bedford came aboard.
An article in the
Standard-Times on April 10, 1992 described the next
phase:
Crew with a mission departs: Ernestina
will leave for home soon. by Natalie White
Loaded down with sea bags Thursday, the
Ernestina crew boarded a bus to board a plane to
board the boat in Miami.
"Were really off," said Norman
Gomes of Moon Raker Marine, captain of the crew on a
rescue mission to return the historic schooner to its
homeport.
The ship has been stranded in Biscayne Bay
since January, after an aborted sail-training cruise
left the Massachusetts Schooner Ernestina Commission
short of cash.
The state agreed to help fund the journey home
by paying for crew transportation to Florida,
maritime insurance, fuel, food and a captain and
first mate. The rest of the crew is volunteer.
The crew had hoped to leave last weekend, but
the commission had trouble getting insurance, in part
because the Ernestina has hit rough financial times
before and has a history of not paying bills. Capt.
Gomes said he hopes to leave Miami late today.
Ernestina Commissioner Sheila M. Pina said the
schooner could hit New Bedford on Patriots Day, April
20. "Bring her home safe," Mrs. Pina said
as each crewmember climbed the steps of the American
Eagle Bus. The bus company and Vacations Plus, both
of Fairhaven, helped organize the trip to Florida.
"They were great, bending over backwards and
even forgoing commissions," she said.
The schooner faces an uncertain future when it
returns. "First we get her back, then we start
working on a permanent structure for the
future," Mrs. Pina said. Toni DePina,
vice-president of the non-profit Ernestina-Morrissey
Historical Association (EMHA), said the group is
working closely with the commission to build a
community-wide support base for the schooner and keep
Ernestina based in New Bedford.
In the past few months, there have been
proposals to lease the schooner to groups for a year
or two because it continues to run in the red. The
commission is now talking about keeping the schooner
in New Bedford and chartering it for sailing
festivities this year in New York, Boston and Fall
River.
On April 22, 1992 at 10am Ernestina pulled into
her berth at State Pier to a welcoming party of about a
hundred friends of the ship and crew after an eventful
passage from Miami. Strong wind and high seas snapped a
gaff and the ship had to make a temporary landfall at
Charleston, SC.
Tom Grace, one of the crewmembers said, "Well,
theyve got to capture all this interest and find a
way to make it work." Jonathan DePina who was aboard
as mate said, "She really needs a lot of attention
right now." A panel was formed by the Commission to
meet April 30, 1992 at 6:30 at the Verdean Gardens at the
corner of Walnut Street and Acushnet Avenue to seek ideas
for programs and use of the schooner.
The New Bedford-based Ernestina-Morrissey
Historical Association (EMHA), a 501 (c) (3) non-profit
organization was contracted to take over the operation of
the Schooner Ernestina for the 1992 sailing
season.
"We named EMHA as the agency responsible
for the operation, administration and fund-raising
for the Ernestina for the duration of 1992,"
Commissioner Sheila Pina said.
"We chose EMHA because of their long-term
commitment to the boat; they have a deep-seated
feeling what the boat is and what it means. You need
to have that kind of passion around the
Ernestina," Mrs. Pina said. "We will still
be playing a role, and we are ultimately responsible
for what happens. But as a commission that meets once
or twice a month, we cannot really program that boat
properly."
Pam Weurth came to EMHA to serve as executive director
from Schooner, Inc. in New Haven, CT and began the
process of working with the board of directors, hiring
Dutch Shultis as captain, installing programs and
community building. Later, Clem Daley, an artist and longtime advocate
for culture and historic preservation in New Bedford and Fairhaven, came
on as director for a short time.
Programs were completed throughout
the summer months but without a foundation of
administrative and operational funding, program fees received
during the 1992 sailing season were not enough to keep
the office doors open after the fall. This time the
schooner was moved to Mystic Seaport Museum in
Connecticut for the winter of 1992/1993 and secured.
Crew aboard for the season were Capt. Dutch Shultis, Tim McGinnis,
Charles Jones, Rick Hamilton, Pat Flynn, Denise Garzón, Heidi Martin,
Joel Costa, and Rick Pierce.
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