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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.

"We’re 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, they’ve 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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