Schooner Western Union gets $250k city grant approval

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Two hurdles down and one to go to save the life of the Schooner Western Union, that although out of the water awaiting extensive repairs, is the last working wooden sailing schooner built in Key West.

City Commissioners on June 16 voted to give the Schooner Western Union Preservation Society (SWUPS), the non-profit organization raising money towards the $750,000 repair bill, a $250,000 grant. The money, funded out of the Key West Bight Management Advisory Board surplus fund, was unanimously approved by Bight Board members two weeks ago. The grant – which leaves $4.8 million in the Bight surplus fund – will make the Western Union eligible for a possible $500,000 matching grant from the state. The two grants together are needed to put the schooner back into compliance with U.S. Coast Guard safety requirements.

“We need this money to get back into the water and functioning,” John Dolan-Heitlinger, SWUPS Treasurer, told city commissioners.

Built on the Simonton Street beach in 1939, the Western Union laid 30,000 miles of communication cables between Key West, Cuba and the Caribbean. In 1974 she was converted to a passenger vessel, eventually purchased by Historic Tours of America, which offered day sails to tourists. Unwilling to keep maintaining the increasingly-expensive boat, however, HTA donated her to SWUPS in 2007.

Since then, the schooner has fallen on hard times, with maintenance on the aging wooden boat put off again and again until she was forced into dry dock by the Coast Guard in July 2013, one year after she was designated as the flagship of the state of Florida. There she has sat while SWUPS members tried to raise $750,000 to replace engines, decking, the mast and rigging.

“This is a Key West boat,” said Bill Barry, past president and chairman of SWUPS. “We think it’s a good business decision for the city.”

Barry and Dolan-Heitlinger said that once the schooner repairs are made, it can continue offering day sails with annual revenue estimated at $1 million. Of that amount, between $150,000 and $200,000 will be set aside each year to pay for maintenance and repairs.

“We expect the Schooner Western Union to be largely self-sufficient once have this major refit. If I did not believe that, I would not have remained with the [SWUPS] board,” Dolan-Heitlinger said, adding, “I don’t think you can come to this community every two or three years for huge amounts of money like we’ve had to do twice. We should generate enough net income in the two years between major haul-outs to cover our operating expenses.”

There was some skepticism about that statement, however. Commissioners Mark Rossi and Tony Yaniz voted against the Bight Board–funded grant.

“If it can gross $1 million and it was grossing $1 million, why are we back where we were two and half years ago,” Yaniz asked. “I’m just not confident to give you the nod for the $250,000.”

Rossi worried that the tab for the proposed repairs will rise above the $750,000 estimate since it is an old wooden boat. He said he wanted SWUPS to pay for a top-to-bottom marine survey of the schooner.

“If you don’t have a marine survey to show what this boat is and what it needs, I can’t support it. This is taxpayers’ money,” Rossi said.

But the other four commissioners and Mayor Craig Cates said they wanted the Key West Historic Seaport to have the last historic wooden ship berthed there. One of the stipulations of the grant is that the schooner remains permanently docked in Key West.

“With the end of the refit, this boat will be certified by the Coast Guard, ready to go sail and ready to make money. That’s what they said will happen with confidence,” Cates said.

Editor’s Note: Konk Life Publisher Guy de Boer is the past Chair/President of the Schooner Western Union Preservation Society & Maritime Museum.

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