Earlier this month we posted that the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) Harbors Division had filed a public notification that the historic windjammer, Falls of Clyde, was being offered for sale by auction. The auction ended yesterday with no successful bidders. In fact, there were no real bidders at all. 

The StarAdvertizer reports that the only bid that came in writing turned out to be a joke — a typed letter mailed through the U.S. Postal Service offering 25 cents signed by someone purporting to be Vladimir Putin, president of Russia. It came with a quarter taped to the letter but did not include the $1.5 million performance bond required by the state Harbors Division.

Under the terms of the public notice, the State reserves the right to sell the ship by negotiation, to scrap it or to dispose of it by any other legal means. The HDOT wants the 280 foot long, iron-hulled, four-masted ship, out of the harbor by June 1, the start of the 2019 hurricane season.

Built by Russell & Co. in Port Glasgow, Scotland, in 1878, the Falls of Clyde is the last surviving iron-hulled, four-masted full-rigged ship, and the only remaining sail-driven oil tanker. The ship has been docked at Pier 7 in Honolulu since 2009.