The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (HDOT) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to permanently remove the historic ship Falls of Clyde from Honolulu Harbor, where it has languished since 2008. Bids must be submitted by September 25, 2024.
The 145-year-old vessel is currently berthed at Pier 7 where it once served as a museum ship as part of the Hawai‘i Maritime Center. The vessel is privately owned but was impounded in 2016 and remains in the custody of the department.
In November 2023, the Hawaii Historic Places Review Board voted 4-1 in favor of removing the Falls of Clyde from the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places and recommending removal from the National Register. The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (HDOT) Harbors Division initiated the application for the ship’s removal with a case that the qualities that made it eligible for listing are no longer present based on an evaluation of the ship’s physical condition.
A 2023 assessment by a maritime archaeologist, Jim Delgado, concluded that due to its current condition, Falls of Clyde has lost the historic integrity that qualified the ship for listing in the historic registers. The level of damage to the ship has been characterized as “irreparable.” The report found that there are holes both above and below the waterline, loss of structural integrity for the decks and overall deterioration of materials.
The 2023 assessment concluded that “there is a strong risk of the ship sinking. It is leaking and if there is a loss of power, the failure of the pumps that are keeping Falls of Clyde afloat would lead to catastrophic flooding due to multiple failures in the lower and upper hull due to holes, failed rivets, and patches from previous repairs that are failing, and the loss of structural and watertight integrity in the bulkheads and tanks. The bow, the lower masts, and the main (weather) deck are also structurally compromised. In some cases, hull plating is now held in place to the frames with C-clamps. The loss of the ship’s inherent structural integrity will complicate, if not preclude, the ability of a salvor to raise it without risk of substantial hull failure. If it transitions from a leaking hulk to a wreck, raising the vessel might require raising it in pieces, effectively ‘scrapping’ it in place.”
Falls of Clyde is the world’s only surviving iron-hulled, four-masted, fully-rigged ship. She was built in Glasgow in 1878, during a shipbuilding boom inspired by increased trade with the U.S., and she made several voyages to American ports while under the British flag. In 1898, she was purchased by Captain William Matson of the Matson Navigation Company and reregistered in Hawaii.
From 1899 to 1907, the ship was re-rigged as a bark for sailing with fewer crew, and she made over sixty voyages between Hawaii and San Francisco, carrying passengers, sugar, and general cargo. She was sold to San Francisco-based Associated Oil Company, which installed large steel tanks in the hull, allowing her to carry 750,000 gallons of liquid bulk. For decades, the ship would bring kerosene to Hawaii and molasses back from Hawaii to California.
So sad that such an amazing piece of heritage will be lost but the reality is that it is not a viable option to save.
It was proposed to bring her back to the Clyde but we already have three significant ships, the Glenlee, the Waverley (the most amazing last seagoing paddle steamer), and the Queen Mary which are stretching funds and fans.
So very sad.
This shoyuld not have come to pass there has been much mismanagement over the intervening years, not helped by an over optomistic Clyde bid to obtainn the ship without the funding ever likely to be available to return her to the Clyde, It was such a shame that there was ever an expectation that she could be returned to sailing condition. The only time that has happened was when James Craig was dragged out of Recherch bay in Tasmania, what that project proved was that a complete rebuild to sailing condition of a 100 year old iron ship was possible when a sposor put up unlimited funding such sponsors are rare indeed. There is still time for that to happen here to Falls of Clyde if somewhere the right entreprenuer can be found but I fear that is now beyond hope. The world should be ashamed of itself!
Christopher Roche. I agree, there are so few opportunities left to maintain an incredible heritage but the reality lies with the next generations who I hope will wake up to the realities of heritage versus social media short term and populist themes. They might wake up too late.
For much of our maritime heritage it is already one minute to midnight.I knew well Harold D Huycke who was one of the movers and shakers who got FALLS OF CLYDE to Honolulu in the first place he was a great friend of the late Adrian Small also a great traditionalist. It is a shambles that the project in Scotland came to nothing despite all their protestations the last of which seemed to be no more than blowing in the wind. True one of everything cannot be saved FALLS deserved better than her likely end and indeed she is special.
Remember Jack Hayward who put up the funds to bring SS GREAT BRITAIN sunk down in the Falklands on an open barge towed by a tug home to Bristol UK or even the many man hours it took to jack hammer concrete out of JAMES CRAIG board her over with ply board get her to Hobart and wait for favourable weather to tow her to Sydney for her eventual rebuild to sailing condition again with personal funding. All credit to both of these groups.
Chris