The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (HDOT) is reported to have awarded a $6.5 million contract to a mainland marine engineering company, identified on social media as Donjon Marine, to finally remove the historic ship Falls of Clyde from Honolulu Harbor. The HDOT has not confirmed whether the vessel will be scrapped or sunk and when the work is scheduled to begin.
The process has been long and painful for all concerned.
Falls of Clyde is the only surviving iron-hulled four-masted full rigged ship and the only surviving sail-driven oil tanker in the world. She was launched in 1878 in Port Glasgow, Scotland, for the Fall Line .
The vessel was purchased by William Matson in the late 19th century and was primarily used to transport goods and people between Hawaii and California. In 1907, it was sold and converted to an oil tanker. It repeatedly changed hands until it was brought back to Honolulu in 1963 as a floating museum next to the Hawaii Maritime Center.
In 2008, the Bishop Museum, which controlled the ship, was preparing to tow the ship out to sea and scuttle it. In an attempt to save the historic vessel, the Friends of Falls of Clyde, a tax-exempt group, was formed and purchased the ship in September 2008.
The 146-year-old vessel is currently berthed at Pier 7. After decades of corrosion and neglect the HDOT impounded the vessel in 2016 and announced it was seeking bids for its removal in mid-2024.
The Falls of Clyde was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL). Due to deterioration, it has lost most of the qualities of historic significance and aspects of integrity. In November 2023, it was delisted from the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places and was subsequently removed from the National Register and lost its NHL status.
It sure has been a long and involved saga The Bishop museum cannot emerge from this sage with one shred of credit neither it seems can the scots who proposed taking what was left of the ship back to her birthplace in Scotland making lost of noise without any recourse to funding of any substance. It remains a tragedy that the situation has come to this. what does $6.5 million allow for I suppose we have to wait and see. but Bishop Museum bow your head in shame.
At least Friends of Falls of Clyde tried over many years thankfully I was able to board the ship when she still ad most of her rig up in 1998.
Regards
Chris
Donjon is doing the bidding of Hawaii Dept of Transportation, making a problem disappear. This will put the company in the good graces for future dredging and harbor improvement jobs. One hand washes the other. Win-win.