Come on down to State Pier on Saturday, November 21st from 9AM to 1PM. Manny and Paul have been assembling the frame of the winter cover. We’ll be getting the cover attached and getting the deck ready for the winter. Many hands make light work!! Refreshments will be served. Please RSVP by calling the office at 508-992-4900.
Please read this article which was published in the New Bedford Standard-Times on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009
The partially restored Schooner Ernestina is once again navigating stormy seas after the state Department of Conservation and Recreation laid off the ship’s executive director and accountant.
The agency, which is facing a shrinking budget, this week announced staff layoffs totaling 37 people, among them Paul Brawley, executive director of the 115-year-old schooner, and Annie McDowell, the ship’s accountant.
Schooner supporters fear the loss of leadership will undermine progress made in recent years to restore the ship to sailing condition. In May, the vessel returned to port after undergoing more than $1 million in hull restoration work at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard in Maine. (Further repairs are required before the vessel can receive Coast Guard certification for sailing. The ship has not sailed since 2004.)
“I understand that the state budget is what the state budget is right now. It is unfortunate, but it is also important that the investment that has been made in the ship so far isn’t allowed to waste away,” said Mary Anne McQuillan, president of the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Association, a newly formed fundraising group.
McQuillan said old wooden vessels require at least a couple of full-time staff to maintain them.
“One thing we can’t afford is to lose any slippage on the integrity of the ship,” she said.
This week’s Department of Conservation and Recreation layoffs, which follow the elimination of 80 positions by attrition and 54 positions through a voluntary layoff program, reflect the agency’s slimming budget, said DCR commissioner Richard Sullivan.
“We started fiscal 2009 with a budget just under $102 million, and the current budget we have to work with is $87 million,” he said.
“We are clearly having to manage our budgets and make some very difficult decisions.”
One of those decisions is eliminating both the Ernestina’s $68,700 executive director position and the $47,700 accountant position. Sullivan said the agency preserved the ship’s full-time carpenter position because “we are committed to maintaining the schooner.”
The carpenter provides routine maintenance for the ship, said DCR spokeswoman Wendy Fox. She did not know the salary for the position.
While the state is committed to maintaining the Ernestina, Sullivan said it is unclear what type of programming the Department of Conservation and Recreation will offer in 2010, such as whether visitors may board the vessel.
“We are working with the full commission to look at partnership possibilities or some other creative partnership that would allow us to continue services of the executive director in some capacity,” he said.
The Schooner Ernestina Commission is a nine-member governing body tasked with preserving, restoring and operating the historic vessel. The schooner, which has operated as a Grand Banks fishing schooner, an Arctic explorer and a trans-Atlantic packet ship, was presented as a gift in 1982 from the Republic of Cape Verde to the people of the United States, with the state of Massachusetts as its steward.
State Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford, praised Brawley and McDowell for being both “passionate” and “extraordinarily capable” in their work with the Ernestina.
While he said he was sad to hear about the layoffs, Montigny said he was not surprised given the “irresponsible spending” habits of the state and federal government.
“What people have got to realize is this is not an Ernestina or a DCR problem,” he said. “Layoffs are going to be massive across all areas of the government bureaucracy. The public can’t pay more.”
Brawley, a Navy lieutenant who was appointed executive director of the Ernestina in July 2007, said he understood that, in light of tightening state budgets, “tough choices have to be made.”
He said he was proud of the work he and the Department of Conservation and Recreation accomplished during his tenure, including the $1.1 million hull restoration and historic documentation of the vessel.
“I think there are an awful lot of people who care a great deal about the ship,” he said. “It is time for people to pull together for the ship’s sake, and not to be angry but to be realistic about what the state economy is right now.”
The commission is scheduled to meet Oct. 23.
McQuillan said she hopes to learn more about the Ernestina’s fate at the meeting.
“I don’t know what kind of budget they have and what resources they have to devote to the ship right now,” she said. “That is the scary part. I am sure within the next week or so we will have a better picture.”
The Working Waterfront Festival is Sept. 26th and 27th, and Schooner Ernestina will be open for deck tours. Annie is currently scheduling volunteers for 2-hour shifts between 11AM-5PM. If you can help out, please give Annie a call at 508-992-4900 to pick a shift.
The New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus will be performing near Ernestina on Sunday at 2PM and 4PM.
For a full schedule of events, click here: Working Waterfront Festival
Please join us at State Pier this Saturday, Sept. 19th from 9AM-1PM to get Ernestina looking great for the Working Waterfront Festival. Please call Annie at the the office at 508-992-4900 if you plan on attending.
We say good bye to several members of the Ernestina family who pased away this summer. Amanda Lake, 44, a mate from 2001-2004 passed away in August. Her cheery disposition and signature laugh was always a part of any sail she was on for. An accomplished sailor, Amanda sailed to the Arctic many summers and was currently working at Mass Maritime. Elinor Littleton, wife of Bartlett Boy Fred Littleton, passed away at tthe end of August after 63 years of marriage. Bill Morin, long-time volunteer and constant presence around State Pier, passed away on September 5th at age 89. He leaves his wife, Irene, of 60 years. They will all be greatly missed.
Amanda Lake
Amanda Lake working in the aft cabin
Bill Morin greets Ernestina as she comes home in May 2009
Bill and Irene Morin enjoy one of the Gloucester Schooner Races.
Click on the link below to read the article written by chorus member, Bill Gasperini.
Join Dr. Stephan Platzer at Baker Books, State Rd, Dartmouth on Saturday, September 12th from 3-4:30PM for a book signing of his book, “Bringing E Home.” The book details Dr. Platzer’s experience on the voyage the brought Schooner Ernestina back to the US from Cape Verde.
About the book -
On July 15, 1982, fourteen sailors left the African nation of Cape Verde on the century-old Schooner Ernestina (once a Gloucester fishing vessel, an Arctic exploration ship, and a Cape Verdean-American packet boat). They arrived 41 days later in Newport, Rhode Island, a voyage of 3,400 miles. Under Captain Marcos Lopes’s leadership, the crew of seven Cape Verdeans and six Americans made the repatriation voyage entirely under sail, steering by the stars. The cook prepared meals from live animals brought on board. During the journey, which included weeks of becalmed seas, unexpected squalls, and close encounters with freighters, the crew learned to survive and thrive in the tight quarters of the 105-foot vessel.
Bringing E Home
Dear friends and shipmates,
We have had a steady flow of visitors to the ship as well as a number of school groups. Interestingly, visitors have come from Toronto, Newfoundland, France, Germany, California, Utah, Montana, Wisconsin, and of course many from the middle Atlantic states and New England. Leah Jeffries, our Visitors Services Supervisor, has been doing a great job running programs and giving tours.
We held two volunteer days last month focusing on cleaning and scraping below decks. Many thanks to Steve Swift, Gerald Vinci, Fred Zinger, Paul Lapointe, Bill Hinkley, Pat Regan, Doug Rife, Polly Zajac, Paul and Louise Anthony, and Laura Pires Hester.
Last week, we had a table set up at the Cape Verdean Festival in Onset and as usual it was like a family reunion! It certainly was especially for Traudi Coli, our volunteer anthropologist, and Julius Britto, vice president of the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey, Assn., Inc.
We will have a table at the Antique and Classic Boat Show in Salem on Saturday and Sunday August 22-23 at the Hawthorne Cove Marina. Many thanks to Stephen Gaun for helping to staff our table during the many maritime festivals we attend.
Members of the New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus went to Newfoundland to participate in ‘Celebrating Bartlett’. They were treated like royalty and had a marvelous time. Of course, all people wanted to talk about is our grand old girl!
Last week, we had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Jim Pond and his family. Jim was a Bartlett Boy from the 1940 trip along with shipmate and dear friend, Fred Littleton. We spent time in the office looking at his photo album then brought him down to see the ship. It never ceases to amaze me how many lives have been touched by our ship.
James Pond III, a 1940 Bartlett Boy at the helm of Schooner Ernestina.
James Pond III with his family
At present, we are making a new hatch cover for the galley and are removing paint off the aft cabin roof to repay the seams to stop the leak.
Your time and treasure is important, highly valued, and deeply appreciated!
Fair winds and following seas!
Paul Brawley
