photo by David W. Oliveira, Standard-TimesThe Ernestina is back at State Pier in New Bedford after returning on Saturday from Boothbay Harbor in Maine for restoration

NEW BEDFORD — The Ernestina received a hearty welcome and a round of applause Saturday as the historic schooner, showing off more than $1 million in restoration work, arrived home in the city.

Among those welcoming her were distinguished visitors from the Republic of Cape Verde: Ambassador Fatima Veiga and Consul General Maria de Jesus Mascarenhas.

Also here to mark the schooner’s return was Maria Mendes, the granddaughter of Henriques Mendes, who bought the schooner when it was named the Effie M. Morrissey and gave her the name Ernestina. Mendes refitted the boat and turned it into a trans-Atlantic packet, bringing immigrants here from the Cape Verdean islands.

Mendes, who said she comes from a long line of whalers and seafarers, led the crowd in raising their hands and shouting, “Viva Ernestina!” “It was with great pride that we saw her dramatic arrival through the fog today. She was glowing,” she said.

Mendes said that before her father died, he asked her to do what she could to bring the schooner, which the Republic of Cape Verde donated to the U.S. in 1982, back to her glory.

“Once you see her, once you know her. There¹s no stepping back,” Mendes said. “She’s part of our family. We need to take care of her.”

Mendes said the Ernestina is expected to make the voyage back to Cape Verde in 2010 in time for celebrations of the islands’ independence.

Consul General de Jesus Mascarenhas called the Ernestina “a special treasure to the Cape Verdean community” and a symbol of friendship between Cape Verde and America. Ambassador Veiga also spoke of “this perennial link between Cape Verde and the U.S.”

The schooner was built in 1894 in Essex and had several lives, beginning as a Grand Banks fishing schooner, then an Arctic exploration vessel that came within 578 miles of the North Pole. It was used as a U.S. Navy vessel in World War II.

Leah Jeffries of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation said the vessel returned with 250,000 pounds of cod from its first voyage to the Grand Banks out of Gloucester.

Robert Hildreth, chairman of the Schooner Ernestina Commission, said the restoration work provided a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for students from Massachusetts Maritime Academy “to fix a 115-year-old ship.²

Hildreth said the students worked under Harold Burnbaum, an 11th generation master shipwright.

“This guy meticulously recreated the Ernestina by the original Essex drawings and plans and drawings of other ships of that age,” Hildreth said.

Paul Brawley, executive director of the ship for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, made sure the repairs adhered both to U.S. Coast Guard standards and the Department of the Interior¹s standards for historic vessel preservation.

Among the historical tidbits Hildreth has learned is the boat’s near demise when it caught fire in the 1930s. “They actually sank it to save it,” by a dock in Brooklyn.

This was the boat’s second overhaul in two years, Hildreth said. The first, to the tune of about $300,000, was done locally. The more extensive repairs just completed were funded by a $500,000 Save American Treasures grant from the National Park Service, a $500,000 match from the DCR and private donations.

Hildreth, along with several other people, took the Cuttyhunk Ferry to greet the Ernestina.

“As that ship came over the mist, all I could think of was how majestic she looked and then how patient she was,” he said, referring to her 11-month absence while the forward part of the hull was restored at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard in Maine.

The sight of the Ernestina appearing through the fog made misty the eyes of quite a few people who waved and shouted greetings from the ferry’s deck. Then the ferry followed the schooner in silent respect until it reached the pier in New Bedford.

“It’s very moving. I did not expect to get weepy but I did,” said Sally Brownell, who sings in the sea chantey chorus.

Laura Pires Hester, vice chairwoman of the Schooner Ernestina Commission, said, “The Ernestina has many stories in her 115-year history and she has many more stories to tell. And that’s why we have to get her back to sailing shape again.”