On Jul 26, 2002, the New York Times (
visit link) ran the following story:
"108-Year-Old Schooner Lives to Sail Another Day
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: July 25, 2002
In its storied history, the schooner Ernestina, a 108-year-old tall ship, has survived trips to the Arctic, a fire that sank it in 1947, a storm that tore off a mast in 1976 and even Hurricane Grace, which collided with a northeaster in October 1991 to form the so-called Perfect Storm. Yesterday, the ship survived yet another ordeal, when the Coast Guard saved it from sinking in Block Island Sound.
The 112-foot wooden schooner, which has been designated a national landmark and is now the official vessel of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, began taking on water shortly after departing New London, Conn., on its way to Nantucket. On board were 15 crew members and 13 students participating in a continuing education program through the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
The Ernestina's pumps could not contain the flooding, and a mayday call went out shortly after 7:30 a.m. Coast Guard rescue boats from New London and Montauk and a helicopter from Cape Cod reached the ship within half an hour and provided extra pumps that helped stabilize it. No one was injured, and the Ernestina was safely escorted to a shipyard in Greenport, N.Y.
Lt. Bill Bellaty, the commander of the H-60 Jayhawk helicopter that came from Cape Cod, said that from the air the Ernestina was clearly in distress.
''It was stable, but you could see that it was sitting pretty low in the water,'' he said. ''If the Coast Guard hadn't got the pumps, if the small boats hadn't got there, it probably would have been in big trouble.''
Lieutenant Bellaty added, ''I think the boat very well may not have made it.''
Built in Essex, Mass., and originally launched as the Effie M. Morrissey in February 1894, the Ernestina has been a fishing boat, an expeditionary vessel to the Arctic, a Navy supplier and a trading ship, carrying people and cargo between New England and the Cape Verde Islands off Africa. A fire in 1947 sank the schooner while it was docked in Flushing, Queens, but it was raised and rebuilt.
After the storm in 1976 that tore off the mast, the Cape Verde government rebuilt it and gave it to the United States as a gift. It was designated a landmark in 1986, and received a Coast Guard license as a sailing school in 1994. The ship is now used for a variety of educational and cultural programs.
The Ernestina sailed from New Bedford, Mass., Monday to begin a seven-day program sponsored by the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
On Tuesday, it docked in New London for the annual National Marine Educators Association conference along with three other historic ships. The ship was going to take some conference participants to Mystic, but bad weather kept all boats in port.
Yesterday morning, the Ernestina left New London expecting to reach Nantucket by Friday. The passengers and crew had just sat down to breakfast when a routine check revealed a heavy leak at the fore of the vessel, said Gregg Swanzey, the Ernestina's executive director, in an interview from New Bedford.
''Normally,'' Mr. Swanzey said, ''it's a dry boat.''
Mr. Swanzey was the captain of the Ernestina in 1991 when it was off Cape Hatteras, N.C., heading to Bermuda, as Hurricane Grace began churning north. The ship sailed through part of the Perfect Storm. Crew members were close enough to hear the emergency transmissions to the Anna Christina, a sailboat with nine people aboard, who were rescued off Virginia. But as Mr. Swanzey said, ''We didn't make the book.''
Yesterday morning, the Ernestina was briefly out of communication. Eventually the Ernestina's captain, Sophia Morse, was able to send Mr. Swanzey an e-mail message reporting that everything was fine. ''My heart was in my throat there for a while,'' Mr. Swanzey said."