The South Street Seaport Museum’s restoration of the historic ship Wavertree just got a boost from City Council member Margaret Chin, who helped allocate an additional $2.25 million for the project in the City’s 2017 budget, and also appropriated a further $500,000 in discretionary funds. Most of this money is earmarked for the educational programs that the Museum plans to conduct aboard the ship once its returns to its longtime home at Pier 17 later this year, and to making these programs accessible to handicapped visitors. These funds come on top of more than $10 million previously budgeted for the restoration.
“The Wavertree and the South Street Seaport serves as a constant reminder of New York City’s commercial roots,” said Ms. Chin. “I am proud to have advocated for and secured a total of $14 million in funds to restore the Wavertree.” She added, “I was able to obtain an additional $2.75 million from the City Council this year to ensure that the elderly and those with disabilities can access the Wavertree’s education programs. With these capital funds, the South Street Seaport Museum can continue to keep the Seaport’s vibrant history alive for generations to come.”
Since May of last year, Wavertree has been berthed at the Caddell Drydock and Repair yard, in the West Brighton section of Staten Island, undergoing a 17-month refit that will allow her to receive visitors for the first time in years, while also creating new onboard classrooms and other educational facilities. The South Street Seaport Museum (Wavertree’s owner) describes this as the most ambitious ship preservation project of its type in a generation, and the largest project of its kind ever undertaken by an American museum. The current scheduled (which is tentative) calls for her to return to the Seaport Museum’s Street of Ships, on the East River, sometime in September.
The ongoing restoration is slated address critical long-term preservation issues for Wavertree. Stabilization work will include the replacement of twenty massive steel plates below the waterline, a new ballast system, as well as up-to-date electrical and lighting equipment. A new, state-of-the-art cathodic protection system will effectively insulate the hull from corrosion. Once Wavertree returns, the Seaport Museum plans to re-rig her as an operational sailing vessel.
Launched in 1885, the full-rigged sailing vessel has served as part of the South Street Seaport Museum’s fleet of historic vessels since 1968, and was designated a national landmark in 1978. She was one of the last large sailing ships fashioned from wrought iron, and hauled cargo for decades, circling the earth four times. At 279 feet long, she is the reigning grand dame of the harbor.
The vessel was christened for an eponymous district in Liverpool, England (home of her first owner), which appears to derive its name from two Old English words: “waefre” and “treow.” Together, they mean “wavering tree,” which linguists believe is a reference to the groves of aspen that were once plentiful in the hills surrounding that city. The word has also been interpreted as a Ninth Century colloquialism, meaning, “the place by the common pond.”
When Wavertree departed Pier 17 last May, Captain Jonathan Boulware, the Seaport Museum’s executive director, said, “this ship, and those like her, once lined the East River from the Battery to the Brooklyn Bridge. These are the ships that built New York. New York is the city it is today, the financial capital of the world, because of ships like this one. She represents all that made New York New York.”