Saving Parklands Isn't Hard: How We Do It

The Story of the Balclutha
Kathy Lohan, Executive Director, National Maritime Museum Association

"I am pleased to inform one and all of you who believe and participate in our Association that the Balclutha lives and sparkles today because we set sail to save her! Her triumphant return home culminates a remarkable odyssey that would have seemed impossible only a few short years ago," - National Maritime Museum Association President George C. Fleharty

Balclutha, the flagship and queen of the historic fleet of ships at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park - the nation's only "floating" national park - had just undergone her most extensive refurbishment since she was originally saved almost 50 years ago.

The restoration effort was a partnership between San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and our organization - the National Maritime Museum Association (NMMA). NMMA is a non-profit organization, established in 1950, dedicated to maritime preservation and education which encourages public appreciation of our Nation's maritime heritage. The Association and the National Park Service work together to rally new resources for historic ship restoration and preservation and to create a model for private/public partnerships.

A generous $100,000 interest-free loan from the National Park Trust made it possible for NMMA and San Francisco Maritime NHP to undertake this ambitions $1.5 million project to restore the Balclutha.

Balclutha is more than just a museum ship; she is a San Francisco institution. She originally came to the San Francisco Maritime Museum Association (now NMMA) in 1952. In that year, the Association purchased the Pacific Queen, an 1886 three-masted square-rigged sailing vessel rotting on the mudflats of Sausalito, with the goal of creating a museum.

The idea of restoring this grand old ship to her former glory captured the public's imagination and sparked a remarkable yearlong community effort. A local dry dock contributed, at-cost, use of its shipyard facilities and 18 Bay Area labor unions and other volunteers donated 13,000 hours of work. More than 90 businesses contributed $100,000 in supplies and services. Damaged hull plating was replaced, the masts and yards were restored, the rigging was completely renewed, the decks were sanded and caulked, new ladders were built, over 300 feet of manila lines were put in place and the entire vessel was painted.

Fully restored, the Pacific Queen was re-christened in 1954 with their original name, Balclutha. She boasts more original material and fittings than any other historic merchant square-rigger in the United States, is designated as a National Historic Landmark, and has been in the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. Each year, thousands of local school children get their first hands-on history lessons by exploring her holds, watching park rangers climb her rigging, and feeling her decks sway beneath their feet.

But time takes its toll, on ships faster than almost anything else, and by the 1900s, the Balclutha was badly in need of a face-lift. Severe physical deterioration threatened irreversible damage to the ship and destruction of the very qualities for which she had achieved National Historic Landmark status.

The fact that the ship was already in dry dock represented a rare opportunity for the National Maritime Museum Association. Balclutha's leaking main deck was threatening the integrity of the vessel and desperately needed replacing, but the National Park Service didn't have the funding available.

NMMA committed the additional funding and project management services needed to restore the deck, which could only be accomplished using traditional skills practiced by the Balclutha's original builders. The project included removing the existing deck; repairing the steel support beams; re-laying the deck with Douglas fir and teak planking (the types of wood originally used for the deck); and caulking (driving cotton strands and oakum between the planks and sealing them with pine tar). The estimated project cost was $800,000.

NMMA designated $500,000 from the successful management of our programs and raised the remaining $300,000 through private donations. Many of these were multi-year pledges, which created a cash flow gap. The National Park Trust offered to provide a $100,000 no-interest loan to bridge the pay-out period for the restoration work accomplished during the campaign. NPT's President Paul Pritchard came to San Francisco to deliver the check personally to our President George Fleharty at a press conference aboard the ship.

With our energy freed up from cash flow worries and our focus back on fundraising, the "Campaign for Balclutha" was completely successfully and we are happy to report that we paid back the National Park Trust loan within one year.

"Of all the things in the world, they say, ships are the most beautiful. And the most beautiful of these were the great sailing ships, driven on the sea by the wind," wrote Carl Nolte, San Francisco Chronicle reporter and trustee of the National Maritime Museum Association. Thanks to the National Park Trust, one of these glorious historic sailing vessels will continue to grace the San Francisco waterfront for generations to come.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Ships and cultural resources are expensive to maintain. You can help by contacting national and state parks about helping specific park resources you may be interested in.

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park Service, is located at the West End of Fisherman's Wharf. This unique National Park, which includes the historic fleet at Hyde Street Pier, the Maritime Museum, and the Maritime Library, offers San Franciscans and international visitors a chance to discover the romance and excitement of West Coast maritime history.