Salvaging and repairing the Maine ship that recently sank in a squall off New York City may not be worth the expense or effort, a new report says.
The New York Post is quoting sources saying that the owners of the boat may not want to pay the $500,000 it would take to save it.
Alex and Miles Pincus – brothers and the owners of the company that turns boats into trendy floating restaurant bars – moved the ship into the Gowanus Canal inlet months earlier for repairs.
But the vessel sank in Red Hook’s Henry Street Basin over the July 4 weekend.
The brothers paid only $75,900 to buy the 126-year-old vessel, which was towed out of Rockland three years ago with plans to convert it into a restaurant.
“We’ve been working closely with our insurers, marine salvage experts, and multiple marine surveyors to determine the best path forward,” the brothers said in a statement to the Post on Sunday.
The 1900 Victory Chimes – the last surviving Chesapeake Ram schooner and a U.S. National Historic Landmark, its image graced the 2093 Maine state quarter – was being considered as a floating bar.
If the brothers think it’s too expensive to salvage they have a soulmate in the name of Daniel J. Riley of Acton, Maine.
“I toured the Victory Chimes in 1988 when it was being rebuilt in Rockland,” Riley told The Maine Wire. “It’s always a little sad to see any vessel sink, but I never understood all the hoopla surrounding the Victory Chimes, and I could never understand why it was on the Maine State Quarter.”
Riley pointed out that the boat was built in Delaware, “really didn’t have that strong of a connection to Maine, and as far as her lines go, she really wasn’t a very good-looking boat.
“There are a number of Maine-built sailing vessels, with much stronger ties to our state, and all are/were much better looking,” he added.
