SHIP NOTES, SEAPORT AND MUSEUM NEWS (continued ftom page 37) information on the company, see www. matson.com) . . . Rhode Island's 1867 lighthouse on Block Island has received a $100,000 grant from the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission to be used toward the restoration of the roof and tower. North Light will need an estimated $746,000 in add ition to the grant to complete the work. The North Light station was originally established in 1829 and was rebuilt in 1837, 1857, and 1867. It is operational,
but it was deactivated between 1970 and 1989 when it's services were replaced with an automated offshore beacon. TI1 e tower stands at 55 feet with the height of the focal plane at 61 feet. In 1996 the original len s was returned to the ligh t tower and North Light was re-commissioned as an active li ghthouse, replaci ng the offshore beacon. The 2006 RI State Preservation Grant awards, wo rth a total of $1 million, funded capital preservation work at 21 museums, cultural art centers, and public historic sites. Applications and information are avail able online at www.preservation.ri.gov/grants/. Information on the lightho use can be fo und at Block Island North Light Association, POB 1662, Block Island, RI 02807; Ph. 401 4663200; http: //lighthouse.cc/blockinorrh /) . . . The museum whose owner stripped parts of the steam tug New York Central No. 16 as she was being dismantled last summer in Massachusetts, has put restoration plans on hold for the other rail tug for which the parts are supposed to be used. Last summer, as individuals and organizations were scrambling to save the rail tug, New York Central No. 16, intact, Steve Trueman of the North River Tugb oat M useum accepted an offer from CVS, the corporation that bought the property where No. 16 was located, to take parts of the tug and use them to restore another New York Central tug, No. 3. In the midd le of the public outcry in Bourne SEA HISTORY 11 9, SUMMER 2007
Township, Trueman promised residents to visit the area with th e other tug once it was restored as a thank yo u fo r the parts he received from No. 16. The delay stems from the move that the Tugboat Museum is making from Kingsto n, NY, to Albany after a dispute with the museum's landlord. The museum owns seven vessels, five tugs, a barge, and a dry dock. As a res ult of the unexpected move, the museum is reportedly downsizing and is planning on sinking the 1896 tug Catawissa to be used as an artificial reef off the NJ coast. (NRTM, www. tugmuseum.com) ... Sultana Projects, Inc., is partnering with the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, MD, to offer full-day educational trips to select public schools in Calvert County. Students will spend a half day at the museum and then embark on a 3-hour sail on the Patuxent River. (Sultana Projects, 105 Cross St. , POB 524, Chestertown, MD 2 1620; Ph. 4 10 778-5954; www.sul-
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Museum, POB 97, Solomons, MD 20688; Ph. 4 10 326-2042; www.calvenmarinemuseum.com) ••. The USS Constellation Museum in Baltimore, MD, is building the first of Constellation's quarterboats at the new Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Maritime Park. U nder the supervision of the museum's senior shipwright, Bruce MacKenzie, and with the help of students
from the Living Classrooms Foundation's Fresh Start program, two of these vessels wi11 be builc over the next 18 months from
original li nes drawn by John Lenchal in March of 1854. A spring 2008 launch is anticipated. This project is funded in part by the C hesapeake Bay Gateways Network, a program of the National Park Service. (USS Constellation Museum, Pier l , 301 East Pratt St., Baltimore, MD 2 1202; Ph. 4 10 539-1797; www.constellation. org) The Lake Superior Marine Museum Association is collaborating with the Great Lakes Maritime Academy to create a Captain Ray Skelton Scholarship Endowment to sustain annual scholarships for aspiring senior-year deck officers. The Great Lakes Maritime Academy is part of Northwestern Michigan College, which requires a minimum investment of $15,000 to create an endowmen t. Details of the scholarships are still in the works, but contributions are being accep ted now. Ray Skelton rose from the ran ks of ordinary seaman to earning his master's license before becoming the Duluth Seaway Port Authori ty's security, government, and environmental affairs director, a position he held for 16 years . Skelton died las t October at age 63. Checks should be made payable to "NMC
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