Wawona's massive hanging knees, in a view from down below in 2001. reports spelled out in grave detail just how extensive the damage was. Test borings found considerable rot damage in every part of the ship. Restoring the schooner just to float at the pier was estimated at $1520 million a nd would require 90-95% replacement of her timbers; effectively, the ship was already gone. This was a difficult, but critically important fact to grasp. As the reality of the ship's condition sank in, for the first time Northwest Seaport considered practical alternatives to a full restoration. Protest from the "save-atall-costs" camp quieted. On the second and third days of the summit, panelists discussed the pros and cons of various options for Wawona, including: placing the entire ship ashore, preserving one or two 50-ton sections, building a monumental sculpture representing the ship, sinking her as an artificial reef, and even "s trategic abandonment" on a beach where it wo uld be a dramatic ruin, slowly being reclaimed by nature. Demolition and building a replica were not considered because neither involved preservation of historic fabric. The summit was a major step forward for Northwest Seaport. It was a thoughtful and strategic process that was absolutely necessary for moving forward. The organization emerged stunned, but confident about its direction; pipe dreams were set aside for good. The crisis also forced Northwest Seaport to admit that it was lacking in professional capacity and that its volunteer-based operations model was limited. Consequently, the organization
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began to contract experts and hire its own professionals to manage its ships, while also markedly increasing collaborative involvement with industry professionals-a practice that had lapsed in the 1990s.
Decision Time Most panelists at the summit favored full restoration, but emphasized the need for Northwest Seaport to assess its resources an d carefully weigh its options before determining which course to take. This process-full of political wrangling, false leads, dead ends, and innumerable ups and downs-lasted for almost two yea rs. Still hoping to preserve the ship intact, Northwest Seaport's efforts were focused on the summit's recommendation to move Wawona ashore, as had been done with D enmark's frigate ]yffand, Japan's Mikasa, and Britain's Cutty Sark. Responses to the $10-million project idea ranged from lukewarm approval to staunch opposition. Dismasted, the dismal-looking schooner had lost her charm and ability to inspire. Then began a long, demoralizing period ofattrition as plans for Wawona's future had to be scaled back again and again. The first plan sought to build a full-scale sculptural representation of the ship on shore, emulating the Maine Maritime Museum's representation of WJoming. Northwest Seaport's version wo uld incorporate the ship's fifty-foot stern section. When that idea fell through, we pursued placing only the rudder and keel sections within the steel sculpture; then just the sculpture without
any historic fabric at all. By the end of2007, park planners were ready to break ground and begin shoreline stabilization; Wawona was blocking the way. Keeping the ship in Seattle and intact had become impossible. Northwest Seaport explored relocating to another community on Puge t Sound. Former sawmill towns once filled with lumber schooners were redefining themselves as tourist destinations. Wawona fit their development visions-but not their budgets. Meanwhile, resources for securing a future for the ship were siphoned off to repel political and legal attacks aimed at ousting the ship from her location, and, at the same time, to contend with contrary efforts by some long-time Wawona supporters, angry that Northwest Seaport was considering anything short of full restoration. In the spri ng of2008, Northwest Seaport altered its focus. Wawona's prospects for avoiding the landfill were lower than ever. Two intensive years of developing plans and pursuing negotiations had failed to yield any agreements. Meanwhile, the ship continued to fa ll apart. Northwest Seaport was out of time. 1here was no longer any way around it; Wawonawas going to be broken up-we had to either do it in a controlled manner or watch her sink at her mooring and be broken up by dredges with little or no opportunity for research or artifact recovery. As stewards of the region's maritime heritage, it was Northwest Seaport's responsibility to preserve her legacy, if not in its physical form, then "saved" on paper and in digital media. The stories and information in her timbers could not be allowed to go down with the ship. In the end, the decision to deconstruct Wawona was strangely easy. All options had been exhausted and the only question left was whether to abandon the sh ip to the dredges or see it through to an honorable end. The one immutable duty to preserve, at least, a record of the ship made the decision to deconstruct the ship remarkably simple. The HAER drawings done in the 1980s provided an excellent record of the ship's exterior shape and its rigging configuration, but detailed archaeological recordings ofthe ship's internal structure-the source of her strength and the mark of her builders-had yet to be done. Archaeological recording thus became the chief mission during the ship's fimal year.
SEAHIISTORY 145, WINTER 20 13- 14