Hawaii residents bid a final aloha Wednesday morning to the Falls of Clyde, the historic ship that had graced the waters of Honolulu Harbor for decades.
In predawn darkness, two tugboats towed the 146-year-old ship from its berth at Pier 7, where it had practically become a permanent fixture, and out onto a calm sea.
A small audience watched quietly as the tugs pulled the Falls of Clyde, afloat, with its four masts still intact, along a channel and toward a deep-water site about 25 miles to the south for a watery burial.
Susan Yamamoto, a maritime history buff who knew the ship well, felt a mix of emotions — sadness and disbelief —as she documented its departure.
“It was expected,” she said, equating it to saying farewell to a grandmother on her deathbed. “You know, I come down to the harbor fairly frequently, and it’s just going to be weird seeing the empty pier.”
The Hawaii Department of Transportation — which impounded the ship in 2016 — had awarded Shipwright LLC of Florida a contract to remove the Falls of Clyde at an estimated cost of $4.9 million.
Officials confirmed by noon Wednesday that the ship had been sunk at its target site in the Pacific Ocean, at a depth of about 12,500 feet, marking the final chapter in its long and storied history.
DOT had made numerous attempts to remove the ailing ship, with a failed auction in 2019, and several rounds of requests for proposals before this latest contract.
Shipwright began preparing the ship for removal in late July, and was expected to tow it out to sea for disposal in late November, according to DOT, but finished its work ahead of schedule.
DOT Deputy Director for Harbors Dre Kalili said the maritime consulting company was able to quickly secure all required approvals from the U.S. Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency.
“I think the overarching goal for the Department of Transportation is to protect our supply chain and protect this critical port facility,” said Kalili after the tow. “And I think to that end, we did accomplish that.”
Kalili said the berth at Pier 7 is now open again, but in need of repairs, and DOT can now conduct an assessment. Lease negotiations are also underway with a winning bidder for the maritime center property.
For those who wanted to preserve the Falls of Clyde, it was a sad moment, as the ship’s disposal is considered a significant loss for maritime history.
The Falls of Clyde — built in 1878 in Port Glasgow, Scotland and named after a waterfall — was the last remaining example of an iron-hulled, four-masted sailing oil tanker.
The Historic Hawaii Foundation considered the Falls of Clyde the last of its kind, as both the oldest surviving member of the Matson fleet and the only surviving sailing oil tanker left afloat in the world.
The ship survived two world wars and circled the globe. It proved speedy in transporting trade goods between Britain and India and sailed throughout the Pacific before becoming a Matson ship, carrying sugar from Hilo to San Francisco and back.
It evolved with the times, and appeared to forge on despite almost being scuttled in Seattle.
Honolulu Advertiser columnist Bob Krauss drummed up support and raised $35,000 to bring the ship to Honolulu in 1963.
In his book, “Falls of Clyde: 324 Voyages Under Sail,” Krauss said the Falls was not only an “exceptional example of a ship that informs history on many levels,” but that locally, it was “as authentic a symbol of Hawaii history as hula or surfing.”
It was also a floating museum run by the Bishop Museum that, in its heyday, hosted school field trips, birthday celebrations and weddings. Unfortunately, the ship suffered years of neglect during this time, and never made it into dry dock for repairs.
The nonprofit Friends of the Falls of Clyde, which took ownership of the ship from the Bishop Museum in 2008, made numerous attempts to save it. At one point, the nonprofit had hope that a Scotland-based group would be able to transport the Falls back to its birthplace for restoration.
“It is a sad day,” said Bruce McEwan, president of the Friends of Falls of Clyde. “The issue we ran into over the years is there really was not enough local support financially, to be able to fund what we needed to do.”
With the ship gone, McEwan said the mission of the Friends of Falls of Clyde has come an end and the nonprofit will dissolve.
“Our sole mission was to preserve and restore the ship,” he said. “Once the ship is gone we don’t have a purpose any more.”
He will work with the state and others to put together artifacts from the ship for a permanent display, likely at the Aloha Tower, to commemorate the Falls of Clyde.
The Historic Hawaii Foundation had considered the Falls of Clyde to be the last of its kind, as both the oldest surviving member of the Matson fleet and the only surviving sailing oil tanker left afloat in the world.
It was listed on the Hawaii and National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989. It was, however, delisted from both registers over the past two years after a maritime archaeologist determined the ship had lost its historic integrity and was at risk of sinking due to corrosion and holes in the hull.
McEwan said sea burial was the best of all options presented for removing the Falls from Honolulu Harbor, so it could remain intact in the underwater world. If others ask him how the ship is doing, he will now respond with, “she’s resting at the bottom of the sea.”
McEwan gathered with others for a farewell ceremony Tuesday, accompanied by music from the Celtic Pipes and Drums of Hawaii.
He also blew a mouthful of whiskey toward the ship’s mast, as he customarily does to celebrate the Falls of Clyde’s birthday every Dec. 12th. Had the Falls of Clyde survived two more months, he said, it would have marked its 147th year.
Source: The Garden Island
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