Wawona’s
Last Story
For a few brief moments, that old hulk turned back into a real ship. Away
from the shore for one last voyage – despite the peeling paint, the rotting
wood, the separated stem, even without her tall masts – she regained an
elegance and grace that all the old ships seemed to have.
By Gary Frankel
Everyone knew the Wawona. Well, seemed to really improve. It remained So, when Kay Bullitt and her
they probably wouldn’t recognize the an old ship desperately in need of group pulled the Wawona in for some
name. But if you said “that crappy old major repairs, sitting incongruously repairs, the old ship fit in pretty well.
rotten sailing ship at the south end in the center of a rapidly changing The plan was to fix her up and get her
of Lake Union,” then they knew the modern city. sailing again as a training vessel and
Wawona. That old ship had been sitting When she first showed up the educational opportunity for the kids.
in the same place for 30 or 40 years. For Wawona wasn’t so incongruous. The She was one of the last tall ships of her
most of that time it just seemed to be Navy Reserve had their training base kind and her proud history and long
an ignored, waiting for the inevitable that was kept as trim as a Marine’s service certainly seemed to warrant
wrecking ball or fire that would finally hair cut, but the surrounding land was restoration.
end her pain. an abandoned industrial area. Instead For those that only knew Wawona
But if you looked closely there of street cars and biotech palaces as a rotting green hulk it may be hard
were signs of life. A new coat of green there were stacks of 55 gallon drums, to picture that history. But 100 years
paint would appear on the side of abandoned railroad box cars, and a ago lumber schooners were a common
the hull, but it was covering the same relatively seedy section of Seattle. site all along the West Coast. The huge
old cracked planking. A plastic and Several decaying boat projects trees of the Northwest were in high
wood roof suddenly covered the decks were in various stages of being ignored demand as cities rose in California.
protecting them for a time from the in the general area, although a few But how would you get a 100 foot tree
destructive rain water. A flag might be were more productive. The beautiful loaded on a ship for a passage to San
flying high on a mast, but only during wooden sloop “Circe” was completely Francisco?
the Boat Show. rebuilt on the dirt where the Center for Simple! You open the transom of
In fact, hundreds of volunteers Wooden Boats has its covered Pavilion the Wawona and slide the whole tree
soaked thousands of hours of work into building today. It had a lot more in inside, just like parking a car in the
the Wawona. Despite all that sweat, love, common with downtown Westport garage. With a hold full of logs, and
effort and expense the ship just never than downtown Seattle. maybe a stack of cut lumber on the
48° No r t h , Ap r i l 2009 pA g e 40
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