Oliver Hazard tall ship hits fundraising trail

SHIPPING OUT: The hull of the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry at the Senesco Marine shipyard. In mid-June the vessel will be towed to Newport, where it will be hauled from the water so the hull can be painted and the masts stepped. / COURTESY OHPRI/ROD SMITH
SHIPPING OUT: The hull of the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry at the Senesco Marine shipyard. In mid-June the vessel will be towed to Newport, where it will be hauled from the water so the hull can be painted and the masts stepped. / COURTESY OHPRI/ROD SMITH

It remains a year – and as much as $2.5 million in fundraising support – from being ready to set sail. But supporters say excitement is building around the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry, which will visit its future home in Newport in June, ahead of a July Fourth weekend fundraising event culminating with the state’s official educational sailing vessel being opened to the public for the first time.
The nonprofit Oliver Hazard Perry Rhode Island says it has raised $6.5 million to date, and needs to raise between $2 million and $2.5 million more to complete construction and fund the initial years of the ship’s educational sailing mission.
OHPRI Board Chairman Bart Dunbar last week said the July 5 gala at the Newport Shipyard nearly sold out before invitations were mailed, prompting organizers to expand the size of the event from 300 to 400 guests. Tickets range from $75 for desert and dancing to $200 for dinner, with sponsorship and group table opportunities running $1,000 to $10,000 – a level that includes a private dinner in the ship’s great cabin.
Interest in the gala underscores the mounting excitement about the project since the hull was purchased and brought to Rhode Island from Ontario in 2008, said Dunbar.
“We’re getting so much closer to this being a reality,” he said. “A number of people who were skeptical at first about our ability to make this happen have seen our progress so far and come onboard and those who have been with us from the start continue to show support and write checks.”
OHPRI says more than 300 individuals have each pledged at least $1,000 to become “plank owners” of the vessel and said corporate sponsorship from the likes of Milton Cat – which is supplying the ship’s diesel engines – and Cox Communications, have helped make the project possible. BankNewport has donated funds to the ship from every boat loan it closed and late last year, an anonymous benefactor issued two challenge grants that helped the organization reach its 2012 fundraising goal of $1.9 million.
The gala will take place alongside the vessel on July 5. Early the next day, the ship will be brought to Fort Adams State Park – where it will be permanently docked starting next year – for a formal dedication, then opened to the public for visits. Visitors can explore the vessel until 4 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
Spokesperson Barby MacGowan said visitors should come prepared to see “an impressive work in progress, but not a beautiful tall ship – yet.” Significant work remains before the Oliver Hazard Perry – named after a Rhode Island sea captain who fought in the battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812 – is ready for its public debut.
In mid-June, the vessel will be towed from the Senesco Marine facility in North Kingstown, where it has been undergoing steel work since late last year, to the Newport Shipyard, where a new 500-ton crane will haul it out of the water so the hull can be painted and work completed on the great cabin. It will be the first time the new crane at the shipyard – the largest of its kind in New England – will be used.
Eli Dana, dock master at the Newport Shipyard, said the new lift, which is scheduled to arrive on May 29, will help attract “super-yachts” to the boatyard.
“Until now, we were able to haul vessels up to 150 feet,” Dana said. “But as sailing and motor yachts continue to grow in size, a larger hoist became necessary.”
After its debut in Newport, the Oliver Hazard Perry will return to Senesco at Quonset Point for additional steelwork, with plans calling for a voyage south early next year for rigging work to be completed. It will then be sailed back to Newport for its maiden educational voyage early next summer.
The 196-foot, three-masted, square-rigged vessel—the first of its kind built in the U.S. in 100 years – is being constructed to meet the standards of both the U.S. Coast Guard and the American Bureau of Shipping. Many modern cruise ships, Dunbar noted, are built overseas and not designed to adhere to those rigorous standards.
“Following those guidelines adds some expense, but we know it will be worth it in the long run,” he said. “It’s going to give us and the people who sail on the ship a much-higher level of confidence.”
Dunbar said the breadth of support for the project underscores how much of an impact the vessel will have on the state. In 2012, Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee signed legislation giving the vessel official state status and it has also been endorsed by Education Commissioner Deborah Gist.
When completed, the ship will have capacity for 36 students on overnight trips and 85 for day sails, along with a permanent, 13-member crew.
“People are realizing this is an education story, but also an economic one,” Dunbar said, pointing to the 14,000 hours of steel work that will be done at Quonset Point before the ship is completed. “The closer we get the more people are recognizing the good the project can do.” •

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