The modern history of the Falls of Clyde has been a struggle to survive against all odds. Everyone can agree that it’s long past time that something be done about the historic, a 140-year-old four-masted sailing ship now quietly decaying, its once-impressive masts shorn, at Pier 7 near the Aloha Tower Marketplace.

The ship has long vexed the state Harbors Division, which impounded the vessel in 2016 in an effort to get rid of it.

So it’s good to hear that a Scottish-based preservation group hopes a new deal with a Dutch heavy lift operator will carry the ship back home to Scotland.

“After many months of negotiation, a deal has finally (been) agreed (upon) between this group and Sevenstar Yacht Transfer, to collect the ‘Falls of Clyde,’” said David O’Neill, director of Save Falls of Clyde International, in a Facebook post Nov. 3.

We’ll believe it when we see it. But if O’Neill’s optimistic plans succeed, the Falls of Clyde could once again be restored to a fully operational, carbon-free vessel — somewhat ironic, as it once served as an oil tanker.

The Falls of Clyde originally launched from Port Glasgow in Scotland on Dec. 12, 1878, and traveled the globe, bearing all manner of cargo from Karachi to Hilo and other ports of call. It sailed in Hawaiian waters for about 20 years, beginning in 1898.

The ship’s rich history attracted Hawaii patrons, including the late Honolulu Advertiser columnist Bob Krauss, who campaigned tirelessly to prevent the ship from being scuttled. No doubt he would be pleased to see the Falls of Clyde under sail once again.