State issues auction notice for Falls of Clyde

State officials have put the 140-year-old ship Falls of Clyde up for auction.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation on Thursday issued a notice of auction for the ailing vessel docked at Honolulu Harbor’s Pier 7. It is on sale as is for the next three weeks.

Bidders must have a performance bond of $1.5 million guaranteeing removal of the vessel within 60 calendar days from the bill of sale. The Friends of Falls of Clyde Opens in a new tab, a nonprofit group based in Honolulu, is the ship’s current registered owner and also may bid with proof of a bond.

The state is offering bidders an opportunity to inspect the vessel and its contents at their own risk starting at 9 a.m. Feb. 15. Sealed bids must be received no later than 11 a.m. Feb. 28. A public announcement of the bids will be made later that day.

The state Harbors Division, which impounded the ship in 2016, had given the Friends of Falls of Clyde until Wednesday to remove it from its berth at Pier 7. If not, the state was going to move ahead with auction proceedings.

Bruce McEwan, president of Friends, said he was disappointed with the state’s decision.

The Scottish-based group Save Falls of Clyde International had announced plans Opens in a new tab to bring the last surviving iron-hulled, four-masted ship back to its birthplace of Scotland in December 2017. The group gained an international following online and launched various fundraising campaigns over the past year and a half.

But a plan to have a lift ship transport the Falls of Clyde to Scotland fell through last summer. Another lift, scheduled for Feb. 3, was canceled due to logistical problems.

On Jan. 30 state officials noticed the ship was taking on water Opens in a new tab and got an emergency procurement to make repairs. Officials had noted holes in the vessel in December and early January.

David O’Neill, director of Save Falls of Clyde International, sent a letter Wednesday to the state Harbors Division saying the group was still “100 percent committed” to the safe removal of the Falls of Clyde from Honolulu Harbor and to having it repatriated with Scotland.

He said he contacted Sevenstar Yacht Transport, the company that originally offered to transport the ship in February, as well as several other companies, to discuss transporting the ship. He said he also was awaiting approval of a $650,000 grant through an environmental group in the United Kingdom.

He even reached out to Charles, Prince of Wales.

“We are all reaching for the same goal,” O’Neill wrote. “I believe that if we work together, we will achieve this incredible task and be remembered in history as the people who saved this beautiful vessel.”

McEwan said the Friends had implemented a monitoring and maintenance program for the ship following the leaks last week. With the steps O’Neill had outlined, he had hoped the state would have waited until the end of February to put the ship up for auction.

The state Harbor Division said it has supported the Friends of Falls of Clyde by not charging any rent or fees for the use of Pier 7 since April 2009. The state said it was moving forward with auction proceedings in part to protect Honolulu Harbor.

“We’ve given 10 years to the process, and repeatedly we’ve heard the same thing: ‘We just need time,’” said Transportation Department spokesman Tim Sakahara. “There have been numerous attempts at fundraising and removal, and all have been unsuccessful. Given the current state of this ship and its continued deterioration, it needs to be moved now. We’re moving forward with the next step, which is the auction.”

According to terms of the public auction, if the winning bidder fails to pay in a timely manner or remove the ship by the required deadline, the state’s options would then be to sell the Falls of Clyde by negotiation, dispose of the vessel as junk, donate it to a government agency or take any other action allowable by law.

Built by Russell &Co. in Port Glasgow, Scotland, in 1878, the Falls of Clyde is believed to be the last surviving ship of a fleet named after Scottish waterfalls and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In retirement at Hono­lulu Harbor, the ship became a museum and hosted weddings, funerals, parties, military re-enlistment ceremonies and even a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party. It survived Hurricane Iwa and two previous attempts to sink it. Bishop Museum, its previous owner, was going to scrap it, but the Friends purchased it for $1 in 2008.