Wawona dismantling

There have been articles in the Seattle Times the past couple days about how the tall ship Wawona is being moved to dry dock to be dismantled. We were fortunate enough to have been able to tour the Wawona during the 2002 Seattle Tall Ships Challenge; I've added a Tall Ships page which includes pictures from that day.

Here are a couple pictures from that page, along with a couple of others from the deck of the Wawona:

Wawona deck

Deck water damage

While the picture in the hold gives you a sense of scale, it's hard to really realize the size of the Wawona unless you're actually on it. It must have taken quite an effort to build her, and probably just as much effort to try to restore her. Unfortunately, there weren't enough funds to complete a restoration, which is why she's being moved to dry dock. People have been working on her for over 40 years, but she was already deteriorating, and water and beetle damage have raised the work necessary to about $15 million.

Portions of the ship, such as the captain's cabin, will be on display at the Museum of History and Industry when it moves to South Lake Union (it's currently in Montlake, across the ship canal from Husky Stadium).