September 10, 2008 Historic schooner gets much needed restoration Play video

(Amy sinclair, NECN) - A piece of Massachusetts' maritime history is spending a few months in Maine. But it's not exactly a vacation for "Ernestina".

Boothbay harbor attracts thousands of visitors from Massachusetts, but not many of Ernestina’s stature.

PAUL: "she is probably next to the USS Constitution, one our most important vessels in maritime history."

The 114 year old wooden schooner was towed up to the Boothbay harbor shipyard from New Bedford back in June for some long overdue restoration

PAUL "you know whenever you have a wooden vessel they need work unfortunately she needed work a few years ago and money dried up so now we're playing catch up."

The first phase of Ernestina’s three and a half million dollar overhaul is being overseen by 5th generation sea captain, Dave Thompson.

DAVE: "we're working from stem back to the break in the deck about half way back."

She was one of hundreds fishing schooners built in Essex in the late 1800s and the only one still sailing today... Thompson attributes Ernestina’s staying power to staying fit.

DAVE: "I Think it's kind of like when you stay active you live longer and this vessel was very active."

PAUL: "she served as a grand banks doring fisherman an arctic exploration vessel, she served in the navy in world war two she was last vessel to carry immigrants to us from Cape Verde to us until 1964."

She's now the official schooner of

Massachusetts and until she was grounded by the coast guard in 2004, Ernestina took students on educational sailing trips

They need another 2 and half million to complete the overhaul. Costly in part because the work must be historically accurate.

"one of the challenges of a project like this is that they have to find wood that's of the same quality as the original in this case they'll use reclaimed yellow pine to replace the deck."

The department of conservation and recreation knows she's in good hands here.

DAVE: "this is what we're putting her together with the same it was done in 1894."

So that generations of school children will better understand their maritime history on a schooner that's stood the test of time..

To contribute WWW.ERNESTINA.ORG