June 29, 2005
Historical launch
Cranes lower sloop Welcome into bay after 13-year restoration
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Keel met water for the first time in decades as cranes lowered the sloop Welcome into the waters of Heritage Harbor Saturday morning.
As an estimated 550 spectators watched and cheered, members of the Maritime Heritage Alliance breathed a collective sigh of satisfaction at the completion of their 13-year restoration project.
"Oh, man that was an amazing thing - the culmination of a lot of time and effort by lots of volunteers to make that moment happen," said Rich Brauer, president and co-founder in 1982 of the Maritime Heritage Alliance. "It was tremendous."
Along the way to restoring the reproduction of a Mackinaw vessel that plied Great Lakes waters during the Revolutionary War era, more than 140 volunteers logged 50,000 hours of effort. They replaced virtually every piece of wood in the sloop, which had been built in the 1970s as part of the nation's bicentennial celebrations.
Brauer likened the process in part to restoring an old house: the more volunteers did, the more they realized needed to be done; the more they accomplished, the more time was needed to finish. As the project's completion date loomed in uncertainty for years, he said everyone just focused on the tasks at hand.
"We could have built probably four of those boats in the same amount of time, from scratch," said Brauer of the Welcome. "It would have been easier by far to start over but that would have betrayed the mission."
Bob Dost, a World War II Navy veteran, has been a Maritime Heritage Alliance volunteer since 1988. He helped with the wiring and rigging on the organization's schooner Madeline. Dost has worked most weekdays for years on the Welcome and he was on deck as the sloop was towed to the Heritage Harbor's dock from the launching point.
"We all shouted, 'Hurray!' - that was climax of the whole thing," said Dost, adding that the volunteers are mostly retirees from all walks of life who share a common passion for Great Lakes maritime history.
For many years, the boat's restoration took place on the grounds of the Great Lakes Maritime Academy. In 2003, the project moved to the Traverse City Light & Power's coal dock facility in Elmwood Township on M-22 just north of town.
Brauer noted that most of the work remaking the Welcome was not visible from the outside; even the finished product has the same shape and color. There was never a dramatic transformation to show people passing how much was being done to make the sloop seaworthy again.
"(People) would drive by on M-22 for years and say, "What are those guys doing out there, when are they going to get that damn thing in the water,'" he said.
The payoff came Saturday for the volunteers who rebuilt the Welcome, watching the fruition of hours of sweat and toil rock gently in the waves.
"We are so proud to have this second ship in our community and now that it's out and about, I think that's when people will begin to understand," Brauer noted.
Reenactors from the British King's 8th Regiment attended the Welcome's launch ceremonies, honoring its heritage and firing a salute after the launch. These history aficionados from the Detroit area set up a camp at the base of Heritage Harbor to showcase how a British soldier of that era might live. In addition, members of the Grand Traverse Metis and a British Naval Regiment from southern Michigan attended the event.
"This is historical, if you're really into history and it's become a passion," said Tom Redman of Cedar, dressed as a Metis French-Indian trader who might have lived in the region during late 1700s. "Then the opportunity to sail on something like this is the ultimate historical experience."