It has been 10 months since PHMC has taken full control of US Brig Niagara. In that amount of time, I see the connection to the Erie area fading and my concerns are growing. The initial disconnection of Niagara to our community was the firing of FNL as an operator of...
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PHMC Reprimanded by Auditor General in 2010: How Little Has Changed (Part 1)
In 2010, the Pennsylvania Auditor General expressed deep concerns over PHMC’s handling of artifacts. The report’s opening letter to Gov Ed Rendell states, “Our auditors found an environment of lax oversight and accountability that is conducive to theft and...
Consequences Begin: Niagara Removed From Tall Ships Erie 2025
Protect Brig Niagara was organized with the goal to ensure that the US Brig Niagara is in the hands of people who can maintain her and operate her safely, successfully, and transparently as an actively sailing vessel in her role as an ambassador for the...
Talk is Cheap: Why PHMC Has A Trust Problem
Most of our advocacy has been over Niagara's current care. However, now that PHMC has announced a Captain and are actively doing work on her, we do not want to actively undermine the new Captain’s efforts. We will still be watching, but we want to give the new Captain...
Testimonial: A Life Transformed
My name is Hank Wiest. I wanted to write about my thoughts and experiences with Niagara, though I've never considered myself good at putting thoughts to paper, so I ask that you bear with me. This may ramble a bit. A little about me: I was raised in Erie...
EMM Site Administrator Jim Hall: In His Own Words
A Fact Check on Site Administrator Jim Hall's comments as recorded in “Ryan Cook’s Meeting Notes” (a document first shared in “Shipwrecked by Command!”) In August 2021, Erie Maritime Museum Site Administrator Jim Hall sat down with Niagara Volunteer Council (NVC)...
Niagara’s Captain: An Inside Look Into the Hiring Process
When the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) took control of Niagara on January 1, 2024, they announced plans to hire Niagara's Captain within 90 days. (See here for our 90 day update). Once they had a Captain, they planned on working together to hire...
Addendum: Fact Check on the PHMC Emails Revealed in “Shipwrecked by Command!”
The blog post “Shipwrecked by Command! How PHMC Cast Away its Volunteers” includes several documents from our Right to Know Requests. We felt those documents deserved additional context, but including it in the piece focused on volunteers did not feel like the right...
Will Niagara Attend the 250th Anniversary of the US Navy?
With Memorial Day fresh on everyone's minds, we should all be remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the US Armed Forces and, given Niagara's role in the War of 1812, it is only fitting for us to take a dive into how Niagara can honor those members of...
Shipwrecked by Command! How PHMC Cast Away its Volunteers
Note: This piece is focused on the experience of the volunteer council and interactions had with PHMC staff, but while investigating RTK documentation we found that there were a large number of falsehoods and inaccuracies in how PHMC represented information to local...