Most of our advocacy has been over Niagara’s current care. However, now that PHMCThe Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the state agency that stewards the U.S. Brig Niagara and Erie Maritime Museum. The PHMC is responsible for the collect... 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 a chance to succeed. We are instead shifting our focus to the past. We’ve frequently seen questions or comments asking: “How did we get here?”, “What happened between PHMC and FNL to cause the split?”, or “Now that there is a Captain, why are you still concerned?”

Dwelling on the past has not been our focus as we were prioritizing Niagara’s current care. But now that there is a Captain, it is a perfect time to take a break and look at the past to try and help answer some of those questions. The first installment will be a deep dive into some of the broken promises made by PHMC to show why we still don’t fully trust PHMC and want to try and provide accountability until they’ve shown that they can be trusted.

We all do it.  We set goals for ourselves or take on projects that we struggle to complete.  One of mine was the task of replacing a smoke detector in my house.  It was the wired kind, not the battery kind.  I’m not an electrician, but I can usually figure things out and I understand some basics of electricity.  So I bought a new smoke detector. But I avoided installing it because I wasn’t sure I could manage it by myself.  I made the decision to phone a friend who knew a lot more about working with electricity than I did.  My friend safely and correctly installed the smoke detector.  Sometimes we need to admit we are in over our heads.

The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) is in over their heads with the management and operation of the U.S. Brig Niagara.  The Erie Maritime MuseumThe Erie Maritime Museum (EMM) is a cultural institution located in Erie, Pennsylvania, dedicated to preserving and showcasing the region's maritime heritage. Established in 1997, ... (EMM) site administrator has publicly stated that he is not a “tall ship” person.  No one on PHMC’s administrative staff has experience operating a tall ship.  Yet PHMC has dismissed the people who have a proven track record of successfully and safely maintaining Niagara.  They claim they have operated the ship before on their own .  What they aren’t telling you is that they had Walter Rybka, an experienced tall ship captain, as the EMM site administrator .  He had the knowledge and experience as a captain of Niagara and several other tall ships.  He had experience with sail training.  He knew how to maintain a tall ship.  Seven months into taking control of Niagara, they just recently hired someone with a maritime license and experience.

This article will document PHMC’s track record over the past year in caring for Niagara, focusing on the numerous commitments they’ve made, the timelines they created, and the lack of follow-through on their part.  As the saying goes…talk is cheap.  

PHMC made promises in the past on which they couldn’t deliver.  They continue to make promises that their actions don’t line up with.  Why should we trust them now?

The Saga of the Missing Propeller Begins

On July 10, 2023, the starboard propeller on U.S. Brig Niagara fell off as she neared Presque Isle Bay.  It was discovered after she docked that the propeller was missing.  In spite of being told by the Flagship Niagara League (FNL) that a temporary propeller could be put on at the shipyard in Cleveland and the sailing season could resume, PHMC chose to wait until July 24 to announce their plans for Niagara.  They decided to end the sailing season early and stated that they “…decided to replace the Niagara’s propellers with in-kind custom-fabricated propellers, saving money on repairs in the long run…” The special propellors would take at least 76 days to be made.  PHMC further went on to state “Our next step will be to sail the Niagara to shipyard to replace the propellers and install new generators as previously planned.” (See PHMC press release 7/24/23 PHMC) FAILURE

As the summer progressed, PHMC did not give permission for Niagara to go to shipyard in Cleveland in spite of saying she would be going there.  Fall came and still no permission to go to shipyard.  In fact, PHMC wasn’t going to send Niagara to shipyard in the remainder of 2023 until Captain William SabatiniFleet Captain William "Billy" Sabatini is the executive director and fleet captain of the Flagship Niagara League. Sabatini grew up in southeastern Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and ... reminded them on October 11, 2023 that the US Coast Guard required work to be done by October 31, 2023 to keep her COI (Certificate of InspectionThe Certificate of Inspection(COI) is a legal document issued by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) confirming that a vessel meets specified safety and operational standards. It ...) valid.  So Niagara left Erie, arriving at the Great Lakes Shipyard in Cleveland by November 6.  Despite a series of conversations where PHMC’s Executive Director Andrea LoweryAndrea Lowery, serves as Executive Director and Chief of the Division of Architecture and Preservation for PHMC., Melissa MannMelissa Mann serves as Director of the Bureau of Historic Sites & Museums for PHMC. Starting the role in 2021, she supervises 24 state-owned historic sites and museums along th... (PHMC’s Bureau of Historical Sites & Museums), and Tyler Gum (Site Administrator, PA Military Museum) say they should order the props by 11/6 haul out as show of good faith for USCG, we have only heard word that they having been ordered in PHMC’s July 3 press release. That means it’s been 8 months since this written conversation and a full year since they knew it would be needed… plus those emails show their cumbersome purchasing process. You would think it would have been a good time to also have the survey done that PHMC stated in their July 24th press release.  Nope.  That didn’t happen.  So no new propellers, no survey, but one trip to Cleveland. FAILURE

The Refit That Never Happened In Spite of Multi-Million Dollars Allocated

Back in 2014 the governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, announced an allocation of $4.8 million dollars for the refit of Niagara. (see Press briefing for Corbett’s 2014 announcement, with explanations and diagrams from marine architect) PHMC made a feeble attempt to find a single contractor who would do all the work (kind of like you as a homeowner trying to find one company that would replace your roof, pave your driveway, and install a new furnace). In spite of being told that they needed to split up the work, PHMC put out a request for bids and received…you guessed it…nothing. (see 2015 RFP; 2018 Memo permitting a different bidding process; and 2018 RFP that got one bid from Great Lakes in Cleveland) Things were tweaked a tiny bit and one contractor submitted a bit for part of the work. This was not what PHMC wanted so the process was dropped. In the meantime, the amount allocated was increased to $7 million (due to rising costs). That money still sits unused. (see Niagara rebuild funds) Meanwhile, all the rot, decay, and increase in expenses described in the 2014 Corbett briefing have just been increasing. In November 2023, PHMC seemed to finally decide to spend it. In a letter dated November 7, 2023, Andrea Lowery wrote to the CWO4 Christopher Ellison of the US Coast Guard, letting him know that “the Niagara will not operate commercially as a sailing school vessel
"Subchapter R" refers to the legal and operating requirements of Sailing School Vessels within the Code of Federal Regulations(CFRs). The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is a... in 2024. PHMC’s priority for the next year and possible more is to clear our two outstanding CG-835’s, to tackle deferred maintenance and to make major systems upgrades to the ship via a multi-million dollar Commonwealth Capital Project.” (see PHMC letter to USCG Nov 2023) Lowery goes on to list the work that will be done:

1) “…a comprehensive material survey of the Niagara to begin this fall at homeport”

We believe this may have actually been done in January 2024. POSSIBLY DONE

2) “…a comprehensive repair plan and long-term maintenance plan can be developed”

Haven’t seen that yet. FAILURE

3) “We plan to take the Niagara to shipyard in spring 2024 to address the stem issue, replace the propellers, complete a below the waterline survey and to potentially undertake items outlined in the above the waterline survey to be completed in this fall.”

Nope. That statement was made in November 2023 and eight months later…nothing. FAILURE

4) “Following the spring 2024 shipyard and based on the findings of the comprehensive survey, PHMC will commence completing deferred maintenance projects and systems upgrades during the remainder of of 2024 and likely into 2025.”

Time keeps ticking away. Spring has now turned into summer and, in another PHMC press release dated 7/3/24, PHMC pushed the shipyard trip off until August. (see July 3rd press release here) Unfortunately, their failure to deliver on getting Niagara to shipyard gets worse. Another press release dated 7/29/24 now has a shipyard goal of fall 2024. (see July 29th press release here) Will Niagara EVER make it to shipyard in 2024? All the delays push Niagara’s repairs and return to sailing, and even deck tours, further and further down the road.

The New Cover That Was Never Ordered

On November 16, 2023, Niagara returned to Erie from shipyard.  FNL, the organization that had operated and maintained Niagara for decades, was tasked with getting the ship covered for the winter.  Sounds like a pretty straight-forward task, right?  Wrong!  Normally in the past, the winter cover construction is started by October.  It usually took about two weeks to assemble the wooden frame and cover that with the canvas cover.  There were at least 4 or 5 professional crew involved, along with a slew of volunteers. However, the canvas cover had deteriorated to the point of being unusable.  This was discovered in the spring of 2023.  Jim HallJames E. Hall is the Site Administrator for the Erie Maritime Museum and a PHMC staff member. He replaced Walter Rybka in December of 2020. His background includes 13 years with th..., the Erie Maritime Museum site administrator, was supposed to order a new cover. (see New cover for Niagara discussion 5:23) That never happened.  So plan B was to put on a plastic shrink-wrap cover.  This had never been done before on Niagara, at least not by those who have been involved with her cover for decades. Degree of difficulty now increases.  

Work on the cover could only begin after supplies and other parts were off loaded from the ship’s transit (anchors, the lines that hold the anchors, life rafts, etc).  But there’s more.  The ship also needed to be further down-rigged.  Although the sails had already come off, the topmasts needed to be housed (lowered), and spars needed to be taken off.  All this work can take days, if not weeks, depending on the weather and the number of crew available.  

Once that is done, the winter cover’s wooden frame is put up.  Again, this is weather-dependent and the speed of assembly is dependent on the number of crew.  Remember that Niagara had ended her sailing season in July, so they were operating with a skeleton crew by November.  

Finally, the large sheets of plastic had to be put into place over the frame, cut to fit, and heated to provide for a tight fit.  This is where things got even more complicated, if you can believe that.  

PHMC Decides to Go It Alone and It Doesn’t Go Well

On December 11, 2023, FNL was struggling to meet payroll obligations due to the fact that PHMC owed them half a million dollars from the first half of the year. By dragging their feet in paying FNL, PHMC had created a significant financial obstacle for FNL.  Add to that the fact that PHMC said they couldn’t pay for that mandatory fall 2023 shipyard up front (see Shipyard impacts), so FNL had to also take on that cost to prevent Niagara from losing her COI.  Due to having to carry the financial load for PHMC, FNL had no choice but to start plans to lay off staff and crew. 

If gets even worse.  On December 12, 2023, PHMC informed FNL that they would not be renewing their contract with FNL for 2024.  That meant that FNL was expected to complete the rest of the work in 19 days (including Christmas).  Working with less than a skeleton crew, knowing that their jobs were ending, dependent on weather, FNL completed as much of the work that was left to be done as they could.  Of course, they couldn’t complete it all.  In addition to the shrink-wrapping of the cover, there were still engines and lines to winterize.  This is the state of things when PHMC assumed complete control.  In spite of FNL offering to complete the unfinished work after the first of the year, PHMC refused the help.  With a list provided by FNL of what needed to be completed for the ship’s safety in winter, PHMC assumed total responsibility for Niagara.

This all leads up to the situation that developed on January 9, 2024.  A storm rolled in, with high winds, and the unfinished cover began to fail.  One of Niagara’s small boats blew off the dock and into the water.  Normally, the FNL crew would have repaired the cover issues and used a small crane on shore to lift the boat out of the water.  That’s not what happened with PHMC in control.  Instead they spent over three hours emailing themselves just trying to figure out what to do.  They estimated it would cost them at least $1000 to have a company come and get the small boat out of the water. (see Towing fee)

On January 16, 2024, PHMC drafted an Emergency Declaration. (see Emergency Declaration – note: PHMC did the highlighting Emergency Declaration 1) In one of the first paragraphs, PHMC complains that the cover was not installed with care or in a timely manner. They had the materials onsite by October 10. Why didn’t FNL get that cover on? In another example of PHMC’s cluelessness, they expected FNL crew to install a cover on a ship that was going to shipyard and wouldn’t return until November, due to PHMC’s dragging their feet about allowing Niagara to go to shipyard. They also describe their plan to remove the plastic cover, buy more materials to put on a second (temporary) cover, and deal with electrical and plumbing maintenance (that could have been taken care of if they had allowed FNL to complete the job).  The Emergency Declaration included a plan to hire a shipwright and Chief Mate within the week.  (Note: as of the writing of this article, that has not happened – 7 months late on that goal.) They had drafted a job posting for the captain position and thought they would have a permanent captain in place by the end of January, according to their Erie Maritime Museum/Brig Timeline, dated 1/16/24. The captain’s job was never publicly posted. (see Niagara’s Captain: An Inside Look Into the Hiring Process) They also claimed they had several FNL crew who were interested in applying.   Another missed goal… FAILURE

Additionally, take a look at the “Shipyard Prep” section in the Timeline.  They planned to select and contract with a shipyard by the end of March. We know from Right-to-KnowA Right to Know (RTK) request is a request for information from a state or local government body in Pennsylvania. You are allowed to request any kind of information, and aside from... documents that on 12/21/23 PHMC tried to schedule a shipyard date at Henry B duPont shipyard at Mystic Seaport .  They were told that shipyard is booked until September 2026.  First PHMC had said the spring of 2024; then they changed it to the summer.   FAILURE

If You Can’t Make the Goal, Move the Goalposts…AGAIN AND AGAIN

On July 3, 2024, PHMC issued a press release. (see PHMC press release 7:3:24 ) Finally, after a year of knowing they needed to order new propellers, they were talking about having them available for Niagara’s first trip to shipyard under PHMC’s control. August 2024 was to be the date and Cleveland shipyard was the likely place. They planned on finally having the below-the-water survey done, and then developing a scope of work for a second larger shipyard phase. The second shipyard was to be sometime between 2024 and 2025. Just a few weeks later, in ANOTHER press release (see PHMC press release 7:29:24), PHMC finally announces a captain and delays the shipyard AGAIN to the FALL of 2024. Looks like the second shipyard trip won’t happen in 2024. Does it seem like PHMC keeps kicking the can down the road? It’s now the beginning of August and, while they finally delivered on a captain, there is still no crew. Is it time for PHMC to admit that they need help from professionals with maritime experience? Time to admit they leaped before the looked? Or will they continue to muddle through on their own, causing more and more delays?

PHMC has a pattern of setting dates to accomplish their goals, failing to meet those deadlines, and then moving the goalposts, all while telling us to trust them.  It’s almost the end of July and we still have not heard a word about a date or location for Niagara to go to shipyard. There is a captain, but no shipwright and no crew.  Thousands of dollars have been spent on work that could have been done by FNL’s crew.  We haven’t even begun to delve into what this is costing taxpayers. Under PHMC’s care, Niagara has been moved to “inactive” status and deck tours for the public have been prohibited since April 23, 2024.  PHMC says all is well, but that is not the picture we see.  As they say, talk is cheap.

If you are as frustrated as we are with PHMC’s inaction in caring for Niagara, please continue to contact legislators, local officials, the PA Governor’s office, and PHMC.