U.S. Coast Guard cutter Bramble
continues to sit idle, cost money
Decommissioned Coast Guard ship Bramble sits at the Seaway Terminal in August. The ship was
once a museum but now sits idle.By CRYSTAL GARCIA
Times Herald
The decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter Bramble is steering uncharted waters.
The Bramble, commissioned in 1944, is owned by the Port Huron Museum, which received the ship after it was decommissioned in 2003.
The museum's board of trustees decided in December 2009 to sell the ship. Since then, the museum has received three offers, said Susan Bennett, executive director of the Port Huron Museum.
One of the offers was about 15% of the $300,000 asking price, she said. The other was about half and the most recent offer, which came in August was close to the full price, Bennett said.
Unfortunately, financing fell through for the person who made the third offer, she said.
The ship has been closed since Aug. 17, but continues to cost the museum money for insurance and utilities, Bennett said.
Still, having the ship closed will cost the museum less than having it opened, she said.
Utilities totaled about $60,000 last year and are expected to be less because things that were never shut down have been turned off, she said. An open ship costs $25,000 a year for insurance, but a closed ship with no one on it will cost $12,000, she said.
"We have no plans to reopen," she said. "We're securing it as best we can."
Last year, the Bramble made about $40,000, Bennett said, which was considered a good year.
At this point, the museum's only option to get rid of the ship would be to scrap it, but Bennett said, that is something officials do not want to do.
"We can't afford it indefinitely, but at some point, we're going to have to pull the trigger," she said.
With the weather cooling down and the shipping season having ended, Bennett said the museum has missed the window to have the ship towed anywhere and doesn't think anything will happen with it until spring.
In the meantime, plans are in the works for overnight events at the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse, Bennett said.
"We hope to pick up the slack from what we're losing on the Bramble," she said.
No official date has been set for when the lighthouse will be open, but Bennett said it could be as early as next spring or summer.
Contact Crystal Garcia at (810) 989-6276 or
cagarcia@gannett.com.
Original Article
