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Thomas on Islands | all galleries >> == Maui Albums == >> Lahaina, Maui > 7-20 Carthaginian
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7-20 Carthaginian

Carthaginian was made 1920 by the Krupp Shipyard in Kiel, Germany. She sailed under
the name "Mary". Later she was renamed to "Komet" by her Swedish owners and used
to carry cement across the Baltic Sea. The Lahaina Restoration Foundation searched for
a suitable ship, purchased her 1972 and brought to Lahaina in a 105 days voyage from Denmark.

The original rig was a Schooner, which was replaced by a Brig rig in the period of 1978-1980. The
rigging plan base on the English brig "Marie Sophie", ca. 1870. The Royal Yard was raised on April
26, 1980 in Lahaina. The ship is ever since one of the main attractions in the Lahaina Marina.


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Thomas on Islands10-Mar-2006 00:13
Yes, indeed... We were following the development around Carthaginian in the Hawaiian press. Last time we were 2003 in Lahaina, she was closed to public already and she was looking very run down. One article in the press stated, that the City did not had approx. $30,000 annually for the upkeep of this ship. A city like Lahaina does not have 30k to spare for an attraction??

We heard with some astonishment about plans to "fill her with concrete and sink," but this is in a sense what really happened!

Seemingly the majority in the city council decided that she was not worth consideration as a real historic artifact. The ship was indeed not authentic, and not related to Hawaiiana in the first place.

Maybe so, we are still not quite at ease with this strange dealing with landmarks... Once celebrated an attraction, sailed around the planet in a 120 days voyage, restored with high enthusiasm, later declared "scrap." How much can we trust in what we see in visitor
brochures? Places of value and history, or visitor gimmick?
Will Evans09-Mar-2006 05:27
Sadly, the Carthaginian has moved on to her next phase of "life" a couple of months ago. She got so old it was decided that she needed to be retired. Rather than selling her for scrap, it was decided that she should be scuttled to become an artificial reef about 1/2 mile off shore of the Puamana area of Lahaina.