Historic site preparing for another Adventure

Second trading vessel to be constructed

Second trading vessel to be constructed

Wade Spees
The Post and Courier/File

A lone crewman steers the Advenuture down the Wando River after its annual check-up in 1998.

Plans are under way to construct another Adventure, a reproduction 17th-century trading vessel, that will be docked at the Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site when it's not sailing.

The Adventure has been part of the park since it was commissioned in 1969. The ship and the animal forest are two of the sentimental favorites among visitors, said Marion Edmonds, communications director of the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

"It immediately became a really popular part of the park. People are really attracted to wooden sailing vessels," Edmonds said.

The Adventure was moored in Old Towne Creek. It sank in 1999 and was repaired after planks were damaged by worms. It sank again in 2004, but this time it was beyond repair, Edmonds said.

"It had been moored there for the better part of 30 years. They need to actually be sailed or used," he said.

The decision was made to use the 1969 plans and build a new Adventure at the state site.

"We realized as we got into it that we were looking at a process that would take us years and years to complete. We don't have a functioning, operating shipyard," Edmonds said.

That has led the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism and the Materials Management Office of the State Budget and Control Board to issue a request for proposals from shipwrights to build a new Adventure off-site. Edmonds said he hopes the ship will be complete in a year. It will be able to sail to festivals and events along the South Carolina coast.

There will still be an Adventure at the state park, where the keel and planking are being put up, but it will remain under construction to be used as an educational tool.

Nobody has worked out the christening to distinguish between the partially built ship that will serve as a classroom and the fully functional one to be built off-site.

Edmonds said he expects bids to come in from $500,000 to $1.5 million. The money will come from the recreation department and the S.C. State Park Service.

Anyone interested in the project should contact the Materials Management Office of the State Budget and Control Board at 803-737-0600 or www.state.sc.us/mmo.The Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site is located on Old Towne Road near Exit 216-A off Interstate 26.

Reach Nita Birmingham at 745-5858 or nbirmingham@postandcourier.com.