Small world. Back in the early 80s I was station on the Spar home ported in Portland, Maine for two years. Back in 1970-72 during my Navy Reserve active duty for two years I was on the USS Aeolus (ARC3) out of Portsmouth, NH. While watching this video at 6:01 notice on the left side the forward part of a cable layer which the Aeolus was like. There were only 4 Navy Cable layers during that period. How strange to see the Spar next to possibly the Aeolus. To really make matters stranger is I found out a few years ago that the Spar is only about 400 ft away from the Aeolus sunk as coral reefs of the Carolina coast. I've informed my wife I want my ashes spread between the two ships when my Judgement day arrives.
I was assigned to Bramble in summer of 1962 when CGC Travis was decommissioned at Miami Beach. Worked Bramble for 6 months until she was sent North and our replacement was CGC Hollyhock where we worked aids to navigation for the year until I was promoted and assigned to Capt of Port office Miami. Those were good times, just did not realize it.
SPAR was decommissioned in 1997 and reefed in 2004 off North Carolina. BRAMBLE was transferred to the Port Huron Museum in 2003 after her decommissioning but was beyond the museum's ability to support, so she was sold in 2013 to Robert and Sara Klingler of Marine City, who maintain her in excellent condition as a private yacht and museum of sorts in Port Huron. She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in summer 2012 as nationally significant for her participation in the atom bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946 and for the Northwest Passage mission. She is also recognized for the significance of her design as a major engineering accomplishment. STORIS was decommissioned in 2007. Two nonprofit groups attempted to save STORIS in 2012-13 by requesting her transfer from the federal government after she had been stored in museum hold status for several years among the ships of the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in California. As she was in beautiful condition for a 71-year-old ship, the intent was to bring her home to Toledo for use as a museum. STORIS was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as nationally significant, the honor becoming official on 31 December 2012. She was recognized among many things for her participation in the Greenland Patrols of WWII (the last original, intact ship at the time of nomination), her participation in the Northwest Passage mission, her long and decorated service in Alaskan waters and for her existence as the lone example of an outstanding design and engineering accomplishment. Instead of facilitating the museum transfer, the GSA sold her at auction in June 2013 to a "used car dealer" from Southern California who then attempted to extort money from the nonprofits for several months while flaunting deadlines to move the ship from the SBRF. When the extortion failed, the US government then allowed the buyer to illegally export STORIS to Ensenada, Mexico, where she was scrapped in late 2013-early 2014. Subsequent FOIA requests from STORIS supporters brought out federal documents from the USCG, GSA, EPA and MARAD that showed several federal laws were broken in the excessing, sale and export of the ship. There are additional FOIAs still outstanding from the State Department. It was a very sad end to a very proud and accomplished ship.
I am shocked that the famous Bramble will be sold due to lack of interest in preserving the museum which features the first ship (in 450 years of attempts by famous explorers), to successfuly navigate The North West Passage from West to East. Hope it stays intact and on display for the public to admire.
The description above is not quite accurate. BRAMBLE was put up for sale in 2010. She was finally sold in early 2013 to private buyers Robert and Sara Klingler of Marine City, Michigan. BRAMBLE has been kept in Port Huron and maintained in excellent operating condition as a private yacht and museum ship of sorts. She is in good hands.
STORIS was actually the first US-flagged vessel to circumnavigate North America. During WWII, she served on the Greenland Patrol in the North Atlantic. After the War, she transferred to Alaska. When she emerged at the eastern end of the NW Passage transit, she re-entered the same waters that she had patrolled during the War. It took her 12 years, but she ultimately finished a complete circumnavigation of the continent. SPAR was the first vessel to have completed a circumnavigation in a single season when she arrived back at her home port of Bristol, RI. BRAMBLE was second when she arrived back at Miami. Since STORIS had to go all the way back to Alaska, she was third to complete the single-season circumnavigation.
