Waterfront Commission9.18.17

Tall Ship Providence Foundation

Alexandria, Virginia

Project Summary

New 501c3 non-profit corporation, Tall Ship Providence Foundation, has been created to acquire The Tall Ship Providence for Alexandria.

The foundation will take ownership of the ship on Sept 30, after which she will go to Gloucester Mass for a year-long restoration by master shipwright Leon Poindexter. She will arrive in her new home port of Alexandria early Summer 2019. Once there she will serve multiple purposes:

• “Floating Campus” for Alexandria Seaport Foundation’s Middle School Math and at-risk teen Apprentice programs

• Dockside visitors, daily cruises to Washington DC and Mount Vernon, private charters, and dockside private events

• Ambassador for the City of Alexandria in regional Tall Ship Regattas.

The Tall Ship Providence Foundation will raise $2.0M through private donations and grants to fund the ship’s acquisition and restoration, and to provide cash reserves equal to 2 years operating expenses.

Plan it to dock at waterfront park, as part of arrangement with Seaport Foundation.

Replica of USS Providence, “Ship of Firsts”

• First ship in the navy of the Continental Congress (1775)

• First command of naval war hero John Paul Jones

• First ship to land US Marines on foreign soil (Nassau, Bahamas)

• Sank or captured over 40 British vessels during the War for Independence

Original ship built in 1768 by the Brown family. 200 years later same Brown family built replica in honor of the 1776 Bicentennial

Registered Tall Ship, 110’ with bowsprit, 61’ on deck; Coast Guard certified for 44 passengers. Fiberglass hull limits restoration and maintenance costs

About the Ship

Governance & Additional Resources

Governance

• Foundation is 501(c)3

• Proposed board structure, 12 members:

(2) Foundation incorporators; Serge Sarandanaki (Accenture), Scott Shaw (Alex Restaurant Partners)

(2) Alex Seaport Foundation (subject to board approval)

(1) Potomac Riverboat Company

(2) City of Alexandria; logical representatives would be Tourism and Parks & Rec (either board member or observer)

(5) Outside directors with experience in historic ships and/or fundraising

• Annual audits to be provided by outside CPA firm

Additional Resources

• Rob Hofmann, former Exec Director Providence Maritime Foundation (non-profit that owned ship from 1980’s through 2008). Has reviewed budgets and offered additional assistance on programming and operations. Possible board member

• Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority (operates 2 historical ships of similar size); GHSA has shared budgets, marketing plans, and other materials. Looking to cooperate in any way possible. Possible board member.

A master shipwright, consultant and technical advisor to several historic vessels, replicas and maritime museums, Mr. Poindexter’s business is to research, design, build, retrofit, or restore primarily large historic, traditionally built wooden sailing vessels and their rigs. Many of Seaport Vessels’ clients’ ships are on the National Register of Historic Places.

For over 35 years Mr. Poindexter has been doing shipwright and traditional rigging work for historic heavy displacement sailing vessels. For many years he worked in shipyards on the East coast as an independent contractor doing hull repairs, refitting, restoration, rebuilding and rigging work for several large schooners including the ERNESTINA, the WESTERN UNION, the ADVENTURE, the SPIRIT OF MASSACHUSETTS, the ROSEWAY, the HARVEY GAMAGE, the LETTIE G. HOWARD, the PILOT, the A.J. MEERWALD and the square-rigged “tall ships” KALMAR NYCKEL, and H.M.S. ROSE. Also Mr. Poindexter participated in restoration work on the gun deck of the U.S.S. CONSTITUTION.

SEAPORT VESSELS provides a range of services for restoration and new vessel construction from research and design to the finished hull and rigging.

Leon Poindexter / Seaport Vessels