Sound Experience to Complete the Adventuress’ Centennial Restoration Project thanks to the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust

Capping an extraordinary 100^th sailing season aboard the schooner Adventuress, nonprofit Sound Experience has been awarded the final funds necessary to complete its multi-year Centennial Restoration Project.  The M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, with its mission to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest through grants to strengthen the region’s educational, cultural and spiritual base, awarded a capital grant of $175,000 for this winter’s final phase of the 5-year project. This winter’s work includes lower frames and planking on the historic ship’s starboard side, and is utilizing the skills of shipwrights at Haven Boatworks in Port Townsend. The total cost of this final phase is estimated at $350,000.  To match the $175,000 awarded by the Murdock Trust, a condition of the grant, Sound Experience has raised an additional $175,000 from generous contributions by individuals and family foundations. The multi-year Adventuress Centennial Restoration Project was launched in 2009 with a goal to completely restore Adventuress’ hull to a 50-year standard by her 100^th birthday so that the National Historic Landmark ship will “sail for generations to come,” according to Executive Director Catherine Collins.  The project was carefully planned and guided by the organization’s board-led Ship Committee, and each major phase of the hull restoration was completed in the off-season so that program operations could continue as normal.  More than 3,000 youth and adults climb aboard each year on day and overnight programs to experience Puget Sound’s marine environment and to learn how their daily actions make a difference in its future. “We are tremendously grateful to the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust for getting us to the finish line,” said Collins. “It is a huge honor to be awarded funding for the first time ever from this prestigious Northwest funding institution that considers both the strength of the project and the overall health of the organization.” Since its inception, the Adventuress Centennial Restoration Project has received funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation “Partners in Preservation” program, National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures Fund, Washington State’s Heritage Capital Projects Fund and major support from leading Northwest foundations for a total project cost of $1.2 million upon its completion in April 2014.