Thanks for all the great ideas. I will get more information on the RELIEF when I am there on Oct. 2. Dry-docking may not happen this season (we don't have much time left) and the funds have not been released yet. SO we may have time to really check into alternatives. Of course there could be a miracle and the hull could be in perfect shape. Or only minor damage. We console ourselves with "we are still floating!" every Sat. I've seen pictures of her when she was first brought up from Half Moon Bay in 87-she looked like she was ready for the wrecker then. No one knows what condition the hull is in. I think I need to get some idea of alternatives and head over to San Francisco with a report drawn up and present it to the Head Keep' himself. I'm sure if there were some sort of alternative plan and an obvious public interest, he and the board might consider the alternatives to scrapping.

The USS Hornet is in Alameda now, as a museum. I would like to see the RELIEF join her over there as the new maritime and air museum takes shape. It would be wonderful if she could be in the water, but maybe a cradle would work (she's smaller than the KIDD-128 ft long, 30 ft beam) so maybe it would be feasible. Or some kind of dry land thing. I would like to see her some day return to the sea when money could be raised to repair her hull. I dream of the day when I can be aboard when she gets underway again. I want to help find a spare engine for her so we can do that again. I just don't want to see her go to the wrecker. One of our volunteers was a lighship sailor for 4 years. He liked it and now feels an obligation to help this one survive. For 12 years he has devoted at least one day every weekend to working aboard the ship. In talking to him as we work I have found he truly loves the ship. He taught me to splice rope. He tells me about living on the ship. I know there are others out there like him. There must be others willing to help. There is really no publicity about the RELIEF, and that just adds to the problem-if people know about the ship, there would be more volunteers and more public outcry if she were to be scrapped. As it is, she can slip away unnoticed, and few will ever know what has been lost.