Several members of the U.S. Coast Guard look over the old Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw as it makes a winter run near the Mackinac Bridge. The vessel will be docked in Mackinaw City, following its final voyage from Cheboygan Wednesday, June 21. (Photograph courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard) The decommissioned Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw will be berthed at the old railroad dock in Mackinaw City and opened to the public as a floating maritime museum under a letter of understanding signed Tuesday, June 6.

The 61-year-old ship will be turned over as government surplus to the Icebreaker Mackinac Maritime Museum (IMMM), which will lease the dock from owner Bill Shepler.

The last-minute deal to use the old rail dock may have saved it from being turned into scrap, because unless the vessel found a local home before it set sail Wednesday, June 21, the Coast Guard may have acted on a proposal to send it to the Coast Guard yards in Baltimore, Maryland, said Ensign Beth Newton, public affairs officer aboard the vessel.

The old Mackinaw will be decommissioned Saturday, June 10, in Cheboygan and replaced by a newer ship, to be commissioned with the same name later that day.

The IMMM was organized as a nonprofit to secure the old icebreaker as a museum in the Cheboygan River, but fell short of raising the needed money to keep it there.

"We would need $3 million for a land purchase, electric lines, and other utilities," said IMMM President Michelle Hill.

IMMM then turned its attention to the old state ferry dock in Mackinaw City, but DNR Press Secretary Mary Detloff said the stateowned harbor there is still undergoing major renovations and could only allow moorage for a maximum of three to five years.

Further complicating the Mackinac moorage, she said, "Several cruise ship companies have approached the State Waterways Commission and said they would like to dock boats there." The site where the IMMM wanted to dock the Mackinaw is in the same place where the state is trying to develop space for cruise ships.

State harbor planner Bill Boik said the Mackinaw would also have been in the way of the area where the state intends to work on pilings set into wooden cribs which need to be placed deeper into the harbor. This work is scheduled to take place this summer.

Docking cruise ships would have an even bigger economic impact on Mackinaw City than the presence of the Mackinaw, said Ms. Detloff, so the new deal with Mr. Shepler, "allows us to continue to move forward to create space for cruise ships."

She wouldn't say which cruise lines the state is talking with.

As the clock ticked, and the Mackinaw crew prepared for new assignments, the IMMM board scrambled to find the vessel a home. If it didn't do so before the ship sailed June 21, it would loose the benefit of sailing the ship under its current crew, paid for by the Coast Guard, and probably face the high cost of having the Mackinaw towed, said Ens. Newton.

When Mr. Shepler agreed to let the group use the old rail dock, Tom Chastain, an IMMM trustee and a third generation member of his family to join the Coast Guard and work on the ship (his uncle sailed the brand new ship to port in 1944), approached the Mackinaw City Village Council to get its blessing during its Thursday, June 1 meeting. Council welcomed the idea.

Tuesday, at 10 a.m., the letter of understanding between IMMM and Mr. Shepler was signed, together with the signature of local advocates Sandra Planisek, author of "Icebreaker Mackinaw: WAGB 83 1944-2006," and Dick Moehl, president of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association.

Just days before, Commander Joe McGuiness, captain of the Mackinaw, informed his crew that they would be sailing to Mackinaw City, said Ens. Newton, not Baltimore. In response, the crew began to prepare for new assignments and clear the ship of electronic equipment, fuels, oils, and other materials the museum will not require.

The 2.5-hour cruise from Cheboygan to Mackinaw City on June 21 will be with great fanfare.

"It will be a celebration," Mr. Shepler said.

The ship's crew will make its final voyage on the vessel, riding with dignitaries, members of the public, and the press.

For a not-yet specified donation, interested parties can take part in the historic event by contacting Shepler's Mackinaw Island Ferry or Marilyn McFarland of the Mackinaw Area Visitors Bureau. The revenue will be used to benefit the museum. The cruise, Mr. Shepler said, will be complete with food, drink, live music, and return transportation, Mr. Shepler said.

Ownership of the Mackinaw will be transferred to IMMM, Friday, June 30. The IMMM will lease Mr. Shepler's dock, and the group is preparing to use its $200,000 budget for renovations, liability insurance, and other general expenses, Mr. Moehl said.

"We are very excited now," said Ms. Hill, the IMMM president, noting that Mr. Shepler's dock will need much less preparation than the Cheboygan site. Further, the Village of Mackinaw City is willing to address zoning issues that will result from the proposed museum.

The museum ship's presence at the Shepler dock will pose no serious problems for the village, said Village Manager Jeff Lawson. The Village Council will need to grapple with making the ship a local business, a new prospect for the village that presents unique challenges. For example, parking will be required for the proposed museum, but the size of the required parking lot, under current zoning, is based on the amount of usable space in a "building." The ship will also have a great deal of space that cannot be used for the proposed museum.

In addition, Mr. Shepler will have to find space for boats currently utilizing the dock.

"None of these problems are insurmountable," said Village President Robert Heilman.

The IMMM's original request to use the state harbor in Mackinaw City is still scheduled for a vote of the Michigan Waterways Commission Friday, June 9, when it meets in St. Ignace at Little Bear East Conference Center. The meeting starts at 9 a.m.

Most parties interested in the Mackinaw, however, already have declared Mr. Shepler's agreement "a done deal."

"I expect the proposal to be withdrawn from the agenda," Ms. Detloff said Monday, June 5.

The city of St. Ignace also expressed interest in docking the Mackinaw, temporarily or permanently, said City Manager Eric Dodson, when it heard there was trouble finding a spot in Cheboygan. St. Ignace offered the use of Dock III in St. Ignace, or the Chief Dock, which would require significant upgrades. But at the news that the ship likely would land at Mackinaw City, Mr. Dodson said he is relieved that the ship will remain in the area.

"I'm glad to hear that it will find a home," he said.