19th-Century Scottish Ship Scuttled Off Hawaii

Once a proud symbol of Scottish shipbuilding, the 19th-century Falls of Clyde was quietly scuttled off Hawaii's coast last week, sparking outrage from heritage groups that spent years fighting for its restoration. The ship was towed 25 miles out to sea from Honolulu Harbor and deliberately sunk by the Honolulu Harbor Board on Wednesday. The vessel, launched in 1878 and once a workhorse of global trade, had long served as a museum ship in Honolulu, but years of neglect and hurricane damage left it in disrepair, the BBC reports. The ship's demise was met with sharp criticism from preservationists in Scotland and the US.

The ship, built in Port Glasgow, was the last surviving iron-hulled, four-masted sailing oil tanker, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reports. It was listed as a state and national historic landmark but was removed from both registers in recent years. Multiple attempts to return the Falls of Clyde to Scotland, including offers of free transport by a Norwegian shipping firm, collapsed amid disputes with harbor authorities over insurance and quay redevelopment.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation said key artifacts, including the ship's wheel and bell, were saved for future display. But for supporters, that was cold comfort. The Friends of Falls of Clyde called the scuttling "a day that will go down in infamy," and supporters held a farewell ceremony with bagpipers before the sinking. "I do have Scottish blood and ancestry and the Scots are known to be stubborn," Friends of Falls of Clyde President Bruce McEwan told Hawaii News Now. "Even though we were fighting a bureaucracy, we had to keep fighting."