Historic schooners that graced a state quarter now rest at bottom of a Brooklyn canal

The useful part

For more than a century, the Pilot and the Victory Chimes — two historic schooners with towering sails — have between them served the country in wartime, hosted the likes of Jacques Cousteau and graced the Maine state quarter. An inlet just off New York City's famously polluted Gowanus Canal could be their final port of call. The boats — now owned by a company that turns historic vessels into floating bars and restaurants — sank there in early July while docked on the Brooklyn waterfront.

How it works

• Now many in the maritime community are calling on the company to do what it can to save them — and to account for how they sank in the first place.
• Crew is working with insurers, marine salvage experts and marine surveyors to determine what to do about the sunken boats, said Alex Pincus, the company's CEO.
• The 121-foot Pilot, which is a little more than a century old, and the 128-foot Victory Chimes, which dates to 1900 and is the ship that graces the 2003 Maine quarter, are owned by New York City-based...
• Both schooners sank around the time of strong squalls, though the exact cause of the sinkings has not been fully determined.
• "Raising wooden vessels of this size is a highly complex operation that requires specialized equipment, careful planning and extensive coordination," Pincus said.

Details worth keeping

"The vessels remain submerged as part of that ongoing process while assessments and planning continue." Maritime groups want to see the ships saved if possible Many in the maritime community are calling on the company to do what it can to save the ships and to account for why they sank. Brad Vogel, a member of a canoe club called the Gowanus Dredgers, whose members paddle near the site, called the potential loss of the ships "a shame" and "in some ways unforgivable." "People in Maine, people in New York City, do want answers, and want to know what's going on.