MIAMI, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Having served her country for over 31 years as a member of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S.S./USCGC Glacier—once the flagship icebreaker of Admiral Richard E. Byrd--is now under attack.
With only one month remaining until “The Mighty G/The Big Red One” heads to the scrap pile, the Glacier Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation, restoration and operation of historic vessels, has launched a $10,000,000 campaign to save the record-breaking icebreaker from destruction and transform her into an environmental museum.
“We are at a critical time in the life of the storied Glacier, perhaps more difficult than any passage the storied ship has made in unforgiving environments,” said Ben Koether, chairman of the Glacier Society, former Glacier navigator and discoverer of “Koether Inlet” in the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica.
Once the largest and strongest icebreaker ever built, Glacier embarked on a record 39 Arctic and Antarctic deployments, exploring uncharted waters, conducting scientific research and providing safe passage to ships supplying U.S. outposts in frozen waters. Now Glacier is one of 58 vessels earmarked for destruction (all part of the Non-Ready Reserve Fleet located in Suisan Bay, CA.)
Koether, leading environmentalists and a team of dedicated Society members--many of whom are former Glacier crew members—have donated thousands of volunteer hours improving the Glacier at her mooring and raising funds to transport the Glacier to “the Notch”, a large deep water slip on the south side of Bicentennial Park in Miami’s downtown, where she will receive a new life as an interactive museum, educational facility and event platform for youth groups, historians and military reunions. A new science museum being built in the park complements and creates a synergy for both institutions.
“The fascinating life of this ship has a unique role in U.S. history and its future,” says Charles Green, founder of the environmental museum initiative and lead advisor to The Glacier Society. “No other ship afloat can speak so well to the environmental issues we face both locally and on a global scale, such as rising CO2 levels affecting the Polar Regions. The Glacier will be the most important museum in the world for people that want to discover information on environmental, oceanographic, polar and earth-sciences.”
Needing government approval to complete Glacier’s rebirth into a museum, Koether believes her historical significance and environmental importance will be recognized.
“We have never failed in our efforts and we are confident we will be able to continue, with the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) support of the legislative right, extended to us by Congress to complete our transformation into a museum role. We look forward to honoring the Coast Guard that is crucial to our waters as well as becoming a world symbol of environmental progress,” concluded Koether.
To learn more about the U.S.S./USCGC Glacier, visit www.savetheglacier.org where visitors can read more of the icebreaker’s storied past, sign a petition, make a donation or volunteer in the effort to save her. All contributions are tax deductible.
ABOUT THE GLACIER SOCIETY
Founded in 1998, the Glacier Society is a non-profit 501(c)3 educational foundation dedicated to the restoration and operation of historic vessels, including three located in Mystic, Connecticut and Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the proposed preservation of the U.S.S./USCGC Glacier, a former U.S. Navy/U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker ship. Restored vessels have been used to train thousands of Sea Cadet and Sea Scout visitors, while proposed plans for the Glacier include an interactive environmental museum.