WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced today that the National Park Service, in partnership with the Maritime Administration, has awarded two Maine organizations nearly $250,000 in National Maritime Heritage grants for projects that teach about and preserve sites and objects related to our nation’s maritime history.

The Wood Island Life Saving Station Association in Kittery will receive $200,000 to repair and preserve the Wood Island Life Saving Station, which was used by the U.S. Life Saving Service to ensure the safety of mariners in the seacoast area and was later used by the U.S. Navy during World War II to watch for German submarines along the coast before falling into disrepair. It is the only remaining lifesaving station nationwide with a marine railway.

The Penobscot Maritime Museum in Searsport will receive $40,784 to assist in digitizing, rehousing, and cataloging the National Fisherman Collection, and in publishing the images and associated data to the Museum's online collections database. This collection documents the depletion of marine resources and the technological changes our nation’s commercial fishery underwent after World War II and it provides a wealth of information to a large international audience of academic, governmental, and cultural content users.  When completed, this National Fisherman preservation project will provide the only publicly available online record of the history of modern fisheries. 

“Maine’s robust maritime heritage is a central part of our state’s history,” Senators Collins and King said in a joint statement. “These funds will help preserve that history and support educational efforts to ensure that future generations will have the opportunity to understand its importance to our state and nation.”

National Maritime Heritage Grant awards are made possible through a partnership between the National Park Service and the Maritime Administration that share a commitment to maritime heritage preservation and education.  Funding is provided by the Maritime Administration through the recycling of vessels from the Marine Administration’s National Defense Reserve Fleet. The grant program supports a broad range of maritime education and preservation projects, without expending tax dollars, while ensuring that the vessels are dismantled in an environmentally sound manner.

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