After spending 42 years down at the South Street Seaport, Peking, the fabled merchant ship that was constructed in Germany in 1911, will leave Manhattan and make a transatlantic voyage back to her home country next spring.
According to the Post, the famed ship will be replaced by Wavertree, which also has roots in the Big Apple. DNAinfo reports that 19th century ship is set to make its grand return to the South Street Seaport after undergoing a year of restoration work in Staten Island.
The South Street Seaport Museum began negotiating a deal to export the Peking back to Germany back in 2012, following financial issues after Hurricane Sandy. The museum was willing to give the Peking away as a gift, but lacked the necessary funds to transport the ship across the Atlantic. However, the German government invested approximately $30 million to bring the Peking back to its homeland in Hamburg, Germany, where it will reportedly undergo massive restoration at the Stiftung Hamburg Maritim Museum.
"The gift of Peking to Hamburg, where they’ve got 30 million euros to restore her, is good for our Museum; it will allow us to focus our growing resources on a leaner fleet, the centerpiece of which will be the mighty three-masted ship Wavertree, which will shortly return from a massive restoration project," South Street Seaport Museum executive director Jonathan Boulware. said in a statement “It’s also good for Hamburg; they’ll have a restored ship they can be proud of. She was built in Hamburg and sailed from there. She belongs on the Hamburg waterfront"
The Peking's last tour will be this Sunday at 4:15 p.m.
