Sea base finds stand-in for Argus

Young sailors could get their sea legs this summer on Kelpie if an inspection shows the ship is up to U.S. Coast Guard standards.

Newport Sea Base officials have been searching for a ship to replace Argus, the 101-year-old topsail ketch that’s been used for Boy Scout sail training for 35 years but needs a major overhaul.

Sea base executive director Charlie Abbott helped deliver the boat last week from San Diego to Long Beach, where it is now being inspected by the Coast Guard. The inspection is required before the ship can carry paying passengers. Kelpie is a two-masted, 65-foot schooner that holds 27 passengers ? it’s a wooden racing boat that Abbott said is somewhat different from Argus, a Baltic ketch built as a work boat.

Abbott said Tuesday that if the new ship passes inspections, it could be ready in time for summer programs that begin June 11. Officials haven’t yet decided what to do with Argus. An eBay auction of the ship closed Friday with no bids.

“We’ve received lots of great and inspiring e-mails, but no one was actually willing to buy the boat and rebuild it,” Abbott said.

The work needed on Argus was estimated at as much as $1.5 million.