The Santa Maria replica anchored Downtown appears to be sunk unless a $1 million lifeboat floats up the Scioto River. Crews started dismantling the ship yesterday, and the remaining shell is to be taken out of the water on Friday. But whether it ever floats on the Scioto again likely will depend on whether backers can raise the money for repairs.

The Santa Maria replica anchored Downtown appears to be sunk unless a $1 million lifeboat floats up the Scioto River. Crews started dismantling the ship yesterday, and the remaining shell is to be taken out of the water on Friday.

But whether it ever floats on the Scioto again likely will depend on whether backers can raise the money for repairs.

Board members of the nonprofit group that oversees the ship have been discussing the grim reality after it was determined that the replica of Christopher Columbus� flagship needs about $1 million in repairs.

�We don�t know what is going to happen,� said Linda Ketcham, the executive director of Columbus Santa Maria Inc., which operates the ship. �I can�t discuss with the press what is going on behind closed doors.�

The ship is moored at Battelle Riverfront Park and is in the way of the $35.5 million Scioto Greenways Project. The Columbus City Council allocated $500,000 a few months ago to remove the ship from the water so that renovations of the riverbank can continue.

That money will pay for plucking the ship out of the water, dismantling it into several pieces and storing it at one of the city�s impounding lots.

City officials said public dollars will help remove the ship, but they will not be used for renovations. Santa Maria Inc. has been told to come up with the money.

�That would be quite an ominous task to raise that kind of money for a group that isn�t used to having to do that,� said Terri Leist, an assistant director of recreation and parks for the city and secretary for the nonprofit group. �The board has to make a decision one way or another to raise that kind of money, and a lot of discussions right now are about what they are going to do."

The organization had an operating loss of about $21,000 in 2012, according to its most recent tax filing. It stated about $82,000 in assets and no gifts or contributions of any kind. It has not received much taxpayer assistance over the years.

The city is reluctant to lend any money for renovations now, given that officials are tightening Columbus� operating budget for next year. The city is using some tax dollars to finance the borrowing costs to remove the ship from the river.

The ship was never intended to be publicly owned. It first arrived Downtown in 1991, and its $2 million cost was funded through donations and private dollars.

Over time, however, it was given to the city in hopes it would be cared for. It has gone from about 300,000 visitors a year when it first opened to about 17,000 a year.

Bill DeMora, with the Columbus Italian Club, said at a recent City Council meeting that his organization will help raise money for the ship�s restoration.

Gene D�Angelo, who was instrumental in getting the ship built and anchored in the Scioto, said he doesn�t have anything to do with the vessel now, but he doesn�t think it needs to be removed.

�They could just take the mast off and float it down the river near COSI and put it there,� he said. �I think it�s an asset that should be cherished.�

The bottom of the ship is made of fiberglass and does not need to be repaired. But the wooden deck and other parts have decayed over the years, officials said.

The ship�s potential demise does not sit well with some historians and visitors of the Santa Maria.

�It�s a sad thing,� said Cat Kenney, who participates in pirate re-enactments on the ship. �I wish the city could have gotten its act together and actually honored this gift rather than squandering it.�

lsullivan@dispatch.com

@DispatchSully