Zoom zoom and all, yes the Sea Lion was sea worthy and used on Chautauqua Lake originally when it was first commissioned. Unfortunately with the prevailing winds it could only sail down wind from Mayville towards Jamestown. The lake isn't wide enough for the ship to "tack " back upwind to port. This required a motor vessel to tow the ship back to port. Eventually expense over rode interest and the ship fell into disrepair. A group up in Buffalo adopted the ship and it was transferred to Buffalo Harbor. While there it sank either from intentional or weather related cause. It rested on the bottom for serial years until rescued once again by a group from Chautauqua County. It was raised, patched and towed the 50 some miles back to Barcelona where it sat dry docked on static display.
We would make it a point to stop by when we visited family up there, broke my heart to see it just sitting the languishing in the weather after all the hard work the volunteers put in to build it. Glad to see it being rescued once again.
