By PAUL KIRBY of the Daily Freeman

Slow as a steamboat but sure as a sunset, the Hudson River Maritime Museum is putting new life into its waterfront facility in the city’s Rondout district.

Come this spring, a significant partnership agreement will result in the museum on East Strand becoming the Sloop Clearwater’s new home port. Meanwhile, the museum’s board is looking for a full-time director to oversee operations.

Russell Lange, the museum’s volunteer director, and Lana Chassman, its public education director, recently announced the agreement with the Clearwater, which currently has its winter quarters in Saugerties.

“This coming of the Clearwater to Kingston will, no doubt, elevate the level of excitement on the Rondout Creek,” Lange said.

Lange said the Maritime Museum and the Clearwater are a perfect fit. “Engaging in cooperative missions, the Clearwater seeks to inspire, educate and activate people in the Hudson Valley, while the Hudson River Maritime Museum continues to focus on preservation, education and destination,” Lange said.

It was 1966 when folk musician and environmental activist Pete Seeger, despairing over pollution in the Hudson River, announced plans to “build a boat to save the river,” according to the Clearwater’s website.

“At the time, the Hudson was rank with raw sewage, toxic chemicals and oil pollution,” the website states. “Fish had disappeared over many miles of its length.”

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