The Wiscasset Waterfront Committee considered a fee for commercial boats to tie up at the recreational float from mid-October through Dec. 1. The commercial vessels tie up at the recreational dock to offload and to pull their boats and traps out of the water at that time of year, as there are very few recreational boats in the water after Columbus Day.

The committee members had been given a figure of $10 per foot per boat by one of the local fishermen at the previous meeting, but those present at the Nov. 17 meeting felt that it was too expensive for the 2 1/2 months, and floated a figure of $100 for the post-summer season. However, all agreed to ask the harbor master to check other towns’ fee structures before making a final decision.

The committee also approved a seasonal public art installation by Nick Dalton near the recreational pier, honoring the Hesper and the Luther Little, the two early 1900s schooners abandoned in Wiscasset Harbor and left to decay for decades. The remains of the ships were finally removed to a landfill in the 1990s. “I wanted to make the point that our history is vanishing,” said Dalton. “And if we don’t want that to happen, we have to do something about it.” Dalton must appear before selectmen before the installation can go forward, but the work is not expected to be erected before May. Dalton will know whether he has obtained the grant for the project by the end of December.

Committee member Frank Sprague said that he had been talking about bringing some of the parts of the two vessels to the town garage to try to salvage parts of the ships and create a more permanent monument to the Hesper and Luther Little at the waterfront, but that he hadn’t yet sought permission to do so.

Sprague also brought up a concern about a World War II British minesweeper that is in the harbor, and which the yacht club had asked him to look at. He said it is in bad shape, but that the owner has expressed an interest in restoring it. Sprague thought that there would have to be some work done on the ship to keep it safe through the winter, in part because the ship had drifted around the mooring and was in danger of pulling the mooring from the riverbed. Sprague said that in his opinion, the boat is not seaworthy at this time, and his fear is that in winter storms it might break free and found on the rocks.

Another concern the yacht club expressed was a need for fuel in Wiscasset Harbor. Town Planner Benjamin Averill said that a public land-based gas facility would require a great deal of permitting, and was unlikely to be supported by selectmen or the Planning Board, but that a land-based facility could be attempted by a private entity, such as the yacht club. Another committee member pointed out that Wiscasset had once had a floating gas facility based on a boat, but that the proprietor had since passed away.  Currently, the closest place to purchase gas or diesel is Boothbay Harbor, and the committee said that having fuel available might bring more boat traffic upriver.

Averill said that the king tide during the super moon resulted in splashover in the parking lot at the recreational pier, the yacht club’s parking lot was flooded, and White’s Island parking lot was underwater. “It’s something to consider while we are looking at flood control measures,” he said.