Exclusive | Historic vessel on Maine state quarter and another used by Jacques Cousteau still at bottom of Gowanus and now likely garbage: sources

Two historic vessels — including one featured on Maine’s state quarter — have been sitting at the bottom of the polluted Gowanus since mysteriously sinking in July and are now likely headed for the garbage heap.The restaurateurs who own the ships are not willing to shell out what could easily turn into millions of dollars to rescue Maine’s submerged Victory Chimes and the PILOT — a former research vessel once used by famed TV oceanographer Jacque Cousteau — from the murky Brooklyn waters and resurrect them to their former glory, sources told The Post.“Total demolition.Garbage,” an insider said of the expected plans for the schooners, which have a collective 232 years of history between them.Alex and Miles Pincus — brothers and the owners of the company Crew that turns boats into trendy floating restaurant bars — moved their vessels into the Gowanus Canal inlet months earlier for repairs.The 1924 PILOT — the longest-serving pilot, or guide, ship in US history and a former Cousteau research hub on its way to becoming a possible National Historic Landmark — had already made a name for itself as a popular floating oyster bar under the brothers’ care.

The 1900 Victory Chimes — the last surviving Chesapeake Ram schooner and already a US National Historic Landmark whose image graced the Pine State’s 2003 quarter — was being mapped out for a similar future.But the two vessels sank within days of one another in Red Hook’s Henry Street Basin over the July 4 weekend.Since there is no shore power in the obscure basin, the situation has resulted in all but a death sentence for the vessels, since such wooden boats easily fill with water and require frequent pumping and maintenance, experts said.Insurance will not pay for the damaged ships unless the brothers have a concrete plan for them after they are refloated.“There are three different scenarios,” said Zdenek Ulman, the owner of Marine Diving Service who responded to the scene and secur...