Volunteers and city officials are left to deal with derelict boats that go down.

Erik Christensen had grand plans for the Reba H.

The 115-year-old wooden gill-netter would be dry-docked and its hull restored, with a computer and global positioning equipment added so students could follow him online as he retraced famous Northwest expeditions.

But Christensen’s maritime enthusiasm soon sank. Then the boat did too.

“The problem is, you can’t just leave ‘em out there and not do anything with them,” said Bob Schoonmaker as he surveyed the Reba H.’s prow – all that protruded from Blakely Harbor Wednesday. “You’ve seen how much rain we’ve had. Intentions don’t bail out boats.”

Piloting the Bainbridge Harbor Com­mission’s utility vessel, Schoonmaker motored to the harbor after shoreline neighbors reported the Reba H.’s untimely foundering.

He secured a line to the wooden schooner, freed it from a mooring buoy and gunned the engine. Water exerted serious drag on the submerged boat, and Schoonmaker’s 90-hp outboard churned up considerable froth before the Reba H. grudgingly followed the smaller utility vessel toward shore.

The boat was dragged to the north beach of Blakely Harbor Park, where a waiting police officer took a thrown line and made the Reba H. fast to a tree.

“Well,” Schoonmaker said, “I guess we proved it could be done.”

It’s probably not the last such vessel volunteers and city officials will contend with this winter. Harbor Master Tami Allen dealt with four deteriorating boats in November alone, and has her eye on several others that could become environmental or navigational hazards should they succumb to the elements, as did the Reba.

Add to that convoluted rules about who can do what when to which boats, and the result is, well, a sinking ship.

“There’s no sweeping policy,” Allen said. “We have to deal with each situation as it arises.”

Nor are harbor codes consistent throughout the island’s waters. Rules that apply to boats at Waterfront Park, for example, don’t necessarily apply to those in Blakely Harbor, where Reba ran into trouble.

A draft ordinance that would extend island-wide the protections of the current nuisance ordinance – designed to spare Eagle Harbor from problems posed by hazardous boats – is currently being reviewed by city officials.

Jurisdiction also complicates matters. The city controls the harbors, but the harbor bottom beneath them, to which anchors and mooring buoys connect, are controlled by the state Department of Natural Resources.

DNR has a derelict vessel removal program to dispose of any vessels whose owners are not known or cannot be located, or are unwilling to take control of unlawfully moored or anchored boats.

Allen believes roughly 500 buoys around the island are being used without a compulsory DNR lease.

“It can be frustrating,” she said. “We wouldn’t want a law that would put a gate at the entrance of the harbor. We want boats to be boats.”

But the definition of “boat” sometimes varies from person to person; vessels deemed by some as eyesores are often treasured by their owners.

A group of liveaboards in September filed suit against the city, claiming that actions it took under derelict vessel removal program deprived them of their constitutionally protected property without requisite due process, further complicating matters.

Meanwhile, as legalities are sorted out, Schoonmaker said the Harbormaster and Harbor Commissioners – all of whom have limited authority to act – are forced to deal with problems on an ad hoc basis.

Both Schoonmaker and Allen said education is key, as are the watchful eyes of boaters and shoreline neighbors who have local knowledge of the vessels in the water near their homes.

In Reba’s case, it was public reports of her trouble that ultimately led to her rescue, Allen said.

Through the stormy hours that followed Schoonmaker’s afternoon efforts, three men, including Christensen, pumped water from Reba’s hull. She’s again afloat, and will remain temporarily in Blakely Harbor before moving on to a new home at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle.

“She’s still one of the oldest boats around,” Allen said. “I’m glad they were able to save her.”

So was a relieved Christensen.

“I was absolutely amazed at the kindness people have shown,” he said. “The effort to save her was unbelievable. What I’ve realized is that I just don’t have the time or resources to take care of Reba anymore.”

Staff writer Douglas Crist contributed to this report.