Captain John's finally sold and ready to move

Captain John's has finally been sold, and a date has been set to remove it from the Toronto Harbour. Entrepreneur James Sbrolla, who bid successfully for the ship a few weeks ago before complications related to its removal put the sale in doubt, came through with the remaining funds (in the neighbourhood of $30,000) this afternoon. While Sbrolla's hope was to save the ship from being scrapped, this ultimately proved too tall a task.

"While we tried and tried to find a home for the ship as a whole (we had hoped that we could save the entire ship), we ultimately came to the conclusion that it was not possible for it to be 'reused' as is," Sbrolla wrote in a statement today. "Priestly Demolition will be the new owner of the Jadran. We will work closely with Priestly to move the ship and stay involved where possible to ensure that there is as much saved as possible."

Also part of the project is Toronto Brigantine, a tall ship charter company who hopes to reuse as many parts of the old vessel as possible. The plan is to move the ship on August 29, though a destination has yet to be announced. While putting too much faith in that date might be naive, the end to the Captain John's saga is near. In any case, it will soon no longer occupy the pier at the foot of Yonge St. where it has been docked since the 1970s.