Research Vessel "Kit Jones"

Built in 1939 on Sapelo Island, Georgia, the Kit Jones has touched many lives in her 77-year history.  She has served variously as a tugboat supplying the residents of Sapelo Island with transport and supplies, as a schoolbus delivering children daily to the Meridian dock, as a US Coast Guard fireboat in WW II era Savannah, and - for the greater part of her career - as a scientific research vessel for the University of Georgia, the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and the University of Mississippi.

The Kit Jones presently sits in a shipyard in Biloxi, Mississippi, threatened with the end of a long and storied career as a working vessel.  The present owner, University of Mississippi, has no further budget for operation or maintenance of the vessel, and she is available for ownership transfer. That's where the McIntosh Rod and Gun Club stepped in to secure this historic treasure.   
In drydock for two years now, she is still in sufficiently good state to allow full restoration, but her condition degrades with each passing month.  

The immediate goal is to stabilize the Kit Jones to stop her further degradation, and bring her home to McIntosh County, where we will begin preservation, restoration, and locating a site for her to rest as a prominent historic ‘citizen’ of Darien.  

Acquisition costs from the U of Mississippi have been covered and the boatyard fee’s were brought current. We are seeking funding to help bring her home and restore her.

Initial costs to bring her back home are estimated below:

-- Removal of heavy rigging prior to shipping is estimated at $3,000 - $5,000 (some of which may be recovered from sale of rigging or scrap metal - lots of aluminum).  

-- Trucking cost was quoted in January 2016 at $7,300  -- Biloxi, MS to Darien, GA, 

The team is gathering initial quotes for a full restoration and we know that it will be well over the $50,000 that has been provided for this account, but we need to begin somewhere.

On behalf of the McIntosh Rod and Gun Club, McIntosh County Georgia, The City of Darien GA, and the Citizens of McIntosh County, we wish to thank any and all who participate in this monumental and worthwhile cause to save the research vessel, “Kit Jones”. Should you wish to lend a literal ‘hand’ in her preservation and restoration, we welcome all skill levels to that cause on dates TBA!