THE TITLE of this commentary may suggest to some that it refers to those vessels that have been lost in Rhode Island waters by storms, explosions and other mishaps, often with many fatalities. The earliest of such ill-fated ships was the legendary Princess Augusta (known in oral tradition as the Palatine, from the origins of its German passengers). In a 1738 December gale, the vessel ran aground on Block Island with an indeterminate loss of life. The tragedy was immortalized by John Greenleaf Whittier in a poem that suggested that the islanders used a false light to lure the immigrant ship onto the rocks for purpose of salvage.

A more recent and better-documented tragedy involved the passenger steamer Larchmont of the Joy Line, which left Providence bound for New York City on the night of Feb. 11, 1907, during a blinding blizzard. In Block Island Sound, the Larchmont collided with the fully laden coal schooner Harry Knowlton and sank in 30 minutes. Because accurate records were not kept, estimates of the death toll vary widely. The history of the Joy Line puts the count at 111, but other estimates range as high as 192 fatalities.

Another significant “lost” ship was the steamer Mackinac, which was rocked by a boiler explosion on Aug. 18, 1925, en route from Newport to Pawtucket. Fifty-five of its 672 passengers were killed in the blast.

However, there is another category of ships whose loss — though far less tragic than the fate of the Princess Augusta, the Larchmont, and the Mackinac — is most regretful. These are the ships that have found homes in other ports where appreciation for their history and beauty far exceeds our own. The U.S.S. Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) was berthed at Newport from 1861 to 1865, when that city hosted the U.S. Naval Academy. It is now the main attraction at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston Harbor. The reconstructed U.S.S. Constellation, a Newport training vessel from 1894 to 1945, graces Baltimore’s revitalized Inner Harbor. Both were built in 1797 — the former in Boston and the latter in Baltimore — but Newport had them, and the Navy took them away without any local effort to retain them. The loss of Old Ironsides is understandable, but the departure of the Constellation, after its presence in Newport for a half-century, is less defensible.

The H.M.S. Rose is a replica of the 18th Century British frigate that patrolled Narragansett Bay on the eve of the American Revolution under the command of Capt. James Wallace. Former Newporter John Millar built the modern Rose at great personal expense as his contribution to Rhode Island’s bicentennial celebration. Rhode Islanders let the Rose slip away. In 1984, it was moved to Bridgeport, Conn., and now it rests in San Diego harbor after starring in the movie Master and Commander.

The Ernestina made its final voyage to Providence in 1965. It is the last of the “Brava packets” ships that sailed between Cape Verde and New England from 1867 to 1965. This ethno-cultural icon was berthed for several years at a dock near Point Street until it was lost to the Port of New Bedford.

Consider the fate of the “Newport,” the last Newport-to-Jamestown ferry. After it was rendered obsolete in 1969 by the opening of the Newport-Pell Bridge, it was sold to the City of Pawtucket as a youth center for the arts. By 1982, it was in Portland, Maine, where the DiMello family had converted it into a hugely successful floating restaurant —a facility that Rhode Island still lacks, despite the short-lived presence of Tony Mastronardi’s Victoria, a vessel that replaced the Ernestina at the Point Street dock where the Downtown Marina is now situated.

This selective listing includes only surviving lost ships. Even more tragic has been the scrapping of the magnificent coastal steamers of the Fall River and Colonial Lines, and vessels of the transatlantic Fabre Line, which brought thousands of Southern European immigrants to our state. The legendary racing yachts of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol and the innovative boats of the Saunders family of North Kingstown have shared a similar fate. Clearly the Ocean State has squandered its maritime heritage.

Most are lost, but not all. Fortunately, two iconic ships remain in Rhode Island waters — for now. One is the U.S.S. Saratoga, a huge aircraft carrier representative of those (like the Hornet and the Wasp) that once called Quonset home. The Saratoga Foundation, led by the indefatigable Frank Lennon, is making an effort as large as the ship itself to establish the Saratoga in Quonset as a museum, an educational facility, and an exhibit honoring marine pilot Ted Williams. Its varied uses make a compelling case for its draw as a tourist attraction.

A second locally extant but endangered vessel is the Sloop Providence, a replica of the first ship of the Continental Navy. The original Providence — the first command of John Paul Jones — was scuttled in the Penobscot River in 1779. The replica was completed in 1976 by the Seaport 76 Foundation with a sizeable grant from the Rhode Island Bicentennial Commission (ri76), which I then chaired. The Sloop Providence, designated as Rhode Island’s flagship by the General Assembly, currently sits high and dry at the Promet Shipyard, on Allens Avenue. It is now owned by the city, and its fate is uncertain. I have offered to give the vessel free space in Providence at my dock so that the sloop can continue to serve as a floating historical exhibit and a classroom under sail. As yet there has been no response to this overture.

Will the Saratoga and the Providence join that huge fleet of scrapped, scuttled, or sold Rhode Island ships? Will we continue to destroy or discard our famous vessels, or can we salvage these two? Echoing the final words of James Lawrence, heroic captain of the Chesapeake, I give Rhode Islanders this exhortation: “Don’t give up those ships!”

Patrick T. Conley, an occasional contributor, is a real-estate developer, lawyer and historian. He seeks to develop part of the Providence waterfront for condos, restaurants, recreational and other non-working-port purposes.