SEATTLE -- The historic coastal schooner Wawona, which is considered an historic link to the Northwest's maritime heritage, will soon be no more.

The 112-year-old Wawona Schooner had been docked in South Lake Union since 1980. Its owners spent years waiting for $10 to $20 million to rebuild the historic ship, but that money never came.

While waiting for the money, the city of Seattle spent years waiting for it to be moved so Lake Union Park could be expanded – and it’s finally happening.

Guided by tug boats, the Wawona set off on the water for the first time in at least 29 years on Wednesday. It was just a quarter mile trip to dry-dock, where it will be taken apart.

Built in 1897, the Wawona was the largest three-masted schooner ever built in North America. One of only two of its kind left from the Pacific Fleet, she ran lumber from the Northwest to California, brought fish to Seattle from the Bearing Sea in Alaska, and even hauled timber to build planes at Boeing during World War Two.

Kay Bullitt, a longtime civic leader, helped bring the Wawona to Seattle back in the 1960s.

"She's an icon. She participated in all the major industries that built this region," Bullitt said.

Nathaniel Howe's dad brought him to see the ship when he was 10 years old and now he’s the vessel’s preservation specialist for Northwest Seaport, the company that owns the Wawona.

Dismantling the vessel will take four to five weeks with preservationists elaborately documenting every detail of the ship. Hundreds of artifacts, including the ship's rudder and sign, will be saved.

The artifacts will one day be displayed in the Museum of History and Industry, which is planning to be relocated to Lake Union in the next few years.