Theo Glorie, a local visionary and co-owner of The Coffee Plantation with his wife Diane, decided to try to try to save the ship and keep it in Key West. He founded the Schooner Western Union Preservation Society & Maritime Museum (SWUPS), a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring and preserving the historic schooner for the public as a sailing experience aboard a working, sailing museum to commemorate Florida's seafaring heritage. A group of local community leaders, including Captain Frank Holden, attorney Michael Browning, HTA CEO Chris Belland, Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers, realtor Guy DeBoer (currently editor of the weekly newspaper "Konk Life"), realtor Ed Anderson, developer Roger Bernstein, Schooner Wharf Bar co-owner Paul Whortington and Bill Semich, President and Editor of "Key West Magazine", stepped up and agreed to join the Society's initial board of directors, along with Glorie. Months later in October 2007, HTA donated the historic schooner to SWUPS. The first order of business was to restore the seventy-year-old schooner so she could continue to be certified by the United States Coast Guard to sail with passengers as a sailing, working museum.