Three individuals showed up to inspect the historic Falls of Clyde at Honolulu Harbor on Friday, the designated day for potential buyers to check out the vessel. By the end of the day, however, there were no official bids for the 140-year-old ship, the only surviving iron-hulled, four-masted ship of its kind in the world.

The state Harbors Division on Feb. 7 issued the notice of public auction for the sale of the Falls of Clyde in its current state. The buyer must put up a $1.5 million bond and guarantee to remove the ship from Honolulu Harbor within 60 days of purchase.

Potential bidders who missed Friday’s open house can request individual showings, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Tim Sakahara.

The state is determined to remove the ship from the harbor before hurricane season starts June 1.

“There are multiple options,” Sakahara said. “Right now we’re focused on the auction part of it and hopeful that a qualified bidder will come forward and make a bid that is accepted.”

The state will accept sealed bids until 11 a.m. Feb. 28, followed by a public announcement of the bids later that same day.

Susan Loui of Honolulu said she was inspecting the ship on behalf of a person from the West Coast with a potential interest in bidding for it. She declined to name the individual but said that he had a historic interest in the ship.

After spending a good hour on the ship and outside of it, documenting its state, her assessment was that “it’s going to need a lot of work.” She noted, “There’s rust everywhere and there’s corrosion on the inside.”

Meanwhile, a flurry of letters were exchanged between Bruce McEwan, president of the Friends of Falls of Clyde, the ship’s registered owner, and Derek Chow, deputy director of transportation for the state’s Harbors Division, over the past week.

On Monday, McEwan sent a letter to Chow challenging its authorization of the public auction as written in a state law. McEwan said the Falls of Clyde does not fall under the category of an unauthorized vessel that is impounded and unclaimed, and therefore may be sold at public auction.

“The term ‘unclaimed’ is not defined in the statute,” wrote McEwan. “Harbors Division has apparently interpreted the term to refer to a vessel that has not been ‘removed.’ There is no precedent for this interpretation, and we believe it is improper.”

When the owner of a vessel continues to exercise oversight, perform maintenance and other managerial tasks, the vessel is clearly not “unclaimed,” McEwan said.

On Thursday, Chow responded to McEwan, saying the Falls of Clyde has been moored at Pier 7 at Honolulu Harbor, rent-free, for 10 years and that it has been there without a permit for almost three years. The state impounded the ship in 2016.

“Time and time again, Friends of Falls of Clyde promised to remove the vessel,” wrote Chow. “Time and time again, FFOC failed to do so. After giving FFOC a decade of chances, the state is now taking steps on its own to remove the vessel.”

McEwan said restoring a historic vessel takes dec­ades, as shown by various examples throughout the world. He said a plan to transport the ship back to its birthplace in Scotland — in the works by the group Save Falls of Clyde International, led of David O’Neill — is still viable.

“We are asking to hold off the auction process until he can finish,” McEwan said. “We understand that Harbors Division wants the ship removed before hurricane season and we believe that will be accomplished.”

But Sakahara said the state has the right to proceed with the auction according to the law.

“Technically, right now this vessel is impounded, unauthorized, unpermitted and illegally moored at the harbor,” he said. “They [FFOC] knew we were going to be proceeding with the auction after the last unsuccessful attempt in February — Feb. 6 was the deadline. They knew if the ship wasn’t removed, we were going to proceed with the auction.”

The patching of holes in the ship under an emergency procurement a few weeks ago to prevent it from taking on water was only a temporary fix, he said. The ship needs full repairs.

“Our concern is it cannot be left here as is,” Sakahara said. “It’s had years of neglect and lack of maintenance.”

The winning bidder must pay 10 percent of the winning bid amount at the fall of the hammer, with the remainder due within 30 calendar days. If no bid is received or the winning bidder fails to pay or remove the ship in a timely manner, the state’s options would then be to sell it by negotiation, dispose of the vessel as junk, donate it to a government agency or take any other action allowable by law.

Built by Russell & Co. in Port Glasgow, Scotland, in 1878, the Falls of Clyde is believed to be the last surviving ship of a fleet named after Scottish waterfalls, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In retirement at Hono­lulu Harbor, the ship became a museum and hosted weddings, funerals and parties. It survived Hurricane Iwa and two previous attempts to sink it. Bishop Museum, its previous owner, was going to scrap it, but the Friends purchased it for $1 in 2008.