EASTPORT – An eleventh-hour guarantee of $510,000 in state money is expected to salvage two Down East initiatives on the brink of sinking.

Gov. John Baldacci announced Thursday that the state has found some $210,000 for a Washington County marine technology program known universally as the Boat School, and $300,000 to keep running the two-year-old Downeast Heritage Museum in Calais. Baldacci credited the efforts of area legislators, including Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry, and Reps. Anne Perry, D-Calais, and Eddie Dugay, D-Cherryfield.

In making the announcement, the governor said the money would prevent the museum from foreclosure and would keep the boat school afloat.

“The museum is an anchor for tourism in Washington County,” Baldacci said. “The boat building [school] is also a vital resource to the area.”

Officially called the Marine Technology Center, the Boat School at Deep Cove in Eastport is a branch of Calais-based Washington County Community College.

The school narrowly avoided being closed two years ago after Bill Cassidy, the college’s president, announced plans to move the facility to the Calais campus. A major concern has not only been duplication of services, but complaints by students that they were too far from the Calais campus. The campuses are about 30 minutes apart.

But a group called Friends of the Boat School has been lobbying to keep the facility in Eastport, and on Thursday the group got its wish.

Cassidy learned of the governor’s announcement Thursday. “This is quite a surprise. The monies that have been put forth will allow us to offer a skeleton program for a second year,” he said. “I hope that this comes to a permanent resolution for the sake of the students.”

Right now the Boat School has eight students, with 18 applicants ready to sign on.

Funding for the school seesawed for months in the Legislature. Raye took the lead in pushing for funding through the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. When that did not work, he took it to the full House and Senate. It was not clear Thursday from which state source the money is coming.

In addition to the funding announced by the governor, Raye pushed for $25,000 for the community college, Eastport and others to explore partnerships to strengthen the future of the Boat School in Eastport.

The $650 million boat-building industry employs 5,000 Mainers and is currently the only growth sector in Maine’s manufacturing economy. “The Boat School is such an important asset to Washington County,” Rep. Ian Emery, R-Cutler, said in a press release Thursday. “We fought hard to make this happen, and it is great that it will be funded for the coming year.”

The $6.6 million museum opened as an interpretive center and museum in 2004.

Although there was plenty of fanfare in the beginning, the museum has been sputtering.

Executive Director Jim Thompson said Thursday the money would keep the museum operating for a year. But more is needed: $300,000 for the next five years.

The museum also has $3.3 million in debt that must be paid back. He is working closely with Maine’s congressional delegation on that one.

In the meantime, the $300,000 will help, he said. “That and the debt reduction would give us the opportunity to create the relationships necessary for foundation funding, commercial sponsorship and private sponsorship of the museum,” he said.

Calais City Manager Linda Pagels said Thursday she “had anticipated something like this, working closely with the governor and Legislature. So it was good news and now we can make plans.”