Sea Cloud

Last updated

Sea Cloud I.jpg
Sea Cloud as a cruise ship in 2007
History
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
Name
  • Hussar V (1931–35)
  • Sea Cloud
Owner Edward Francis Hutton, Marjorie Merriweather Post
Builder
LaunchedApril 25, 1931
FateChartered to the United States Armed Forces between 1942 and 1944. Post decided in 1955, to sell the ship to president of the Dominican Republic
Flag of the United States Coast Guard.svg
NameUSCGC Sea Cloud
AcquiredChartered from Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Davies for $1.00 on January 2, 1942
CommissionedApril 4, 1942
DecommissionedApril 9, 1943
IdentificationWPG-284
Fatetransferred to the United States Navy
NotesServed with the first racially integrated crew in the United States Armed Forces, under the command of Lieutenant Carlton Skinner
US flag 48 stars.svg
NameUSS Sea Cloud
CommissionedApril 9, 1943
DecommissionedNovember 4, 1944
IdentificationIX-99
FateReturned to private ownership with US$175,000 for conversion back to pre-war appearance
Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg
Name
  • Presidential yacht Angelita
  • From 1961: Patria
Acquired1955
Flag of Panama.svg
NamePatria
OwnerOperation Sea Cruises Inc.
Acquired1966
Fatereequipped for charters in Naples
Flag of the United States.svg
NameAntarna
OwnerAntarna Inc., Miami
Acquired1969
Fatemoored for eight years in Colón, Panama
Civil Ensign of Malta.svg
NameSea Cloud
OwnerSchiffahrtsgesellschaft Sea Cloud mbH & Co. KG
FlagMalta (Flag of convenience)
Acquired1978
Identification
Statusin service
NotesCommissioned as a sailing cruise ship after full scale renovation and modifications at the shipyard where she was originally built
General characteristics
Class and type(1942–1944) United States Coast Guard Cutter/(1944–present) barque
Displacement3,077 tons
Masts4
FigureheadGilded eagle
Length360 ft (110 m)
Beam49 ft 2 in (14.99 m)
Draft19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion Diesel-electric; two shafts
Speed14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement(1942–1944) 21 officers, 1 warrant, 13 chief petty officers, 160 enlisted men/(1944–present) 61 civilian crew
Sensors and
processing systems
  • Three radars:
  • ET 80198-2-22MC
  • ET 8010C 375-500 KC
  • ET 8012B 2100 - 3000 KC
  • Sonar
  • Echo ranging equipment
  • Range recorder
  • Sub-Sig Fathometer
Armament

Sea Cloud is a sailing cruise ship owned by Sea Cloud Cruises of Hamburg, Germany. Launched as a private yacht as Hussar V for Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1931, she later served as a weather ship for the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy during World War II, when she became the U.S. military's first racially integrated warship since the American Civil War. [1] After the war, Sea Cloud was returned to private ownership, serving as a yacht for numerous people, including as presidential yacht of the Dominican Republic. Since 1979, Sea Cloud has been used as a cruise ship.

Contents

Private yacht Hussar V

Sea Cloud was built in Kiel, Germany, as a barque for Marjorie Merriweather Post and her second husband Edward F. Hutton of Wall Street's E. F. Hutton & Co. [2] [3] The yacht interiors and features were personally designed by Post, who took a course in marine engineering, and had full size interior mocks-ups done in a New York warehouse. [4] [5] She was launched in 1931 as Hussar V as a replacement for the Hussar IV. At the time of her construction, she was the largest private yacht in the world. [6] The maiden voyage was in November 1931, from the shipyard in Germany to Bermuda, where the ship was received by Hutton and Post on November 30, 1931. [5]

Sea Cloud and "Floating Embassy"

In 1935, the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Joseph E. Davies, married Marjorie Merriweather Post. [6] Mr. and Mrs. Davies renamed the ship Sea Cloud. [2] Although Mrs. Davies owned the ship, she allowed Mr. Davies to claim ownership of the vessel. Those whom Davies entertained on the ship included Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. [6] Soviet and United States officials stayed and met on the vessel. [7]

Coast Guard service

When Mrs. Davies first offered the ship to the U.S. Department of the Navy in 1941, the Navy turned her down. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt objected to the ship entering service, remarking that the ship was too beautiful to be sacrificed. [8] On January 7, 1942, the Navy reassessed its position and chartered the ship for $1 per year. [2] The Navy sent Sea Cloud from Georgetown, South Carolina, to the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, to be refitted as a "weather observation station vessel", and had the four masts removed and hull painted battleship gray. [2] [7] Sea Cloud was commissioned as a United States Coast Guard Cutter on April 4, 1942, and assigned to the Eastern Sea Frontier, with a permanent home port in Boston. [2]

During 1942, Sea Cloud mostly served as a weather ship at Weather Patrol Station Number Two (position 52°0′N42°30′W / 52.000°N 42.500°W / 52.000; -42.500 ). On June 6, 1942, the ship rescued eight survivors from the schooner Maria da Gloria. [2] On August 3, 1942 and August 4, 1942, Sea Cloud served at Weather Patrol Station Number One while USS Manhasset was converted to a weather ship. [2]

In 1943, the Navy asked for control of Sea Cloud and Nourmahal, another former yacht converted into a weather ship. On April 9, 1943, the United States Navy commissioned Sea Cloud as USS Sea Cloud (IX-99), though she maintained a Coast Guard crew. [2] She was assigned to Task Force 24.

Relieving USCGC Conifer in February 1944, Sea Cloud patrolled a 100-square-mile (260 km2) area near the New England coast, generating weather reports for the First Naval District. On February 27, 1944, Sea Cloud traveled to be refurbished at Atlantic Yard in East Boston, afterwards taking over a new one-hundred square mile area at Weather Station Number One. [2]

On April 5, 1944, Sea Cloud received radar indication of a small target at position 39°27′N62°30′W / 39.450°N 62.500°W / 39.450; -62.500 , bearing 350° at 3,000 yards (2,700 m). [2] General quarters were sounded and battle stations manned, but contact was lost ten minutes later. The target was identified as a submarine, but after Sea Cloud carried out standard anti-submarine drills with no evidence of damage being inflicted, she returned to port. [2]

After minor repairs, Sea Cloud was rebased to Argentia, Newfoundland, where she was assigned to Weather Station Number Three. While patrolling the area on June 11, 1944, the crew spotted a Navy Grumman TBF Avenger, exchanging recognition signals. Sea Cloud received orders to report to the escort carrier Croatan and join the five other escort ships under her command. The envoy searched for a raft reported in the area, but returned with no sightings. After this event, Sea Cloud was once again reassigned to Weather Station Number Four. After a search for a downed aircraft, she returned to port in Boston. Sea Cloud was decommissioned on November 4, 1944, at the Bethlehem Steel Atlantic Yard and returned to Davies, along with $175,000 for conversion to pre-war appearance. [2]

For her wartime service, Sea Cloud was awarded the American Campaign Medal and the World War Two Victory Medal.

Racial integration

In late 1944, Lieutenant Carlton Skinner took command of the ship, after previously serving as executive officer in November 1944. At the time, black seamen were permitted to serve only as ship stewards. After witnessing a black man save the crew of Northland yet still be denied promotion because of the rule, Skinner proposed an experiment. Skinner submitted his plan to the U.S. Secretary of the Navy and was allowed to sail his first weather patrol with a fully-integrated crew. [9]

Within a few months, 50 black sailors, including two officers, were stationed aboard Sea Cloud. [2] Skinner requested for the experiment not to be publicized and for the ship not to be treated differently from other ships in the task force. Skinner showed that his integrated crew could work just as efficiently as a segregated crew, if not more so, after his crew had passed two fleet inspections with no deficiencies. [2]

Under Skinner's command when the ship was integrated, American painter Jacob Lawrence served on the Sea Cloud. [10] He was able to paint and sketch while in the Coast Guard, [11] notably his War Series. [12]

Return to civilian service

Following her return, Sea Cloud received a reassembled rigging in 1947, and a new set of twenty-nine sails in 1949. [13] The vessel was painted white, and a gold eagle painted on the bow. The ship's reconstruction took nearly four years. Post retained ownership of Sea Cloud in the aftermath of her divorce from Mr. Davies, since she had originally brought the ship into the marriage. After evaluating the cost of running a year-round crew of seventy-two, Post decided to sell the ship. [6]

In the beginning Sea Cloud featured royal-sails over single topgallant- and double top-sails on the fore and mizzen masts. The main mast was equipped with a royal-sail over double topgallant- and double top-sails. Today the first three masts are rigged with double top-sails, single topgallants, royals and a main skysail.

Presidential yacht Angelita

Rafael Trujillo, ruler of the Dominican Republic, purchased Sea Cloud in 1955, trading a secondhand Vickers Viscount airliner in return. [13] He renamed the ship Angelita after his daughter Angelita Trujillo. The yacht served as a houseboat and government office. Following Trujillo's assassination on May 30, 1961, his family attempted to smuggle themselves and Trujillo's body to the Canary Islands aboard Angelita, but were forced back by the Dominican Republic's new government. [6]

School ship Patria

Five years after Trujillo's death, the ship, now named Patria, was sold to Operation Sea Cruises, Inc. in 1966. Company president John Blue registered her in Panama and sent her to Naples, Italy, to recondition and outfit her for charters. Sold to Antarna Inc., Miami, in 1969 the ship was renamed Antarna. Blue brought the vessel to the United States, but port authorities docked the boat after a dispute in Colón, Panama. Charles and Stephanie Gallagher paid the fees to get the ship free and set her to sea, even though Blue still held the ship's papers. The two dreamed of making the ship an "oceanic school" where students would supplement their traditional learning with at-sea education. Blue eventually retrieved his ship after a confrontation in Panama. [6]

Cruise ship Sea Cloud

After the ship stayed in port for eight years, Hartmut Paschburg and a group of Hamburg associates purchased her, once again naming her Sea Cloud. Paschburg and thirty-eight other men sailed the ship to Europe, arriving in the Port of Hamburg on November 15, 1978. Sea Cloud spent eight months undergoing repairs in the now-named Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyard, the very yard she was built in. She was redesigned with a sixty-four passenger capacity for a crew of sixty. [7] The ship set sail on her first cruise in 1979, [6] and has since been described by the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships as "the most romantic sailing ship afloat". [14] In 2011, the Sea Cloud underwent extensive renovations at the MWB-Werft, Bremerhaven. [15] She is still operating as a cruise ship. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Asterion</i> (AK-100) American Q-ship

USS Asterion was a Q-ship of the United States Navy named for Asterion, a star in the constellation Canes Venatici.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjorie Merriweather Post</span> American businesswoman (1887–1973)

Marjorie Merriweather Post was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She was the daughter of C. W. Post and the owner of General Foods Corporation. For much of Marjorie Post's life, she was known as the wealthiest woman in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brig</span> Sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts

A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part of the 19th century. In commercial use, they were gradually replaced by fore-and-aft rigged vessels such as schooners, as owners sought to reduce crew costs by having rigs that could be handled by fewer men. In Royal Navy use, brigs were retained for training use when the battle fleets consisted almost entirely of iron-hulled steamships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sloop-of-war</span> Type of warship

During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the British Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all unrated warships, including gun-brigs and cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fire ships were classed by the Royal Navy as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the role of a sloop-of-war when not carrying out their specialised functions.

USCGC <i>Eagle</i> (WIX-327) Barque used as a sail training ship for the US Coast Guard Academy

USCGC Eagle (WIX-327), formerly Horst Wessel and also known as Barque Eagle, is a 295-foot (90 m) barque used as a training cutter for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. She is one of only two active commissioned sailing vessels in the United States military today, along with USS Constitution which is ported in Boston Harbor. She is the seventh Coast Guard cutter to bear the name in a line dating back to 1792, including the Revenue Cutter Eagle.

USS <i>Farragut</i> (DD-348) Farragut-class destroyer

The third USS Farragut (DD-348) was named for Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801–1870). She was the lead ship of her class of destroyers in the United States Navy.

USCGC <i>Edisto</i>

USS Edisto (AGB-2) was a Wind-class icebreaker in the service of the United States Navy and was later transferred to the United States Coast Guard as USCGC Edisto (WAGB-284). She was named after Edisto Island, South Carolina. The island is named after the Native American Edisto Band who inhabited the island and the surrounding area. As of 2011 there is a namesake cutter USCGC Edisto (WPB-1313). The newer Edisto is a 110-foot Island-class patrol boat and is stationed in San Diego County, California.

KRI <i>Dewaruci</i> Sailing vessel from the Indonesian Navy

KRI Dewaruci is a Class A tall ship and the only barquentine owned and operated by the Indonesian Navy. She is used as a sail training vessel for naval cadets and is the largest tall ship in the Indonesian fleet. Dewaruci also serves as a goodwill ambassador for Indonesia to the rest of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Francis Hutton</span> American financier (1875–1962)

Edward Francis Hutton was an American financier and co-founder of E. F. Hutton & Co., once one of the largest financial firms in the United States.

USS <i>Fogg</i> Buckley-class destroyer escort

USS Fogg (DE/DER-57), a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1947. She was scrapped in 1966.

USS <i>Chambers</i> Early Cold War-era U.S. destroyer escort

USS Chambers (DE-391) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 and from 1955 to 1960. From 1952 to 1954, she was loaned to the United States Coast Guard where she served as USCGC Chambers (WDE-491). She was finally scrapped in 1975.

USCGC <i>Evergreen</i> American seagoing buoy tender (1943–1990)

The USCGC Evergreen was a Cactus-class seagoing buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. She served in the North Atlantic during World War II and participated in the International Ice Patrol in these waters after the war. She was the first dedicated oceanographic vessel in the Coast Guard's history. She was decommissioned in 1990 and sunk by the US Navy for target practice in 1992.

USCGC <i>Northland</i> (WPG-49)

USCGC Northland (WPG-49) was a United States Coast Guard cruising class of gunboat especially designed for Arctic operations in commission from 1927 to 1938 and from 1939 to 1946. She served during World War II. She was the last cruising cutter built for the Coast Guard equipped with a sailing rig.

<i>Jadran</i> (training ship) Sailing ship for basic naval training

Jadran is a sailing ship for basic naval training built for the Yugoslav Royal Navy and currently in Montenegrin Navy service. A three-mast topsail schooner or barquentine with an auxiliary engine, Jadran was built in Hamburg, Germany between 1930 and 1933, and commissioned on 19 August 1933. Prior to World War II she completed seven long training cruises with trainees from the Yugoslav Naval Academy, including one to North America. As Yugoslavia was neutral at the outbreak of World War II, Jadran was able to conduct short cruises in the Adriatic Sea. In April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers, and Jadran was captured and renamed Marco Polo by the Italian Navy. She continued to be used as a training ship in the Adriatic, operating out of the Istrian port of Pola, and was featured in an Italian propaganda film.

SV Mandalay

The SV Mandalay is a three-masted schooner measuring 163.75 ft (49.91 m) pp, with a wrought iron hull. It was built as the private yacht Hussar (IV), and would later become the research vessel Vema, one of the world's most productive oceanographic research vessels. The ship currently sails as the cruising yacht Mandalay in the Caribbean.

USS <i>Aphrodite</i> Steam yacht, patrol vessel, and merchant ship

Aphrodite was a steam yacht that was launched in 1898. When completed in 1899 she was the largest steam yacht yet built in the US. In 1917 she was commissioned into the United States Navy as the patrol vessel USS Aphrodite (SP-135). She was based in France from 1917 to 1918; in England from 1918 to 1919; and then returned to her private owner.

<i>Sea Cloud II</i>

The Sea Cloud II is a large barque built as a cruise ship, and operated by Sea Cloud Cruises of Hamburg, Germany.

The USRC James Madison was a schooner named for Founding Father James Madison and launched in 1807 at Baltimore for service with the United States Revenue-Marine. During the first months of the War of 1812 she captured several merchant vessels, but in August 1812 HMS Barbadoes captured her. Lord Belmore, of Enniskillen, bought her and converted her to a privateer brig named Osprey. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 she became a yacht for a family trip to the eastern Mediterranean. In 1819, at the end of the trip, Bellmore sold her to Ferdinand I, King of Naples; her ultimate fate is unknown.

MV Star of Malta was a passenger ferry which operated routes from Malta to Sicily in the 1950s and 1960s, notable for its sinking off Malta on 29 July 1955, resulting in the death of one crew member and one passenger. Prior to that, she had a long career under a number of different names.

This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water. Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".

References

  1. Fagan, Kevin (29 August 2004). "Carlton Skinner broke racial barriers in Navy". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 14 September 2004. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "USS Sea Cloud, 1942: WPG-284; IX-99; ex-Hussar". United States Coast Guard. 20 August 2008. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  3. "Sea Cloud - IMO 8843446 Sea Cloud, bt. 1931, gt. 2531" . Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  4. Grobecker, Kurt (1998). Sea Cloud: A Living Legend. Edition Die Barque. ISBN   3884122541.
  5. 1 2 Perrin, Noel; Perrin, Special to The Washington Post Noel; Dartmouth, Special to The Washington Post; Noel Perrin teaches American literature at (1983-09-11). "CRUISE '83". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2020-05-03.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "A Windjammer Writes History". Sea Cloud Cruises. 2007. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 Figueiral, J. Ortega. "Alcúdia recibe al ´Sea Cloud´, yate que perteneció a Trujillo" (in Spanish). Diario de Mallorca. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
  8. Scull, Theodore (2006). 100 Best Cruise Vacations 4. Globe Pequot. pp. 112–115. ISBN   0-762738626.
  9. Skinner, Carlton (13 November 2008). "USS Sea Cloud, IX 99, Racial Integration for Naval Efficiency". United States Coast Guard . Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  10. "Jacob Lawrence, USCG biography". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
  11. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 2013-02-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "American Legends:From Calder to O'Keefe: Audio Guide Stop for Jacob Lawrence, War Series: Beachhead, 1947". Whitney Museum of Art . Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  13. 1 2 Buckley, William F. Jr. (2004). Miles Gone By: A Literary Autobiography. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing. p. 482. ISBN   0-89526-089-1.
  14. Ward, Douglas (2009). "Sailing Ships". Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships. Berlitz Corporation. Archived from the original on 1 November 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  15. Blinda, Antje (March 24, 2011). "Kreuzfahrt-Segler "Sea Cloud". Lady lässt sich liften" (in German). Der Spiegel.