.jpg) | |
| Other names | Lasca II,Atlantide |
|---|---|
| Designer(s) | Theodore E. Ferris |
| Builder | Townsend & Downey, NY |
| Launched | 12 April 1902 |
| Fate | Active |
| Specifications | |
| Type | 3-mast steel schooner |
| Displacement | 300 metric tonnes |
| Length | 54.35 m (sparred) 44.20 (on deck) 32.63 (waterline) |
| Beam | 8.23 m |
| Draft | 4.65 m |
| Sail area | 888 m2 |
| Notes | |
| MMSI 235062000 | |
TheShenandoah is a three-mastedschooner with a steel hull, built in New York in 1902 as a privateyacht for the American financierGibson Fahnestock. She has had a series of private owners since,[1] and is available today for charter.[citation needed]
Shenandoah was designed byTheodore E. Ferris for the American financierGibson Fahnestock. She was launched in 1902 inStaten Island. Homeported atNewport, she sailed theMediterranean until 1905. The schooner has a strong resemblance to GermanEmperor Wilhelm II'sMeteor III which was built in the same shipyard.[2]
In 1912 she was bought by the German Walther von Brüning. Her new home port becameKiel and she was renamedLasca II. She was confiscated by the British navy during theFirst World War.
In 1919 the yacht was acquired by Lord John Espen, who rechristened herShenandoah. Two years later it was bought by Godfrey H. Williams and refitted with engines. In 1925, the yacht was sold again to the Italian princeSpado Veralli and rechristenedAtlantide.[2]
Atlantide was bought in 1929 by the Danish sculptorViggo Jarl, heir to the Danish industrial tycoonC. F. Tietgen and son of Vilhelm Jørgensen, part owner of the very profitable mining companyKryolitselskabet Øresund. Jarl refitted the ship with large amounts of modern equipment, including diesel engines and electricity.[3] During theSecond World WarAtlantide was hidden in a Danish shipyard inTroense, where one engine and all masts were removed, to make the ship not seaworthy and thus useless for theGerman occupying forces.[2] After the war the ship was brought back into shape and Jarl generously offered the ship at the disposal ofCopenhagen University for a ten-month oceanographic expedition, all expenses paid for. This expedition, led by Dr.Anton Bruun, went to the tropical waters along the African west coast and became known as the Atlantide expedition. Rigging the ship for the expedition was difficult immediately after the war and equipment had to be borrowed from here and there. Wires for the trawls were obtained in England, where they had served as anchor wires forblimps during the war. As a courtesy in return for this favour, as well as permission from theBritish Admiralty to navigate the high seas immediately after the war, a British zoologist was invited to join the expedition. The choice fell onFrancis C. Fraser, who later became director of theBritish Museum Natural History.[4] The other scientists onboard besides Fraser and Bruun wereTorben Wolff andJørgen Knudsen.
The expedition left Copenhagen on 3 October 1945. The scientific work started at theCape Verde Islands, which were reached on 8 December. Most of the work was done in theepipelagic zone (between 15 and 150 m) along the coast betweenDakar to the north andLuanda, Angola to the south.Atlantide returned to Copenhagen on 17 June 1946. The expedition produced a wealth of new knowledge about the oceanography and marine life in a part of the ocean that had previously been very poorly studied. The scientific results were published jointly by theZoological Museum of Copenhagen and theBritish Museum Natural History in 14 volumes of theAtlantide Reports, the last volume published in 1993.[4]
Jarl soldAtlantide to France in 1952. The owner was the company Compania de Navigacion San Augustin.[2] The exact whereabouts of the ship in the following years is not well known, but it is believed that the ship was involved in illegal shipping of various contraband in Central America. What is known is that the ship was seized by French customs in 1962. Moored and left to decay, the ship was eventually bought by French industrialist BaronMarcel Bich in 1972 after fighting a veritable paper war with the French authorities.[2] Bich restored the ship to full previous glory and returned her name toShenandoah. Under his ownership she became a charter yacht, sailing mainly in the Mediterranean Sea.
In 1986 she was sold to Swiss businessman Phillip Bommer, who performed a complete restoration at theMcMullen & Wing shipyard inAuckland.[5] Most of the original riveted hull was replaced and in 1997 theShenandoah was awarded "Best Classic Yacht Restoration".[2]
The ship is now owned[when?] by ItalianFrancesco Micheli, registered on the island ofSark, and sails as a charter vessel.[citation needed]
