She is the sailing vessel on the stamp in front of the FREEWIND.
Built as a yacht under yard No 519 by Krupp Germania at Kiel, Germany for the wealthy businessman E.F. Hutton from New York.
April 1931 launched as the HUSSAR.
Tonnage 2.323 gross, dim. 109.7 x 15.2 m., length between pp. 77.4m.
Powered diesel electric by four 8-cyl. Enterprise diesel engines, 6.000 hp., twin shafts, speed 14
Barque rigged, sail area 3.160 m².
A golden eagle painted on her bow.
Crew 72.
September 1931 delivered to owners. Building cost around 1 million US Dollar.
Hutton’s wife Marjorie Merriweather Post herself was responsible for the fitting out and decoration of the ships cabins.
Under command of Capt. C.W. Lawson she made diverse voyages to exotic places with on board the family Hutton and their guests.
After the pair divorced in August 1935, Hutton signed over the yacht to his ex wife, who was much in love with the ship.
Marjorie renamed the yacht in SEA CLOUD.
15 December 1935 Marjorie married the successful attorney and friend Joseph E. Davis, and when he was appointed ambassador to Russia in 1937 the yacht was berthed in Leningrad as a floating diplomatic palace, and from there she made regular sailings trips in the Baltic with on board important guests.
June 1938 she left Leningrad and sailed to Istanbul.
When Davis was appointed as ambassador in Belgium she was berthed in Antwerp.
Later she sailed to Jacksonville, where after the couple tried to sell the yacht, but there were not any takers, the market had collapsed for luxury yacht.
1942 she was chartered for 1 Dollar a month by the USA Coastguard, and painted gray.
08 January 1942 she sailed from Georgetown, South Caroline for Curtis Bay, Maryland where she arrived on 11 January.
Converted there in a weather observation station vessel on the Coast Guard yard, painted gray
Armament: 2 – 3 inch, 8 – 20mm guns, 4 – K-guns, 1 – Mark X Hedgehog. 2 – depth charge tracks.
Crew 21 officers, 1 warrant, 13 chief petty officers, 160 enlisted men.
Pennant No WPG-284.
Thereafter in service at the Atlantic weather station No2 in position 52 North, 42 30 West. With occasional appointed to other weather stations.
06 June she rescued 8 survivors of the schooner MARIA DA GLORIA.
09 April 1943 commissioned in the USA Navy but she kept her Coast Guard crew, and was still used as a weather observation station in the Atlantic.
20 April 1944 she sailed from Boston bound for Argentia, New Foundland where she arrived on 20 May.
From this station she served at the weather stations 3 and 4 in the Atlantic.
August 1944 she set course to Boston.
Underwent repairs at the Bethlehem Steel Atlantic Ship Yard at East Boston.
04 November 1944 decommissioned and returned to owners along with $175.000 to convert her back to her pre-war appearance.
13 November 1944 stricken from the Navy Vessel register.
It took about four years before the SEA CLOUD was ready to sail out again, it mostly sailed along the East Coast of America. Again painted white.
In 1947 she received a set of 29 new sails.
In the early 1950s the cost to keep her sailing got so high, that Marjorie decided to sell her.
At least she found a buyer; the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo bought the SEA CLOUD and renamed her in ANGELITA, named after the daughter of the President.
She was mostly used then as a floating houseboat by the family of Trujillo and Government office.
When he was assassinated on 30 May 1961, the ANGELITA left the Dominican Republic with the body of Trujillo and a number of his family and a lot of cash bound for Cannes.
Near the Canary Islands the crew got a radio message from the new Dominican Government to return to Dominica.
1961 Was she renamed in PATRIA and put up for sail by the Dominican Government.
1964 Sold to Operations Sea Cruises Inc. based in Panama, renamed in ANTARNA, she was sent to Naples to have her complete restored.
But when she arrived in the USA there was a dispute with the American authorities and the ship stayed alongside.
Charles and Stephanie Gallagher paid the fees to the American authorities and when all the restrictions where lifted set sail. The intention of the pair was to use the ship for an “Oceanic School” for young students.
The director of the Operation Sea Cruises, John Blue was still the owner of the ship, and was in possession of the ship papers.
After the ANTARNA arrived in Panama, Blue after a confrontation with the Gallagher retrieved the ANTARNA.
For eight years the ANTARNA was idle in Colon harbour, without much work done on her.
Then she was bought by Harmut Paschburg and a group of Hamburg businessmen, renamed SEA CLOUD and under his command he sailed the vessel to Hamburg with a 38 men crew, arriving in Hamburg on 15 November 1978.
February 1979 she was moved to the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG in Kiel the successor of the Germania-Werft were she was built.
Fitted out there with a 64 passenger capacity and accommodation for a crew of 60.
1979 She sailed out for her first cruise, and till today used as a cruise vessel around the world.
2011 Is she owned by Hansa Cloud Sailing Ltd., Malta and managed by Hansa Shipping GMBH & Co. KG, Hamburg. IMO No 8843446.
Monaco 1939 70/3F sg 182/89, 1940 75 = 1f/3F = 1F sg 221/225. 1941 1F20/25F sg 258/374 as HUSSAR
St Kitts 2009 90c sg?, scott?
Aruba 2011 275c sg?, scott?
Togo 2017 800F sg?, scott?
Source:
http://www.seacloud.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Sea_Cloud_(WPG-284)
Great Sailing Ships of the World by Otmar Schäuffelen. Various other web-sites.
