SAIL CRUISING
SEA CLOUD TIMELINE
drawer storage would be more than sufficient, since I was travelling alone. The tile and marble-clad bathroom, with glass- enclosed shower, included multiple towel racks to ensure a plentiful supply of white, fluffy towels, along with a hair-dryer and assortment of toiletries. Terrycloth robe and slippers awaited; at bedside a telephone. As Danny left, I reminded him to give me a door key. “This is Sea Cloud,” he said with a smile. “We have no keys. Your belongings will be quite safe.” With all on board – just 39 passengers on this sailing – we were invited to the top-side Lido deck to sip a glass of sparkling wine as we departed precisely on time en route to Trapani. We’d be sailing under the careful attention of nautical and technical officers and hotel and cruise personnel representing a dozen different countries.
Captain Vladimir Pushkarev hailed from Russia; from Poland, first officer Joanna Subocz, who came aboard in 1992 as a deck hand to work her way up to sec- ond in command; hotel manager Simon Kwinta, also Polish, arrived as bartender 25 years ago to
“We were invited to sip a glass of sparkling wine on deck as we departed”
1931: American heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, married to EF Hutton, oversees every detail of the largest sailing yacht ever built. Christened Hussar, its purpose is to provide the couple and their guests in customary luxury in their travels about the world. 1935: Following Post’s divorce, she registers the yacht as Sea Cloud. 1937: Entering the world of politics and diplomacy, Sea Cloudheadquarters in Leningrad, taking on the role of a floating diplomatic palace. 1941: US Navy acquires the yacht for war effort, symbolically chartered for one dollar. 1942: US Coast Guard removes masts, paints the boat gray and outfits with weapons to cruise under the name of IX-99. 1946: At close of War, yacht returned to owners. 1947: Four-year re-reconstruction to original splendour begins. 1955: Post concludes she can no longer keep the yacht. It is sold to Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Montinas, Dominican Republic dictator, and named Angelita. 1966: Trujillo assassinated. New government takes over the yacht as Patria. 1967: Heiress Stephani Gallagher takes over the yacht for a studies-at-sea programme and renames it Antarina. Ownership disputes put an end to the enterprise. Yacht left to rot in Colón harbour. 1978: Hamburg-based investors acquire the yacht, rename it Sea Cloud, and set about making her seaworthy. 1979: Sea Cloud sets sail under charter to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.
Winter 2010 / 2011 I WORLD OF CRUISING 61
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