Her Past
The story began in April 1921 at River
Rouge (near Detroit), Michigan, USA, where the "Great Lakes
Engineering Works" had the honor of launching "DELPHINE"
belonging to the Dodge family.
At that time, the Dodge Brothers' Company was one
of the largest American automobile-manufacturers.
For seven
years the Brothers had been producing their own Dodge
automobile, which was a great commercial success with cars to a
value of $35 000 000 being sold in the first year!
Horace
Dodge, the youngest of the Brothers and the 'mechanic' of the
two, loved yachting. In 1904 he ordered a 40-foot launch and by 1910
he owned two other larger vessels, both named HORNET. As
Horace had always liked to develop his own sources of power,
he created the Dodge Marine Division in addition to the car
business.
These launches had always one problem:
insufficient sleeping accommodation. So in 1913 he ordered the
180-foot "NOKOMIS I" and four years later, its 243-foot long
successor was built. His next yacht, the 258-foot "DELPHINE",
named after his only daughter, was built in 1920.
That year, tragedy hit the
family when both brothers died. The splendid yacht "DELPHINE"
was finally launched on April 2, 1921. At that time she was
the largest yacht in tonnage ever built in the USA.
The facilities onboard were superb: besides the
large owner's stateroom with en-suite bathroom, there were also nine
guest staterooms. The guests could enjoy the luxury of three
lounges, a music room, a card room, and above the
dining room there was a smoking room. To serve the 20
guests onboard, there was a crew of 55 who all had their
accommodation in the bow.
Her voyages were mainly in the
Great Lakes area but the trips to the Atlantic Ocean would always be
very tricky. As a matter of fact, the 258-foot yacht with her
15-foot draught was the largest yacht to pass through the locks on
the Welland canal and the Saint Lawrence River, in the 1920's!
Although, this palatial yacht was used mainly for cocktail
parties, she was also used for watching speedboat races in which
Horace Junior Dodge, son of Horace Dodge, was a
frequent participant.
On one such occasion, in New York in 1926,
"DELPHINE" disastrously caught fire and sank.
Luckily
for maritime history enthusiasts, Anna Dodge, Horace Dodge's
wife, ordered the recovery and restoration of "DELPHINE". In
1940, after again having been docked for five years, she re-captured
the attention of the media by steaming onto a rock in the Great
Lakes. At that time, and even today, she was mistakenly thought by
both the public and the media to have sunk again, but she did in
fact suffer only minor damage.
In January 1942 the U.S. Navy
acquired the yacht and converted her into "U.S.S. DAUNTLESS
PG61". She was to be the flagship of Admiral Ernest King,
Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations.
Shortly after the war, it is reported that several world
leaders, including President Roosevelt, went onboard to
discuss war strategies with Admiral King.
When the
war ended, Anna Dodge got her lovely yacht back, and after a
refit only the nine hash-marks remained as a reminder of
"DELPHINE's wartime period.
From 1955
"DELPHINE" was to be permanently docked at her private pier
with only 3 of the 55 crewmembers onboard. She was finally donated
to 'the People to People Health Foundation' in 1967. One year later
"DELPHINE" was re-born as part of the "Lundeberg Maryland
Seamanship School", who renamed her "DAUNTLESS". For
nearly 20 years she was to serve as a training ship for merchant
seamen.
After this period she was sold in 1986 to the
company "Travel Dynamics" of New York City. They wanted to restore
her but finally, they abandoned their plans, and in 1989 "Sea Sun
Cruises", a French-Singapore company, bought her with the idea of
restoring her in Singapore. Under their ownership, "DELPHINE"
made her first and only Atlantic crossing! When arriving in Malta,
in the Mediterranean, the Singapore owner decided to abandon the
idea. In 1993 she steamed to Marseilles, in France. After four years
"DELPHINE" had still not been restored which is why a
European businessman was able to buy her in 1997. That same year she
was towed to Bruges, Belgium, where she is now undergoing her latest
full restoration.
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S/S DELPHINE in
2003
In July 2003, "S/S DELPHINE" will be
available for private chartering in both the Mediterranean and the
Caribbean, and will be able to accommodate up to 28 guests*.
Life aboard "S/S Delphine" will be luxurious.
Guests will have at their disposal:
- A swimming pool with jet
stream;
- A massage bath and
table;
- A Turkish bath
- Sauna for up to 6
people;
- A fully equipped fitness
room
- A hairdresser.
There will also be, as standard,
- 4 tenders,
- 4 jet-skis,
- water skiing
equipment
- and diving gear.
"S/S Delphine" also has a large
sundeck of 1000m2 (10764ft2) for the use of sun worshippers and
joggers alike.
Each guest suite has its own:
- En-suite bathroom,
- Independent satellite
TV,
- Valuables safe,
- Mini-bar,
- Stand-alone music
system,
- Telephone enabling both
intercom and satellite use.
- There are 13 guest
cabins of which 2 VIP and 2 for children/domestics of the guests.
Except of the last two all the others are king and queen bed.
The public areas of the yacht also
have independent music systems which can be interconnected for
parties.
Last but not least, there will also be:
-
Concert and
- Electric pianos onboard,
each played by Permanent Crew Musicians!
Although it is difficult to predict a
precise completion date for this comprehensive refit, the owner's
hope is that "Delphine" will be ready in time to attend the
Monaco Grand Prix in May
2003.
SPECIFICATIONS
LOA: 257.8ft
Beam: 35.5ft
Draft: 14.6ft
Net ton: 1676
Power : 2x quadruple steam
expansion engines, each 750HP
Maximum speed: 13 knots
Cruising speed: 10.5 knots
Cruising radius: 3,000
miles
Guests: 28
Crew: 32
There are 13 guest cabins of which 2 VIP and 2 for
children/domestics of the guests. Except of the last two all the
others are king and queen bed.
The
Book
When "S/S Delphine" is back to her former glory, and
current work has been completed, it is planned to publish a hardback
book fully documenting her history, which has already meant several
years of intensive research on the subject.
The book,
published in English, will contain fully archived information in
addition to acknowledgements from other publications and sources,
all featuring one of the last remaining American Steam Yachts of the
1920's. Besides the inclusion of many never revealed stories and
anecdotes about "Delphine", the book will also address the
mistakes and misconceptions regarding her history. The text will
contain approximately 400 photographs, illustrating to the reader
the changing face of "Delphine" over the years, both
externally and internally. The book will also contain details of her
latest restoration. In addition to her own background, there will be
a brief history of steam yachting, and also a dedicated feature on
the Dodge family and their fleet of vessels. Mention is also made of
"Delphine's" engineers, the "Gielow Company".
If you
would like to be advised when this hardback (290x250mm) publication
becomes available to the public, please e-mail nikomaho@otenet.gr to register your interest now. The price has
yet to be determined. Is estimated to be in the area of 95 or 100
Euros.
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*Due to this capacity, she must meet SOLAS (Safety of Life at
Sea), HACCP (European standard of USPH) and MARPOL (International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from ships)
requirements[1], in line with those of a passenger ship. She will,
however, still look like and essentially be, Horace Dodge's yacht of
1921.
[1] SOLAS regulations mean among other things that watertight
compartments have to be created which is possible by the
installation of fire and watertight automatic closing doors and
steel plates on the floors. Two other requirements are vertical
escapes in steel cases with automatic closing doors and a fog system
as part of the fire extinguisher! besides the normal fire-hoses.
Also the interior decoration, which is based upon the original
drawings and photographs of 1921, has to be fire resistant too!
USPH includes a complete stainless steel galley and pantry;
separate section in the galley for both the cooking and the
dishwashing; two separate elevators from the galley to the pantry
with one for serving and the other for clearing away; everything in
the galley/pantry/provision storeroom has to be easy to clean; also
the water tanks must not be able to touch the hull so separate
stainless steel tanks had to be installed.
MARPOL on the other hand concerns 4 subjects: water
pollution, air pollution and the recuperation of oil and solid
refuse waste which may not be thrown overboard. With regard to water
pollution, there is a Sewage treatment unit into which all the black
(toilet) and grey water enters. In the unit there are pumps that cut
everything into very small pieces and by adding chlorine it is made
ready to throw overboard. On the subject of air pollution, all the
generators and pumps onboard need certificates concerning the
exhaust gases. In the engine room there is also an oil separator.
And finally for the solid refuse there are two additional features:
firstly a glass-crusher so that sand and not glass can be disposed
of overboard and secondly waste disposal bags which are compressed
and kept in a stainless steel.
For Booking S/S
"DELPHINE"
If you are interested in chartering the yacht,
please address your inquiry to: info@yachting-Croatia.com
specifying desired dates as well as the number of your
guests.
You may call: Croatia (++) 306-977519090
The daily rate for chartering "S/S DELPHINE" is
50,000 Euro.
We will keep you updated on a regular basis via a
short e-mail regarding completion of her refit.
Also visit this page often because it will be
updated constantly and to see a complete photo gallery.
Please keep in mind, the goal is "S/S
DELPHINE" to be in Monaco this May for the Grand Prix.
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