The 180-foot Shenandoah of Sark is one of the world’s best preserved classic topsail schooners. Built by New York shipyard Townsend and Downey in 1902, it has survived two world wars, circumnavigated the world three times, and is still revered 122 years after its delivery.
The sailing yacht’s design was heavily inspired by Meteor III, which was under construction at the same shipyard for Kaiser Wilhelm II. Shenandoah began life as a three-masted topsail schooner, though the topsails were removed during subsequent refits and rebuilds.
In 1972, Ballpoint pen magnate, Baron Marcel Bich, rescued the yacht from the French authorities, who had left it to rot for a decade following an unpaid tax scandal. Bich oversaw the boat’s first major restoration, returned her name to Shenandoah, and made her available for charter for the first time.
Modifications over the decades have included the installation of engines—at first gas engines under the ownership of Sir John Esplen at the end of World War One, and later two diesel Lugger engines of 500 hp each, which give the yacht a top speed of 12 knots.
Traveling under sail remains what Shenandoah does best. It was built as a global cruising yacht, though its ability to excel in stiff winds and whitecaps has led to success on the competitive regatta circuit. “When we’ve got flat seas and strong wind, this boat really lifts her skirts,” Captain Russell Potter, who first joined Shenandoah as a deckhand straight out of school in 2002, tells Robb Report.
When Covid hit in 2019, the current owners spent three months aboard with their dogs in Croatia and Greece. After a 24-year tenure, they are looking for the next custodian to take on the reigns of this majestic old lady.
Here are 9 things you didn’t know about one of the world’s most beloved classic sailing yachts.
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The Back Story
Image Credit: Shenandoah of Sark Built in 1902 at Townsend and Downey shipyard in New York, Shenandoah was conceived as a fast, long-distance sailing yacht for the American investment banker Gibson Fahnestock, who planned to tour Europe in his retirement. Since then, the boat has passed through many owners (including Sir John Esplen), sailed under many names (including Lasca II), and had numerous celebrity encounters, including a Mediterranean sail with Caroline Kennedy, daughter of JFK. It finally came to be called Shenandoah of Sark when one of its owners went to rename it, Shenandoah was taken. The “of Sark” part refers to an island in the U.K.’s Channel Islands.
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What’s in a Name?
Image Credit: Shenandoah of Sark Shenandoah (a phrase derivied from Native American languages meaning ‘beautiful daughter of the stars’) is named after the Native American tribe that lived in the Shenandoah Valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Virginia. The name is represented by the carved wooden bust of a Native American woman located under the yacht’s bowsprit
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Theodore Ferris
Image Credit: Shenandoah of Sark Shenandoah is the only yacht to be designed by American naval architect and engineer Theodore Ferris. He is best known for his “Ferris Designs”—the 3,500-deadweight-ton wooden steamships that were built and used by the United States’s Emergency Fleet Corporation during the First World War. Despite his success with Shenandoah, he went on to specialize in merchant vessels, both freight and passenger.
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Authentic Interior
Image Credit: Shenandoah of Sark The yacht has undergone two significant refits over the years. The first two-year restoration was carried out at New Zealand shipyard McMullen & Wing in 1996. The second, in 2009, included a new interior penned by Terence Disdale, though it remained sympathetic to the original design by Italian designer and architect, Gae Aulenti. The yacht sleeps eight guests in four cabins. This includes the master, which has an office, sleeping quarters for a child, and a bookcase with a secret passageway to the navigation station and the captain’s quarters.
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Maestro
Image Credit: Shenandoah of Sark The current owner—a professional musician—adores all things classical, including music, and has fitted a Steinway baby grand piano in the main salon. Many evenings of live concerts are enjoyed on board, though it’s not the only musical connection. Rod Stewart strutted on Shenandoah’s teak decks in the music video for his 1983 hit “What Am I Gonna Do (I’m So In Love With You”.
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Haute Cuisine
Image Credit: Shenandoah of Sark The yacht may be vintage, but the food is thoroughly modern. Chef Shay van der Kraan scooped the Heart and Sole award at the MYBA Chef’s Competition in 2022 (sponsored by Robb Report). Despite having a self-leveling three-piece dining table, the formal dining area is rarely used. Instead, the owners eat in the shade of the cockpit. The cockpit base and brass fittings are original, but the former enclosed glass hardtop was replaced in 2009 with a canvas roof and wind-down windows.
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Regatta Glory
Image Credit: Shenandoah of Sark The Voile de Saint-Tropez in 2022 was the first time Captain Potter had the chance to “dig out Shenandoah’s spinnaker and put together a professional race team.” The effort was worth it, as the yacht claimed the 2022 Rolex Trophy, its first ever regatta win. Shenandoah has raced in Turkey, Israel, Greece and Croatia, as well as taking part in the 2001 America’s Cup Jubilee Regatta. Bich also used the yacht as a mothership to his 1974 and 1977 America’s Cup challenges. In race mode, the crew increases from 12 to 22, and the sails are hoisted in a quick 20 minutes.
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Labor of Love
Image Credit: Shenandoah of Sark Maintaining the yacht’s exterior wood is a labor of love, with one coat of varnish taking two months to complete. “As soon as we finish, we start the next coat, and that’s how it continues,” says Potter. The carved fish heads on the cap rails were added during the 1996 refit, but it was Bich who changed the masts back to wood from aluminum. He also re-rigged the yacht to the original 1902 dimensions, when it had yards (horizontal spars) on the foremast. The wooden helm is another original feature.
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The Atlantide Expedition
Image Credit: Shenandoah of Sark Shenandoah has sailed around the world several times, but it was also one of the first yachts used for scientific research. After World War One, then-owner Viggo Jarl donated the yacht to Copenhagen University for a 10-month oceanographic expedition along the African west coast. It became known as the Atlantide expedition. The Zoologist Francis C. Fraser, who later became director of the British Museum (Natural History), joined the expedition. It pushed forward scientific understanding of the oceanography and marine life along that coast.
