Flying Cloud

Flying Cloud
Rig Class.Auxiliary Schooner
Year built:1927
Fate:Lost in a hurricane off Key West in 1998
General characteristics
Class & Type:Auxiliary Schooner
Ton:1195 tons
Beam:

She was laid down in Livorno, Italy during the First World War and designed initially as a destroyer, but the hull lay unfinished. The Duke of Westminster ordered her completion as a 1270 ton yacht, Flying Cloud, in 1927.

In about 1938 Arthur Ernest Guinness acquired her and renamed her Fantôme.  On his death in 1949 Fantôme was sold in Seattle but remained abandoned there for fourteen years.

Aristotle Onassis purchased her as a wedding gift for Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, but she lay abandoned at Kiel.

She became a cruise ship in 1969 and operated for Windjammer cruises in the Caribbean. She sank off Key West during a Hurricane on October 27 1998. Captain March and all 30 West Indian crew were lost but the passengers had disembarked when their trip was cancelled due to the bad weather.

Owners

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