See full version: The Honey Fitz is back in business
The Honey Fitz will set sail for its 14-city charity tour up the coast, stopping for stretches of five days to two weeks, to serve as a fundraising tool for charities from wounded veterans in Charleston, S.C., to autism research. The other times, it’s available for charter for $5,000 for four hours. more
That is, until you see the presidential seal gracing her smokestack.
"President Kennedy used the boat more than any of the other presidents," Ocepek said. [links]
Like all things attached to Kennedy, the ship — which the president named after his paternal grandfather, Boston Mayor John Francis Fitzgerald, whom everyone just called Honey Fitz — is a magnet for historians and fans of the era.
The yacht was eventually sold to a private buyer during the Nixon Administration in 1970. Recently, the yacht underwent an extensive, two-year restoration to bring it back to its “Camelot” era glory days it is most known for. more
With the 50 year anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s death upon us, it’s only appropriate that we honor his legacy here on gCaptain by featuring a photo tour of the presidential yacht, “Honey Fitz”.
Lone Stateroom: [links]
Kennedy is said to have spent some of the happiest times of is life on the Honey Fitz. During he presidency, he would use it extensively to entertain family and close friends, cruising up and down the eastern seaboard from the Potomac River in D.C. to Cape Cod.
USS Mayflower is most famously associated with Theodore Roosevelt, who often used it and USS Sylph for family vacation cruises along Long Island. A more official use came in August 1905, when Roosevelt hosted Japanese and Russian envoys aboard Mayflower as part of his attempts to mediate peace talks in the Russo-Japanese War. He would later win the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the conflict. [links]
Photograph showing President Theodore Roosevelt, seated center, Secretary of the Navy William H. Moody, left, Mrs. Roosevelt, right; standing Sir Thomas Lipton, Admiral George Dewey, C. Oliver Iselin, and General Adna R. Chaffee on the deck of the Mayflower off Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, 1903. (Credit: The Library of Congress) [links]
Mayflower served as a presidential plaything for over two decades. Woodrow Wilson is said to have wooed his second wife Edith Bolling Galt during romantic jaunts aboard the ship, and Calvin Coolidge reportedly loved the yacht so much he stationed a Navy chaplain aboard so that he could take Sunday morning cruises without being accused of skipping church. Nevertheless, the ship’s opulence proved to be a sticking point with critics of presidential excess. In 1929, with economic concerns on the rise, Herbert Hoover finally had Mayflower decommissioned.
Abraham Lincoln made use of a steamboat called the River Queen during the Civil War, but the first official presidential yachts date to the Gilded Age. Starting in 1880, America’s commanders in chief sailed aboard a series of Navy vessels including USS Despatch, USS Dolphin and USS Sylph. In 1886, Despatch famously ferried Grover Cleveland across New York Harbor for the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. [links]
Before there was Air Force One, there was the presidential yacht. Dating back to the 19th century, America’s chief executives utilized navy ships and other vessels for recreation and entertaining foreign dignitaries. Nearly a dozen different ships acted as the “Floating White House” between 1880 and 1977, when the last vessel was sold at auction. During that time, they were the scene of international diplomatic summits, congressional schmoozing and the occasional Potomac River pleasure cruise.
Presidential boating entered a new era in the early 1900s, when USS Mayflower took over as the chief executive’s official yacht. Unlike earlier vessels, which were relatively austere in their design, Mayflower was a luxury craft previously owned by real estate millionaire Ogden Goelet. Measuring some 275 feet from stem to stern, it boasted a crew of over 150 and had a sumptuous interior that included a 30-person dining table and bathtubs made from Italian marble.
Kennedy’s Granddaughter Found 4 Days After She Went Missing with Son in Canoe Accident. Four days after going missing in a canoe accident, the body of Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean — Robert F. Kennedy’s granddaughter — has been found. here
Two members of the Kennedy family, Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean and her 8-year-old son Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean, have gone missing near Annapolis. According to the Washington Post, Maeve’s husband David confirmed that his wife and son were canoeing on the Chesapeake Bay Thursday, and have not been seen since.
“The cause of death for Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean was drowning and the manner is accidental,” according to a statement by the Maryland Department of Health. “The cause of death of Gideon McKean was drowning complicated by hypothermia, and the manner is accidental.” more
President John F. Kennedy’s beloved sailboat Victura (Latin for “about to conquer”) is a 25-foot Wianno Senior sloop purchased in 1932 as a 15th birthday gift from his parents. It is on the Victura that he taught his wife Jackie to sail and also where the Kennedy family enjoyed their love of sailing on Cape Cod.
The salon on the former presidential yacht, Honey Fitz, is seen as it is docked in West Palm Beach, Florida. The 93-foot wooden motor yacht has been restored to the years when it was used by U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
PT-109 was an 80′ Elco PT boat (patrol torpedo boat) last commanded by Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy, future United States President, in the Pacific theater during World War II….Patrol torpedo boat PT-109.