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Lot Essay
HISTORICAL NOTE
Large though beautifully proportioned, Corsair (IV) was the last of the four successive sea-going pleasure yachts owned by the immensely rich American financier J. Pierpoint Morgan. Designed by Henry J. Gielow Inc. of New York in close co-operation with Morgan himself and Captain W.B. Porter (Corsair III's long-serving master), Corsair (IV) was built at the Bath Iron Works, Maine in 1930 and cost a staggering $2½ million. Officially classed as a twin-screw schooner, she was registered at 2,181 tons gross (471 net) and her steel hull measured 343½ feet in length with a 42½ foot beam. Oil-fired but powered by two General Electric turbo-electric engines producing 6,000bhp., she could cruise at 17 knots and was exceptionally manoeuvrable. She was, in fact, one of the most nearly-perfect pleasure yachts ever built and was, in the words of the noted maritime author Erick Hofman, "the crown at the end of the steam yacht era."
Commissioned just as the Depression began to hit America in earnest, Corsair (IV) was one of the few big yachts to continue operating although even she had to be laid up in 1935. Back in commission a year later, she remained a familiar sight on the U.S. yachting scene until 1939 when, like Corsair (II) had done in 1917, she went to war. When the Second World War began in September 1939, Corsair (IV) was sold to the British Navy for a nominal one dollar and went into service, armed with a 6-pounder gun, with the Fleet Air Arm (Bermuda) in August 1940. Released from her wartime duties in December 1948, she was completely overhauled and fitted out as a deluxe cruise ship intended to run from Southern California to Mexico in the winter and up to Alaska in the summer months. Sadly, on her maiden voyage, this magnificient vessel was wrecked off Acapulco on 12th November 1949, became a total loss and had to be scrapped.
Large though beautifully proportioned, Corsair (IV) was the last of the four successive sea-going pleasure yachts owned by the immensely rich American financier J. Pierpoint Morgan. Designed by Henry J. Gielow Inc. of New York in close co-operation with Morgan himself and Captain W.B. Porter (Corsair III's long-serving master), Corsair (IV) was built at the Bath Iron Works, Maine in 1930 and cost a staggering $2½ million. Officially classed as a twin-screw schooner, she was registered at 2,181 tons gross (471 net) and her steel hull measured 343½ feet in length with a 42½ foot beam. Oil-fired but powered by two General Electric turbo-electric engines producing 6,000bhp., she could cruise at 17 knots and was exceptionally manoeuvrable. She was, in fact, one of the most nearly-perfect pleasure yachts ever built and was, in the words of the noted maritime author Erick Hofman, "the crown at the end of the steam yacht era."
Commissioned just as the Depression began to hit America in earnest, Corsair (IV) was one of the few big yachts to continue operating although even she had to be laid up in 1935. Back in commission a year later, she remained a familiar sight on the U.S. yachting scene until 1939 when, like Corsair (II) had done in 1917, she went to war. When the Second World War began in September 1939, Corsair (IV) was sold to the British Navy for a nominal one dollar and went into service, armed with a 6-pounder gun, with the Fleet Air Arm (Bermuda) in August 1940. Released from her wartime duties in December 1948, she was completely overhauled and fitted out as a deluxe cruise ship intended to run from Southern California to Mexico in the winter and up to Alaska in the summer months. Sadly, on her maiden voyage, this magnificient vessel was wrecked off Acapulco on 12th November 1949, became a total loss and had to be scrapped.