Lot Essay
Designed by the talented Clinton Crane (of Tams, Lemoine & Crane of New York) and built by A.& J. Inglis at Glasgow in 1908, the steam yacht Vanadis was registered at 1,092 tons gross and measured 249½ feet in length with a 32½ foot beam and was capable of 16½ knots at full speed. Ordered by Mr. C.K.G. Billings of New York, she was built of steel, rigged as a triple screw schooner and, unusually, was powered by steam turbines. Sold by Billings in 1915 and briefly owned by Mr. M.F. Plant in 1916, she then passed into the hands of the Russian Navy in which she served under the name of Poryvs from 1917-1919. Sold to Baron de Linder and renamed Finlandia, in 1925 she was bought by Lt. Cmdr. Montague Grahame-White for his charter business and again renamed, this time Ianara. Sold for the last time in 1935, she was reportedly broken up in 1938.