S/V MANDALAY The ship's profile
Windjammer's Mandalay was originally designed by the prestigious firm of Cox and Stevens for E.F. Hutton, the financier. Her hull was launched in 1923 from the Danish yards of Burmeister and Wein. She was christened "Hussar", the fourth in a series of five E.F. Hutton yachts so named. By most accounts, Hussar was the most sumptuous privately owned ship in the world. And as such, she sailed the world as the reigning queen of yachts for nearly ten years.
In the early 1930's Hutton commissioned his fifth Hussar* as a wedding present to his new wife, Marjorie Merriweather Post.
The old Hussar was sold to George and Maude Vettlesen and re-named "Vema".
During World War II, Vema was put into service as a Merchant Marine cadet training ship.
Columbia University acquired Vema in 1953 and converted her into a marine survey vessel removing her superstructure and elegant fittings. Over the next twenty-eight years she logged well over a million nautical miles charting the ocean bottoms of the world and adding greatly to the knowledge of marine geology. Through her, Columbia University became the respected world center for oceanographic studies. She was retired by Columbia in 1981.
In 1982 Captain Mike Burke, the founder and owner of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, acquired Vema from Columbia and re-named her "Mandalay". She was renovated and refitted to her former glory as a sleek barkentine with masts extending 132 feet above the deck. She carries over 20,000 square feet of sail and is regarded as a well tuned ship. Her overall length is 236 feet and she has a beam of 33 feet. Her 15 feet of draft allows her passage in relatively shallow waters.
Currently Mandalay cruises the 500 nautical
miles between Antiqua and Grenada with a somewhat different itinerary for each
of the two 13 day trip segments. Mandalay is fitted to accommodate 72 passengers
and a crew of 28.
Mandalay Trip Report
* The 5th Hussar became the barque, "Sea Cloud".
To a profile of the Sea Cloud
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