A renewed interest in vintage vessels shines a spotlight on the Trumpy legacy of Annapolis .
RIDING THE WAVE
A renewed interest in vintage vessels shines a spotlight on the Trumpy legacy of Annapolis .
By Dresden Scott
Crisp white hulls and polished , air-dried wood . Hand-carved wood scrollwork on the bow , culminating in the signature capital T .
Ask avid boaters about a Trumpy yacht , and they will quickly slip into nostalgia and reverence for the regal wood vessels . Built between the 1920s and 1970s , they were the yachts of choice for the nation ’ s wealthiest ; Howard Hughes , the Chrysler family and the Duponts were all proud owners . The Trumpy boats also enjoyed a presidential following . The most famous Trumpy was the USS Sequoia — crafted in 1925 and now a designated National Historic Landmark — which served as the U . S . presidential yacht from the Herbert Hoover administration in the 1930s until President Carter had it auctioned off in 1977 for $ 286,000 . ( The 104-foot vessel played also host to several key events in American history : FDR and Eisenhower planned D-Day onboard ; Truman made the decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima ; Kennedy celebrated his last birthday ; and Nixon spent his last night as president onboard before resigning the next day .) Another claim to fame : Marilyn Monroe appeared on a Trumpy boat , Enticer ( now a charter yacht in Annapolis ), in the 1959 fi lm “ Some Like it Hot .” Yacht brokers and collectors today have come to regard the Trumpy boats
USS Sequoia , the former presidential yacht , sails into St . Michaels , MD in 2001 . The yacht came to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum for repairs . Today , Trumpy boats remain a revered icon of Annapolis . Photo courtesy of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum .
— there were only about 400 built and less than 100 still afl oat — like a classic Rolls-Royce or a masterpiece built by a respected architect like Frank Lloyd Wright .
“ They are gentleman ’ s yachts and have a certain understated elegance that is appealing ,” explains Jonathan Chapman , a veteran broker with Northrop and Johnson ’ s Newport , Rhode Island , offi ce , who has sold a number of Trumpys over the course of his 19-year career and currently has three Trumpys listed for sale . “ A client told me recently , who purchased a 63-foot houseboat , that he felt every true yachtsman should own a Trumpy at some point in his life . A well-maintained Trumpy will often get more looks and appreciation in a harbor than a 200-foot modern spectacle . It ’ s different , it ’ s unique and it ’ s part of history .”
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