“A DREAM SHIP.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20477, 1 December 1934, Page 22

“A DREAM SHIP.”

World-famous Yacht T ransformed. LAVISH EQUIPMENT. Flying Cloud, the 1100-ton, fourmasted sailing ship, which became world-famous as the Duke of Westminster’s yacht, has been transformed. For three years she has been in and out of docks at Bremerhaven, on the Clyde and in Southampton. Her new owner, Mr Nelson B. Warden, of the New York Yacht Club, has lavished time and imagination as well as money in the creation of his dream-ship. The hull and the four towering masts are practically all that remain. Great Diesel engines have been installed, making her a power ship with auxiliary sails rather than a sailing ship with auxiliary motors. Her superstructure has been entirely altered. A funnel has been placed aft, between the mizzen mast and the jigger mast. A large deck saloon has been constructed, a room which would be considered big in any house. A bridge has been built well forward. The ship is now navigated from here instead of, as before, from the stern. Yet with such care and craftsmanship have these alterations to her tophamper been carried out that nothing has been done to spoil the beauty of her lines. No yacht in the world has such modern and scientific nautical equipment. In this respect she is as perfect as the giant liners themselves. she carries a gyro-compass of exactly the same type as will be used in the Queen Mary. There is a complete wireless room, with long and short range equipment, and the most up-to-date direction-finding apparatus. Electrically operated steering gear now makes the ship responsive to the gentlest pressure on the helm. Below decks the transformation is even more amazing. In the Duke of Westminster’s time there was one very large saloon. Fore and aftr of this were small cabins. To-day all this has gone. Ihere are now only nine staterooms, but each is large, has outside windows (not portholes), and each has its own bathroom, bigger and better equipped than in the average modern flat. There are luxuriously simple furnishings, and even the smallest aids to comfort and convenience have been thought out carefully. For instance, every cupboard has electric light, which is automatically switched on when the door is opened. Every detail of the alterations and the new decorations has been planned by Mr Warden himself. The Flying Qoud to-day is the embodiment of his ideals. Her next cruise is already planned. Mr Warden intends this winter to take his dream-ship out to the West Indies and, later, to the Pacific Islands.