Few ships live long enough to experience as many ups & downs as the onetime U.S. Presidential yacht Mayflower.*
Built at Clydebank, Scotland, in 1896, she was one of the finest steam yachts of her time, a stately and luxurious craft of 1,780 gross tons. (J. P. Morgan's famed Corsair was 2,181 gross tons.) In 1898 the Navy snapped her up for conversion as an auxiliary war vessel, paying $430,000 to the Ogden Goelet estate. She saw action, took part in the blockade of Havana, chased three Spanish warships, scored a hit on one with a 5-in. shell.
In 1902, she served as...
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