Fate of presidential yacht debated in Delaware court
The cost of repairing the USS Sequoia to seaworthy condition ranges from an estimated $400,000 to upwards of $4 million if the hull is significantly rebuilt, a series of experts told Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock at a Chancery Court hearing in Georgetown Wednesday.
The value of the repaired and seaworthy former presidential yacht would be between $7.8 million and $13 million, said Earl McMillen III, founder of McMillen Yachts in Newport, Rhode Island.
The historic yacht, designed by John Trumpy and built at the Mathis Yacht Building Company of Camden, New Jersey in 1925, is in dry dock in Deltaville, Virginia. Glasscock is being asked to decide a contract dispute over a loan between Presidential Yacht Group, LLC and FE Partners, LLC. Glasscock must determine the price the lender, FE Partners, must pay to exercise an option to buy the yacht.
A string of boat experts, including McMillen, described the condition of the boat and the work that needs to be done to get the boat back in the water. McMillen has overseen the restoration of other Trumpy-designed yachts, he said.
For the last year and a half, the Sequoia has been on blocks in a boat yard, protected from the elements by shrink wrap.
The damage done while dry stored is a fraction of what already haunts the vessel. McMillen said there is extensive rot in the hull and several of the structural blocks which make up the hull are cracked. It should have new wiring, new plumbing and new, marine-grade air conditioning.
His total estimated cost to repair the boat ranged from $3.9 to $4.2 million.
He recommended it be slid onto an ocean-going barge and shipped to Rhode Island for repairs. The area has the expert shipwrights needed to do the work, he said.
In her present condition "would you ever put passengers on her?" asked an attorney for FE Partners.
"No," McMillen said.
"Would you ever put her in the water?" the lawyer asked.
"No," McMillen said.
Meanwhile, Gary Silversmith, an attorney and owner of the Sequoia, questioned whether there weren't capable boat yards along the Chesapeake Bay where the work could be done at less cost.
Restoring and repairing wooden boats is "a lost art," McMillen said. "I think, quite frankly, that's why they don't build wooden boats anymore. They are wonderful works of art."
The Sequoia's history makes it more than just an aging wooden boat. Franklin Delano Roosevelt hosted Winston Churchill on its deck; John F. Kennedy celebrated his last birthday on board the Sequoia; and Richard M. Nixon spent a night in 1974 with a bottle of whiskey at a shipboard piano before he resigned the presidency.
The vessel was sold off by President Jimmy Carter before passing through a series of private owners. It fell into disrepair before it was purchased and restored by its current owner, Silversmith, a Washington lawyer and real estate developer. Silverman said he paid $1.9 million in 2000, and sank millions into repairs.
Silversmith operated the boat for charter on the Potomac River for many years. He said that he had been maintaining and caring for the boat all along and even took it to the Chesapeake Maritime Museum in St. Michaels for repair. The boat was regularly hauled out of the water for maintenance.
Silversmith, who has owned the yacht since 2001, turned to FE Partners to secure a $5 million loan to cover debt and expenses.
Reach Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.