Checking the rigging

Her next owner, German aristocrat Landrat Walter von Bruining, was a trifle unfortunate.

He also saw Shenandoah as the ultimate status symbol and, following a small revamp, renamed her Lasca II and berthed her in Kiel in Germany where she once again met up with the Kaiser’s Meteor III. Summers were spent in Cowes on the Isle of Wight – though not many of them.

Walter von Bruining

Sir John Esplen

In 1914, as war broke out, she was appropriated by the British until the end of hostilities – at which point she became the property of Sir John Esplen who was at the time one of Britain’s greatest shipbuilders.

“…one of the most admired and photographed vessels on the South Coast.”

He, too, recognised Shenandoah’s unique beauty and reinstated her name before installing two gas engines. With her 12-man crew, chief steward, two cooks and two stewards, the Atlantic racer became one of the most admired and photographed vessels on the South Coast.