Charles Fahnestock was one of the richest bankers in America. Just after the dawning of a new century, he decided to commission the design and build of a fabulous new sailing yacht.
Her name was to be ‘Shenandoah’. He saw her as the ultimate retirement luxury, a chance to sail the Caribbean and the Mediterranean in a ship that was meant to be both enjoyed and admired. She was built in 1902 at the Townsend & Downey Shipyard near Staten Island, New York – the work of celebrated maritime designer Theodore Ferris. She became one of Ferris’s crowning achievements and the only one of his designs still sailing today.
“…a tribute to the ‘Golden Age of Yachting’…”
The 180 ft three-masted gaff rigged schooner is indeed a tribute to the ‘Golden Age of Yachting’, when grace and elegance were as important as how she sailed. Ferris was inspired by a similar yacht being built in the docks at the time, Meteor III, a phenomenally fast ship belonging to the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Born together, they became virtual sister ships.