Mr & Mrs Fahnstock seated at the front of their carriage

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.

The Townsend & Downey Shipyard c1902

“…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.

The splendid original interior