Cary Smith and Ferris ENCHANTRESS

Nathaniel L. Stebbins photographic collection

Sail Number:

Wartime Designation: YAG-6

Type: (Schooner)

Ex; Katoura II

LOA: 136’0″ / 41.45m – LOD: – LWL: 100’0″ / 30.48m – Beam: 27’0″ / 8.22m – Draft: 15’0″ / 4.57m – Designer: A. Cary Smith – Original Owner(s): William E. Iselin, New York (NYYC) -;Year Launched: 1911 – Built By: George Lawley & Son Corp., Neponset, Massachusetts – Hull Material: Steel – Displacement: 191 tons – O.N. 208667 – Original Winter Birth: Greenport, New York.

 

Historical:

Enchantress was designed by Cary Smith & Ferris, and built by Lawley & Son Corp. for Mr. William E. Iselin, who sold his previous yawl “Vigilant,”in order make way for this magnificent vessel. Designed for off-shore cruising and built to Lloyd’s rules 100 A.I. representing the latest advance in yacht construction.

Capt. William C. Ogle, Pasadena

During a 65-day cruise to *the Gulf of California, the 136-foot schooner lost her entire original crew by desertion, went aground at La Paz, ran into heavy fogs and arrived here with a crew composed of Ogle’s wife, relatives and friends. When his original crew took to the hills after carousing at La Paz, Ogle recruited a makeshift crew to sail the Enchantress to Ensenada. “At Ensenada the second crew was sent ashore and I telegraphed my friends to fly south and give us a hand in getting back to American waters,” he said. The schooner left late yesterday for Newport with a crew consisting of Ogle’s wife, Patricia; Thomas Steele, George Minney and his wife, Alice, all of Pasadena; Reggie Quoriz, Alhambra; Ernest Minney, Long Beach, and Lynn Holmington, Walter Grombert and Paul Korlsrick, all of Los Angeles.

 

 

War Years

  • Chartered by the Navy from Adams, 19 December 1941
  • Designation changed from AGb-2 to YAG-6, 31 December 1941
  • Placed in service as YAG-6, 08 January 1942
  • Operated as station vessel at San Pedro 1942-43
  • Laid up and decommissioned by 03 May 1943
  • Purchased by Maritime Commission for $35,000, 16 October 1943
  • Placed back in service as experimental vessel with Navy Radio and Sound Laboratory, San Diego, 08 August 1944
  • Placed out of service, 27 June 1946
  • Struck from Naval Register, 19 July 1946
  • Sold by Maritime Commission to Morgan Adams, 30 August 1946
  • Final Disposition, tranferred to British flag 05 September 1953, final fate unknown

 

Crew of USS Enchantress (YAG-6) posing aboard, July 1945. Arrow points to John “Buddy” Heinecke. Michelle Lompefor her great grand-uncle,John Heinecke.

 

Known Racing History

(1911) Kings Cup Winner
(1923) Kings Cup Winner (The Kings Cup was sailed on the ocean coarse of about thirty-miles off Newport, R.I. August 23rd. The winning time (corrected) was 2:11:54)
(July 17th, 1930) – Transpacific Yacht Race (San Pedro to Honolulu) Sir Thomas Lipton Silver Cup Winner – First yacht to finish and first on corrected time: 12 days, 13 hours, 22 minutes, 52 seconds corrected time.

Provenance. (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):

Owner: (1911-1924) – William E. Iselin, New York (NYYC)
Captain: Oliver B. Smith.
Owner: (1924) – Robert E. Tod, Banker New York, renamed vessel Katoura II. Founder of Indian Harbor Yacht Club (1889) Atlantic Yacht Club Commodore (1903)
Owner: (1925) – Commodore Morgan Adams, President Morgan Adams, Inc, Los Angeles Yacht Club. (renamed Enchantress)
Captain: Frederick C. Purrucker, CGM, USN (Ret.)
Owner: (1941) – Chartered by US Navy.
Owner: (1943) – Maritime Commission
Owner: (1946) – Morgan Adams, Jr., Beverly Hills, CA. / James H. Adams, homeport Los Angeles.
Owner: (1949) – William C. and Patricia Newland Ogle, Newport Beach, CA.
Owner: (1950) – Oliver W. Blivins / Joseph and Hulda J. Flick, Jr., Inglewood, Ca.
Owner: (1953) – Lazare Baker, Miami, Fl dba Dade Drylock, Corp.
Owner: Roy Edison McTaggert, Grand Cayman Is / Olny Clive Webster, Kingston, Jamaica

 

Resources:

NavSource Naval History: http://navsource.org/

 

 

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