Sail Number: X9
Type: Staysail Schooner
Santana Specifications:
LOA: 55’2″ / 16.81m – LWL: 40’6″ / 12.34m – Beam: 12’6″ / 3.81m – Draft: 7’11” / 2.41m – Design Number: 59 – Designer: Sparkman & Stephens – Original Owner: William Lyman Stewart, Jr (son of the founder of the Union Oil Company) – Current Owner: Private – Year Launched: October 24, 1935 – Built By: Wilmington Boat Works, San Pedro, CA (Wilbo) – Hull Material: Philippine mahogany over oak frames – Displacement: 50,000 pounds – Sail Area: 1,569 sq. ft. / 145.8 sq. m.
The only cause my husband Humphrey Bogart
ever gave me to be jealous was not of a woman
but a boat – a racing yacht called Santana,” – Lauren Bacall
Under Charlie Peet’s ownership five men were rescued from a sailing vessel inbound from Los Angeles,
to this day one of the five survivors carries a laminated card within his wallet with the following inscribed:
“God is alive and sailing on the Santana”
“While most people know that Bogie and
Bacall had a great love affair, probably
fewer know about my father’s other great
love–sailing. Specifically, it was with
his 55-foot sailing yacht. . . . The sea was my father’s sanctuary.
(Humphrey Bogart’s son Stephen, wrote in his autobiography)
Historical:
Santana was named after the infamous Santa Ana Winds of California, and was originally conceived as a yawl by Olin Stephens, but the first owner Mr. Stewart insisted on a luxury staysail schooner built with racing in mind.
Years later owner George Brent re-rigged her as a yawl, but wanted to keep the existing mainmast, of which S&S recommended a larger main. With her new rig Santana proved to be more suited for the strong winds that she was named after, but challenged in lighter winds.
Owners Paul & Chrissy Kaplan of Keefe Kaplan Maritime (KKM) restored and re-rigged Santana once more back to a schooner.
Current owners recently completed a major restoration of 55ft S&S Santana, a hull and deck rebuild and rig conversion from schooner to yawl.
East Passage Boatwrights (EPB) Comments:
Santana was transported across country from California to Rhode Island where with Loughborough Marine Interests [LMI] brought on East Passage Boatwrights [EPB] along with a talented group of RI based builders for the full restoration of SANTANA.
The structural restoration on SANTANA was extensive and EPB was named lead shipwights for the project. A total of 90% of the original steam bent white oak frames were replaced with laminated frames of the same species. Because of electrical corrosion at the diagonal bronze strapping in the areas of the original schooner mast locations, the entire length of the hull was re-planked with genuine Mahogany. When she came to Portsmouth, the original deck from 1935 was still installed and it had been reduced in thickness from 1-1/4” to ½” in some areas. Although all of the deck beams needed to be replaced, the sheer clamp and beam shelf were able to be re-used. Upon the completion of the deck installation, EPB manufactured new bulwarks, caprails and located and installed the deck hardware. New Sitka Spruce spars were constructed and the sail plan was converted back to a yawl rig.
The restoration of this magnificent yacht was competed in May of 2016 and she was launched in Portsmouth, RI. SANTANA will join the fleet of other historical Sparkman & Stephens yachts that call New England home including SONNY and DORADE.
Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):
- Owner: (1935-1939) – William Lyman Stewart, Jr., member of the Los Angeles Yacht Club, son of the founder of the Union Oil Company. Santana was the brainchild of W. L. Stewart, Jr., the son of the founder of the Union Oil Company. She was designed by the 27 year old Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens (S & S). Stewart wanted a schooner that could show her heels to the best and brightest on both coasts. Stewart often sailed against Jascha Heifetz Galatea. The six annual Commodores Cruise and yacht celebration racing from Southern California to the Isthmus. Four hundred yachts participated, with strong westerly winds. W.L. Stewart, Jr’s won the forty-five foot Sailing Association race with Santana, beating out Jascha Heifetz in Galatea by a minute and a half.
- Owner: (1939-1941) – Charles Isaacs. Santana was placed for sale and was quickly bought by Charles Isaacs, a businessman from San Diego. Mr. Isaacs was the fourth husband of Hungarian actress Eva Gabor, the Hollywood Hungarian who reportedly understood that it is just as easy to love a rich man as a poor one. Isaacs owned Santana for two years.
- Owner/Actor: (1941-1944) – George Brent. While preparing Southwind for the Transpac George suffered a serious back injury, cancelling his plans. While recuperating he purchased Santana from Charles Isaacs. George was responsible for introducing Santana to movie society where she became the belle of the Hollywood fleet for the next 16 years. George Brent converted Santana to a yawl at Wilbo, recycling the old mainmast, which was deemed a bit short in its new configuration.
- Owner/Academy Award Winner: (1944-1944) – Ray Milland, owned Santana for three months and no one seems to know why he sold her so quickly. It has been speculated that the movie studios played some role in the ownership of the boat, as it was a “photo opportunity” to gain publicity with a handsome yacht and leading man.
- Owner/Actor: (1944-1945) – Dick & June Allyson Powell, after marrying June Allyson, the boat had to go. Much the same as Milland, Dick Powell owned the boat for a very short period of time, lending further credibility to the stories regarding movie studios using Santana for publicity purposes. The most notable improvement to Santana for which Powell was responsible came at the request of his wife, June Allyson, a jewelry box for her “baubles.” The story is that Ms. Allyson required a hiding place to store her jewelry while aboard the boat. She requested a special compartment be built where she could hide her “baubles”.
- Owner/Actor: (1945-1957) – Humphrey DeForest Bogart, member Newport Harbor Yacht Club, and the Los Angeles Yacht Club. Humphrey inherited from his father, a successful surgeon, his life long passion for sailing, learning to sail on his father’s sloop on Lake Canadaigua, one of the finger lakes in upstate New York. The Bogarts lived in a fashionable Upper West Side apartment, and had a cottage in upstate New York. Humphrey attended the Trinity School in New York and then to the prestigious preparatory school Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts.
Humphry Bogart would go on to become one of the Greatest Male Stars of all time. Altogether, appearing in over 75 feature motion pictures. Winning his only Oscar for his portrayal as Charlie Alnutt in the 1951 John Huston directed film “African Queen.”
Soon after the main filming for The Big Sleep concluded in early 1945 he filed for divorce from his third wife, married the 21 year-old Bacall, and bought the 55-foot sailing yacht Santana from actor friend, and fellow movie screen detective, Dick Powell. Humphrey had admired Santana for years while sailing aboard his 21-foot Albatross Class sloop, Slug Nutty. After some negotiation he agreed to sell her to Humphrey for a reported $50,000, thus began his lifelong love affair with this beautiful yawl.
As “Founding Father,” with his wife Lauren Bacall as “Den Mother,” Humphrey often recruited crew from his Holmby Hills Rat Pack for races to Catalina Island. Johnny Weissmuller, Jr., in his Allure and Errol Flynn, in his Sirocco. All three would bet on the outcome, and all were known for their legendary hell-raising once there.
At Humphry Bogarts funeral in 1957, a scale model of the Santana was present, sans glass case, while John Huston gave the eulogy. Regardless of how many owners there have been or ever will be, Santana will always be known as “Bogie’s” boat.
Additional note – In 1955, when Irvine Terrace in Corona Del Mar was subdivided, the developers decided to name the new streets after famous yachts based at Newport Harbor. In alphabetical order Altura Drive (48-foot Schooner North Baker) – Angelita Drive (50-foot Sloop John Earle Wells) – Bayadere Terrace (51-foot Yawl James. H. Nicholsen) – Bonnie Doone Terrace (66-foot Schooner Dr. Irving E. Laby) – Chubasco Drive (67-foot Yawl Don Haskel) – Evita Drive (43-foot Ketch L. Courter) – Galatea Terrace (68-foot Yawl Jascha Heifetz) – Kewamee Drive (63-foot Steel Ketch William W. Valentine) – Malabar Drive (41-foot Schooner A.G. Maddock) – Marapata Drive (98-foot Schooner Col. Max Wyman) – Patolita Drive (81-foot Cutter Charles D. Winan) – Ramona Drive (109-foot Steel Schooner Margaret Fleming) – Sabrina Terrace (58-foot Yawl William R. Cabeen) – Santana Drive (55-foot Yawl Humphrey Bogart) – Sea Drift Drive (84-foot Steel Schooner Lyman H. Farwell) – Serenade Terrace (62-foot Cutter Jascha Heifetz) – Tahuna Terrace (48-foot Ketch H.J. Bryan) – Zahma Drive (94-foot Ketch A.H. Andrews)
- Owner: (1957-1960) – Willis Short. Following Bogart’s death, Santana was purchased by Willis Short, a San Diego interior decorator. Short raced the boat locally and made one striking change in her appearance.
- Owner: (1960-1966) – Wally Nickell, president of the Western Highyway Oil. Purchased Santana to race in the 1961 Transpacific Race. W. H. (Wally) Nickell was a retired Brigadier General in the U. S. Army who became an independent oilman in Sacramento, becoming the second owner of Santana who was in the oil business. Nickell was a Sacramento resident, who previously had K-40 COQUETTE and the Newporter ketch KUHELA
- Captain: Glenn Waterhouse, veteran Bay Area skipper.
- Owner: (1966-1971) – William Solari, San Francisco attorney. Mr. Solari, a wealthy attorney, bought Santana with the intention of racing her. Solari’s most ambitious project was entering Santana in the 1968 Bermuda Race, 30 years after her triumphant debut there.
- Owner: (1971-1973) – Charlie Peet. Charlie Peet was a Sausalito, Calif., restaurateur who had adventure in his blood. In 1971 he and his wife, Marty, bought Santana to sail the around the world. Sailing with them was Jim Leech as crew, now of the sail making firm Leech & Rudiger.
- Owner: (1973) – M. Lloyd Carter. When Peet returned to San Francisco he sold Santana to M. Lloyd Carter, a “drama therapist” from Marin County. Carter had it in his head that he, too, was going to sail her around the world.
- Owner: (1973-1998) – Tom and Ted Eden. Thomas F. and Theodore A. Eden, twin brothers who ran their own successful architectural, and structural engineering firm, knew that Santana was in need of considerable work and they were prepared for the task. It took them nearly three years, and a small fortune, with the help of many others to finally get the boat back into sailing condition. Once finished she was the “Belle of the Ball” once more. Lauren Bacall had paid a nostalgic-visit, and on Santana’s 50th anniversary an open-house for the public was conducted. November 1997 Santana sinks during the night, due to a defective bilge pump. Slowly sinking to what must have been one of the most painful moments of her celebrated career.
- Owner: (1998-2013) – Paul & Chrissy Kaplan (extensive restoration needed having sunk at the St Francis Yacht Club under past owner)
- Owner: (2013-current) – Private
Navigator: Myron Spaulding
Crew: John Katros, Sausalito
Crew: Joe McAleese, Sausalito
Son: Stephen Bogart
Bogart Captain: Carl Petersen
Caretaker: Emil (Babe) Lamerdin
Race crew: Larry Dudley
Race Crew: Ted Howard
Race Crew: George Roosevelt
Race Crew: Ken Carey
Race Crew: Bob Dorris
Race Crew: Dean Harrell
Race Crew: Ken Carey
Race Crew: John Freiberg
Race Crew: Bob Marlott
Race Crew: Larry Douglass
Pilot: Charlie Blair
Lithuanian Violinist, Sailing Friend Actor: Jascha Heifetz. Many consider him the greatest violinist of the 20th century. Heifetz owned the 1714 Dolphin Stradivarius, the 1731 “Piel” Stradivarius, the 1736 Carlo Tononi, and the 1742 ex David Guarneri del Gesù. With Bogart onboard as crew, and with one of his Stradivarius’ locked safely away, they raced in the 1938 Transpacific on Jascha’s Nicholas Potter designed N-Class sloop SERENADE.
Entertainer, Actor and Writer: Peter Ustinov
Drama Critic: John McClain
Actor: Richard & Sybil Burton
Actor: David and Hjördis Genberg Niven
Actor: Johnny Weissmuller, Jr
Actor: Errol Flynn
Actor: Edgar Bergen
Actor: Spencer Tracy
Actor: Dick Powell
Actor: Frank Sinatra
Actress/Model: Frances Bergen
Actress: Katharine Hepburn
Actor/President: Ronald Reagan & Jane Wyman (First wife of President Reagan)
Actor: Edward G. Robinson
Actor: William Holden
Actor: James Cagney
Actor: Pat O’Brien
Actress: Bette Davis