# Schooner Hussar IV



## coronatus242 (Feb 19, 2009)

Can anyone help me locate plans and/or an outboard profile drawing of E F Hutton's yacht Hussar IV?
This is the 3-masted fore and aft sail schooner, not the very famous 4-masted bark which later became Sea Cloud.

Any help anybody can give is greatly appreciated!!


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## eddyw (Nov 6, 2007)

Is this the one? 
https://sailwindjammer.com/
Builders archives (Danish), owners/former owners might be worth approaching?


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## CliveH (Dec 18, 2008)

One of the best trips of my life - so far - on board this vessel.


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## Stephen J. Card (Nov 5, 2006)

HUSSAR IV became a Sail Training ship as VEMA in New York. 


Try the Archive of the Columbia University in New York. VEMA was theirs.

Stephen


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## coronatus242 (Feb 19, 2009)

Thanks you guys!


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## stein (Nov 4, 2006)

It is not often I say of a schooner that she looks lovely, but the one in Stephen Card's photo certainly does


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## poseidon9 (Aug 13, 2010)

Is this vessel one of the vessels of the Windjammer Barefoot Cruises? Very nice vessel anyway. Where are the rest of the fleet now?


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## coronatus242 (Feb 19, 2009)

Yes, this is one of Windjammer Barefoot cruises ships and the only one still sailing...for a different company.
As far as I know, the rest of their fleet has rotted away. Polynesia was sold to the Portuguese navy, but I can't find any current info about her.


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## oceanhistory (May 4, 2020)

*Hussar IV Deckplans/Profile*

When researching myself, came across the deck plans and profile in an old issue of: 

"The Shipbuilder and Marine Engine-builder", Volume 30, January-June 1924

You can find a digital copy on google books with the full description and images. https://books.google.com/books?id=-dTNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=motor+yacht+former+hussar+III&source=bl&ots=1v6IJ29DRJ&sig=ACfU3U1WZl7cd3UkjKZ2ZUyA9W0LHAU5JQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjkgujeqZrpAhVymXIEHeSlDmQQ6AEwCXoECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q=motor%20yacht%20former%20hussar%20III&f=false


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## poseidon9 (Aug 13, 2010)

Very interesting to see the original deck plans. If you look at the operators website (above), you find the present deck plans and see how the vessel has been completely rebuilt (as far as cabins are concerned).


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## oceanhistory (May 4, 2020)

Yes it does seem to have been heavily modified from it's original layout. I'd be curious if the interiors were gutted in 1941 when it became a U.S. training ship at Hoffman Island, NY or when it later became a a research vessel after the war. Looking at old photos they didn't seem to modify the exterior too much compared to other yachts during the war(even maintained the eagle figurehead), so not sure what point they stripped down and reconfigured the interior.


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## oceanhistory (May 4, 2020)

Found a more accurate plan of the Mandalay(compared to the one on the windjammer site), interesting comparison as was noted:


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## poseidon9 (Aug 13, 2010)

For the war time use they probably didn't need the suites with privates facilities and the lounge with grand piano, so a conversion was necessary. According to the Marine Traffic - website the Mandalay is under the flag of Tanzania - it's a flag not often used by cruise vessels. I wonder what are the benefits of that flag in comparison with flags of Panama or Virgin Islands, etc. like they are often used for offshore registration. 

Nice that Mandalay is still operating. There aren't that many similar vessels of the early 1900s still in use. In Stockholm the yacht Vanadis (240 ft.), b. 1924 for Billings of New York, later owned by Barbara Hutton, is open as a hotel vessel. The outside appearance is much similar to earlier days, with some modifications done. Indoors the vessel is also completely different as rather small cabins have been built there. In between the vessel was used also as a normal passenger vessel. Anyway they promote the hotel as the yacht of Barbara Hutton.


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## oceanhistory (May 4, 2020)

You're right, after further research I read they took everything off when it became a training ship. Although most of the exterior elements were left intact as seen from a photos in the Library of Congress online photo archives of the _Vema_. 

It's interesting to compare the original deck plans of the both Cox & Steven designed(different shipyards though) _Hussar IV_ and _Hussar V_(Sea Cloud), and see the design evolution, which was planned a mere 5 years later. 

The Hussar IV/Vema/Mandalay is still sailing up until winter 2021, when according to the current owners website, it'll be taken out of commercial service.

(Photo of Mandalay and larger sister Sea Cloud, from Sea History Magazine Summer 1999)


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## poseidon9 (Aug 13, 2010)

It's also an evolution in size. The new vessel looks much larger in the photo. When you get from a 200 ft. to 300+ ft. category, the larger vessel looks much larger and has much more size and operating costs probably, too.

I wonder where did the owners keep those vessels in New York, when not cruising with them. Those days there were not large vessel marinas and facilities like nowadays, so, did they use the commercial piers or just anchor them somewhere? I have seen some photos of vessels docked at private jetties adjacent to mansion houses outside of N.Y. and there are photos of an anchrorage on the East River.


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