After years of legal disputes and delays the former American presidential yacht, USS Sequoia, arrived in, Maine where restoration work will begin.
The USS Sequoia, is finally on her way to being rebuilt after the boat had fallen in disrepair in Virginia where she was based.
The French & Webb boatyard will be responsible for the rebuild of the 94-year-old 32-metre wooden yacht which is expected to be done ‘plank by plank’ and can take up to four years according to the vessel’s owner, Equator Capital Group.
Built in 1925 by John H. Mathis & Company in New Jersey, the Sequoia was at first a private yacht owned by Philadelphia banker Richard Cadwalader and later Texan oil executive William Dunning before being purchased by the United States government in 1931 following the Great Depression.
The following years saw some of America’s most famous presidents stay aboard the Sequoia for official and personal trips including Hoover, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Nixon.
John F. Kennedy, renamed it “Honey Fitz” after his grandfather.
After being sold by the American government in 1977, the Sequoia has been under seven different ownerships and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
