SEA CLOUD Voyage on board a classic sailing cruise ship
The brainchild of financier E.F. Hutton and his equally renowned wife, cereal icon Marjorie Merriweather Post, the sailing cruise ship Sea Cloud was designed by Gibbs and Cox, the future architects of SS United States and numerous American passenger liners and military ships. Originally named Hussar V, she was built by the Germania_Werft shipyard, which was known for its expertise in super yachts, at Kiel in Germany in 1931.
Although would have functioned more efficiently with three masts, the Huttons envisioned her as the last four-masted sailing barque, incorporating both modern and classic elements of shipbuilding. Pine masts that tower over 50 metres above the main deck, with their 32,000ft2 of sail and 15 miles of rigging, were set within a steel hull containing four Krupp diesels driving twin screws, giving the vessel a speed of 14 knots. Exceeding the safety standards had no fewer than ten watertight compartments and a double bottom, an advanced fire detection and alarm system, and state-of-the-art navigation gear, which included a magnetic compass, a gyro compass and an echo sounder.
