
One of the last great private steamships of the 1920s has been put up for sale at a cool $70 million. Built by automobile magnate Horace Dodge in 1921 in order to outdo rival mogul J.P.Morgan’s Corsair, the 257-ft. SS Delphine was fitted out with an interior by Tiffany & Co. and every conceivable luxury a gentleman could wish for on the high seas. Constructed at the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Michigan, she was pressed into service during World War II as the flagship for Admiral Ernest Joseph King, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Navy, and Churchill and Roosevelt are said to have met aboard her prior to convening the Yalta Conference with Stalin in 1945.
After the war the Delphine was reacquired by the Dodge family and following many years of idleness eventually went to rack and ruin, seemingly destined for the scrapyard. However, a Belgian clothing tycoon rescued the ship before it was dismantled, and spent some $60 million returning it to its former glory, steam engines and all. Kitting it out with the latest technology was effected extremely unobtrusively, while original fixtures like the telegraph in the mahogany pilothouse remain. Along with accommodations for 26 guests and 28 crew members, there’s a music salon, cinema, fitness center, spa, sauna, smoking room and swimming pool. A little short on the $70 million at the moment? Not to worry, until she’s claimed by a new owner the Delphine can be chartered for a mere $90,000 per day.
© Copyright 2010 Duncan Quinn. All Rights Reserved.

QJ: “If Pride offered me more money, I’d stay in Japan. When you really think about it….pay in Japan has no taxes”
Very good well informed ty you for the information. From the guys at Bloggles