HARVARD SP 209

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Steam Yacht / Patrol Yacht
Keel Laid October 5 1893 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, ME
Launched May 7 1894


1. ELEANOR (Private Yacht)
Owned by William A. Slater of Norwich, CT (Harvard Class of 1881, the heir of a textile fortune centered in Norwich, Connecticut)
Official Number: 136473
Sold in 1899 to Charlotte Drake Martinez-Cardeza, a wealthy Philadelphia widow


2. WACOUTA (Private Yacht)
Sold in 1900 to James J. Hill (President of the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific railroad) and renamed


3. HARVARD (Private Yacht)
Sold in 1917 to George Baker Jr (Harvard Class of 1899, Commodore of the NYC Yacht Club) and renamed
Leased to U.S. Navy April 23 1917


4. USS HARVARD SP-209
Commissioned May 10 1917 - Decommissioned July 26 1919
Returned to owner in 1919


5. ATHINAI (Commercial Service)
Sold 1922 to Greek owners and renamed for inter-island passenger steamer between Greece and Italy
The ship reappears in Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1924 edition as ATHINAI with owner listed as "A. K. Riggas"
Ownership changed between 1929 and 1932 to "Hellenic Coast Lines Co. Ld"
When Italy invaded Greece in 1940, the Greek government took command of the ship
Sunk by German planes in 1941


6. PALERMO (Italian Naval Service)
Salvaged in 1942, commissioned into the Italian navy, and renamed


7. PALERMO (Commercial Service)
Refitted as a commercial vessel in 1943

Hit a mine on May 27, 1944 and sank off the coast of Yugoslavia

 

Conflicting History Data

The history given above is from THE U.S.S. HARVARD SHIP MODEL page of the Harvard Club of New York City (HCNY) website.
I chose to put my faith in this historical account given the supporting evidence found in Lloyd's.

The first appearance of the ship in Lloyd's Register of Yachts is in the 1905 edition as "WACOUTA (ex Eleanor)"
with owner as "James J. Hill" and home port of St. Paul, Minnesota. I can find no entries in prior editions for either WACOUTA or ELEANOR.
James J. Hill is still listed as the owner in the 1915 edition. The ship reappears in Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1924 as ATHINAI

Our normal sources appear to be greatly confused about this ship's history. They get bits and pieces right but a lot of other things wrong.

For pre-WWI ownership, NavSource says this ship was built in 1893 (launched in 1894) for "William A. Slater of Norwich, CT"
and then sold in 1900 to "Charles F. Baker, Jr." who retained ownership until it was acquired by the Navy in 1917.
It was actually George F. Baker (not Charles F. Baker) who bought the ship and it was in 1917 - not 1900.
James J. Hill bought the ship in 1900

The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) page for Harvard SP-206 gives the same name for the initial owner
but disagrees with the build date: 1904 vs 1893. 1883 is correct

Wikipedia also says the ship was built for "William A. Slater" but was later "sold to G F Baker" (no date given).
Note the first initial as "G" (for George) instead of "C" (for Charles) as given by NavSource. In this case, NHHC matches Wikipedia and HCNY.
Wikipedia also contradicts itself regarding the build date. The info box says it was launched in 1904 [incorrect] but the text says it was built in 1884.

As for post-WWI history, NavSource says:
     - Sold in 1921 to Greek owners and renamed Athinia, used as an inter-island passenger steamer between Greece and Italy
     - Sunk by German aircraft 22 April 1941 at Itea, Greece
     - Hulk scrapped after the war.
The sale date is close but the name is wrong: ATHINIA vs ATHINAI. Also, the "hulk scrapped..." part is incorrect.
Wikipedia is correct with its minimalistic "The yacht was decommissioned and turned over to her owner 26 July 1919."
but says nothing about this history beyond that point.

NHHC says "The yacht was decommissioned at New York and returned to George F. Baker Jr. her owner, on 26 July 1919.
She was later sold to European commercial concerns and was reported to still be in service under Greek colors as late as 1948."
Mostly correct except the bit about going into 1948.

 

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. Covers Page 1    (1918)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

NO POSTMARKS REPORTED

POSTMARK DATE

Note:

 

Other Information

When delivered was the biggest private yacht of her day

 

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