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HONEY FITZ
presidential yacht
A
revolutionary yacht in terms of speed upon its inaugural
launch in 1931, the Honey Fitz served five consecutive
U.S. presidents: Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower,
John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M.
Nixon.
Honey Fitz
began life as Lenore in 1931, a made-to-order 93-foot
leisure craft for Montgomery Ward magnate Sewell Avery.
In 1942, the U.S. Government requisitioned her. The
militarized Lenore became CG-92004 and assigned to the
U.S. Coast Guard. At the end of the war, she serve as
tender for the USS Potomac.
The yacht
began its very successful career as a presidential yacht
by President Harry S. Truman. Under Truman and
Eisenhower, sailing as Lenore II and Barbara Anne, the
yacht saw considerable refurbishments and upgrades that
turned it into the ultimate leisure craft for the First
Family in their spare time. On most occasions, it would
be used as a secure venue for official state meetings.
Preceding Air Force One, presidential yachts
(affectionately known as "Floating White Houses") were
important destinations for escaping the "claustrophobic
tension" of the Oval Office, Henry Kissinger wrote. They
were used for everything from meetings with prominent
world leaders to pleasure cruises down the Potomac after
a tough day of running a country.
President
John F. Kennedy named her Honey Fitz in 1961. The name
was changed four times, but JFK coined the enduring
Honey Fitz. The moniker was reportedly inspired by his
maternal grandfather John Francis Fitzgerald.
First Lady
Jackie Kennedy oversaw a complete overhaul of Honey
Fitz's interiors, thus discovering a new passion that
would peak with her redesign of the much bigger and
equally famous
Christina. The Kennedy family made ample use of
Honey Fitz, choosing to spend many of the longer
holidays onboard. They also used her to entertain
dignitaries, thus solidifying its reputation as a
Presidential Yacht.
Honey Fitz
was one of three presidential yachts in JFK’s stable.
The other two were Sequoia
and Manitou. Kennedy
used Honey Fitz for personal cruising, while Sequoia was
the official presidential yacht.
Under
Nixon, Honey Fitz reached the end of her life as the
Presidential Yacht. She was put up for sale in 1970,
returning under private ownership the following year
under the fitting name The Presidents. The yacht
continued to operate well into the 1990s and was sold
again. The buyer gave her the most famous name again,
Honey Fitz, and oversaw a hull restoration in 1998 but
never found the funds or the time to undertake
much-needed top repairs.
In 2020,
designer Jack Fhillips received the project of the
lifetime: a complete restoration of the presidential
Honey Fitz yacht. At the time, the nearly 100-year-old
vessel needed an extensive architectural overhaul to
save it from "certain demise," according to Fhillips.
Charles Modica, a longtime client and local developer in
Palm Beach County, had purchased the run-down ship and
was seeking a historical interiors transformation that
would replicate the decor of the Kennedy era as closely
as possible.
The Honey Fitz first went through a three-year
restoration process that required a complete overhaul of
beams, subfloor, decks, and the superstructure of the
yacht in line with experts in traditional shipwright
methods, wooden yacht craftsmen, historical records, and
U.S. Coast Guard regulations. Fhillips worked on the
interiors in 2023 after combing through archived
photographs, footage, and articles written about the
ship, alongside the Honey Fitz's captain and first mate.
The team was able to piece together an immaculate
interiors refitting and restoration that honors the
ship's most historic era during the Kennedy
administration.
Honey Fitz
can comfortably accommodate up to 35 people and is made
for entertaining large parties. She features a chef's
kitchen, a formal salon, a Presidential stateroom, and a
generously sized sundeck. State-of-the-art navigation
and safety equipment combine with historical and
functional parts from the '30s, WWII, and the many
Presidential eras Honey Fitz served.
This primarily wood Honey Fitz yacht model is 35"
long. Will be completed soon. Email us for price and
time.
For a sample of
artistic beauty, check out this presidential yacht
SEQUOIA
Learn more about the
presidential yacht Honey Fitz here:
https://www.thehoneyfitz.com/gallery
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