jfk sailboat drawing

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John F. Kennedy's beloved sailboat Victura back on display

May 29, 2017 / 7:28 PM EDT / CBS News

BOSTON -- The night before President Kennedy traveled to Dallas, he made a simple sketch inside a Houston hotel room. It may be the last thing he ever put on paper, but it wasn't the first time he thought of his sailboat, Victura.

"All throughout his life it was being out in the sun, in the wind, on the sea, in the salty air, that somehow was always a source of renewal and inspiration for him," said Stacey Bredhoff, curator at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Victura, meaning "about the conquer" in Latin, was given to him by his father when JFK was 15. He named it, cared for it and sailed it for three decades.

"It's exposed to the elements over the summer so that people can see it," Bredhoff said, so it needs the work every year.

In Osterville, Massachusetts, CBS News' Jeff Glor watched as the Victura was being restored by 75-year-old Malcolm Crosby, whose family designed the boat model 100 years ago.

"A lot of history here," Crosby said.

Kennedy credited the boating skills he learned on Victura with saving his life in World War II. And in 1953, pictures of Kennedy and a then-Jacqueline Bouvier onboard launched America's love affair with the young couple.

"The Kennedys have boating really in their DNA," said Greg Egan, who owns the Crosby Yacht Yard and overseas the revarnishing, polishing and painting.

"Every year we give it a protective coat of varnish," Egan said. "We want to make sure the boat's in great shape and protected for all the visitors."

Victura was returned to the library earlier this month, back at its prime spot on the shoreline.

"What do you find most fascinating about Victura?" Glor asked Bredhoff, the library curator.

"Just the fact it was his and it was so important to him and was such a part of his life," she said.

"It's wonderful to see her here, in the sunshine," she continued.

Where the stories it holds can be shared anew.

• John F. Kennedy

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JFK’s Last Sailboat Sketch Heads to Auction

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Roger Scoble blogs about the latest gadgets, travel and luxury…

A sketch of a boat, done by president John F. Kennedy the day before he was assassinated, is among some 200 JFK items on sale yesterday in an online auction.

The pencil drawing, doodled on stationery from Houston’s Rice Hotel, will fetch an estimated US$30,000 to US$40,000 (RM95,000 to RM127,000), said the RR Auction house, based in New Hampshire.

It is accompanied by a typed note on White House letterhead, signed by Evelyn Lincoln, Kennedy’s personal secretary.

Lincoln explained that the president had spent three and a half hours at the Rice Hotel on Nov 21, 1963. He then went to dinner before spending the night at the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth, near Dallas. He was shot and killed in his motorcade the next day in Dallas.

The shape of the boat in the drawing is reminiscent of the president’s sailboat, the Victura, according to RR Auction, which said Kennedy “was known to cover entire sheets of paper with stacked boxes, repeated words, and small drawings – most frequently of sailboats.”

Some 228 items linked to the former president will be sold in the auction, held 50 years after the assassination,

Items include a Bulova watch engraved with “JFK 1941,” estimated at US$15,000 to US$20,000; his earliest known signed photograph, inscribed with the message “Remember Me? Jack K,” estimated at US$8,000 to US$10,000; and the keys of the presidential limo used the day of the attack.

Less expensive items include ties worn by the president, photos, notes, and small pieces of furniture.

Bidding will run through 7pm on Nov 13 on the website www.rrauction.com .

Roger Scoble blogs about the latest gadgets, travel and luxury news. A graduate of UCLA, Roger loves to travel, drive luxe autos and have amazing adventures.

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JFK's Sailboat Drawing, Done the Day Before His Assassination, Heads to Auction - In

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Manitou: John F Kennedy’s Yacht, Restored and Racing

We look back at JFK’s yacht Manitou, her restoration and racing, and trace her star-spangled origins.

Olin Stephens’ Design

The glittering twin scoops of Cannes Bay squat between the Mediterranean and the shimmering lavender hills of the Estérel mountains like a bum print in the sand. It is a place where life is slow enough to split the day with a siesta and fast enough to benefit in the thrilling warmth of the night.

The old port is surrounded by tall, dark streets where reassuringly surly waiters entice diners into their restaurants. It was fitting that I was in Cannes to join this particular boat, as one of the previous owners was so intrinsically connected with the film business that it is excusable to forget his political career entirely.

John F Kennedy’s Yacht Manitou was built at the MM Davis & Son yard in Solomons, Maryland, in 1937. She was conceived by James Lowe of Grand Rapids, who was so determined to win the Chicago Mac Race (from Chicago to Mackinac Island, across Lake Michigan) that he commissioned the young naval architect Olin Stephens to design her specifically. She is one of Olin Stephen’s famous inboard yawls, a lineage that started with Dorade in 1930, many examples of which are still loved and raced to this day.

What he wanted was a performance cruising yacht that would race well under heavy and light conditions. So Stephens designed a 62ft (18.9m) cutter-rigged bermudan yawl with 44ft (13.4m) in the water, a 13ft 9in (4.2m) beam and a four-ton keel. She had teak planking on deck and mahogany on oak for her hull.

Manitou was launched in 1937 and promptly won the 1938 Chicago Mac Race in the cruising division (on corrected time), beating all previous records. She came a close second the next year and came back to win it again in 1940 and 1941. After these successes Mr Lowe sold her, and in 1955 she was donated to the US Coast Guard to be used as a training vessel.

It was while she was at Annapolis that Manitou was first spotted by a young Senator Kennedy. She obviously made an impression on him because, when he was elected, the presidential yacht at the time was the 92ft (28m) power yacht Honey Fitz (named after his own grandfather) and, as was customary, a fighting ship ready for naval action.

Being a keen sailor, however, and now the president, Kennedy sent naval aide Captain Tazewell Shepard Jr, to search out a suitable sailing yacht that could accommodate the equipment needed for him to keep in touch with the White House, and even the Kremlin.

One of the yachts on the list was Manitou and, in the style befitting of his entire career, the signing of her deeds was one of the first things he did sitting at the presidential desk. She was promptly moved to Chesapeake Bay where engineers fitted her out as a working presidential office. Indeed John F Kennedy’s Yacht was soon given the nickname “The Floating White House”.

LOD: 62ft (18.9m), LWL: 44ft (13.4m), Beam: 13ft 9in (4.2m), Draught: 8ft 6in (2.6m), Disp: 60,000lb (27.2 tonnes), Sail Area: 1,778sqft (165sqm)

Although he never raced her himself, Kennedy and a friend, future America’s Cup winner Emil “Bus” Mosbacher, had an impromptu competition off Newport to see whether Manitou could beat his 38ft (11.6m) Weatherly . Sadly, the boats got so close approaching a mark that the secret servicemen in their RIB, nervous already at this sudden and unexpected turn of speed, intercepted Bus – much to the annoyance of the president.

During his time he not only used her as a presidential yacht, but also invited a bevy of stars and starlets aboard as guests, due to his fascination with Hollywood. The bathtub in the aft cabin, sunken under the cabin sole, is said to have been host to, among others, Marilyn Monroe.

The Star Wanes

In 1968, long after JFK’s assassination, she was finally sold at auction to Paul Hall, the leader of the Harry Lundeburg School of Seamanship, and became once more a vessel for learning. In the same year, Aristotle Onassis was wooing Jackie Kennedy, and, as a token of his love, twice attempted to buy it back for her at “any price”. But Hall was a proponent of the common man, so the offer only strengthened his resolve to keep her for teaching less privileged children about teamwork.

In 1999, in poor state and neglected, her history a mere forgotten footnote, she was bought by Laura Kilbourne, the great-granddaughter of none other than James R Lowe, the original owner. Manitou was given a major and meticulously accurate refit at the Chesapeake Marine Railway in Deltaville, Virginia – just down the road from where she was built.

By 2010, however, Laura was forced to sell by the arrival of triplets, relinquishing Manitou to the present owners Phil Jordan, Pat Tierney, Claes Goran Nilsson and Melinda Kilkenny. Though Laura’s refit had started a decade before, the boat was as yet unsailable and there was much to do. The interior, panelled beautifully in American butternut, a hard but light wood, was totally bare. There were no doors below, the original sails were still with her but could be seen through like greasy paper, and her rig, it was considered, could be improved.

And so, in December, in another fateful turn of events, she was taken back to Solomons where she had been built. Here, her stem was replaced, her engine changed for a 120hp Yanmar, the wiring redone, new tanks fitted and new batteries and navigation equipment were installed. She was given new winches and tracks and then came the varnish. After a gruelling four months of varnishing every inside inch of her, the interior finally sparkled once again.

An interior that, it is important to note, has a sunken bath, a fireplace and a fridge that has been modified to be opened from the top or sides. None of this detracts from one of the most elegantly laid-out living quarters and galleys you will come across. She seems large, light and airy with plenty of headroom and nothing seemingly compromised.

On top, the decks are uncluttered and the companionway, being amidships, leaves the cockpit free. She left the yard on 10 July 2011 and sailed into New York Harbor, flashing her cream sides past the Statue of Liberty with all sails up, making a triumphant 9 knots. Many a proud eye may have dampened with salt spray that day. From there, she went up to Newport, Rhode Island, and was shipped across to the Mediterranean.

Then the next chapter unfurled. She went into the famed Villefranche boatyard near Nice and, along with recaulking her hull and replacing the garboards, the rig was improved. The original mainmast had three sets of spreaders, and this they reduced to two, also removing the jumpers. The upwind performance was improved to such a degree that, with the mizzen staysail balancing it all, Manitou is now the envy of the fleet. Although this year was planned as a training year, no one seemed to have told the boat, and she started winning races regardless, taking first place in the Puig Vela and Alcudia and coming second in Palma, Nice and Imperia.

Sailing Manitou

I stepped aboard JFK’s Yacht as the sun was just drying the dew over the toerail and was welcomed by what at first seemed like a multinational but close family made up entirely of men. They were milling about in the restrained excitement before a race , putting on sailing gloves, taking off socks, discussing tactics and stowing breakables. The winds were light and I was soon pulled into a discussion about the advantage this gave the smaller boats in the class. We made ready and sailed out of Cannes into the Golfe de la Napoule. The wind, little that there was, perked up a bit, so we raised the jib and Manitou woke up.

There were 11 people on board and she didn’t feel crowded. Six minutes were called. We admired the posture and varnish of our adversaries like jockeys leaning on the race paddock fence. Five minutes. I fiddled with my camera and changed the lens. We raised the main. Three minutes. One of the Swedes on the foredeck changed his knee pads. One minute. We no longer admired our adversaries. Go!

One of the things that is unique in sailing is that there’s no suddenness about the start of a race, no screech of tyres. You merely carry on doing what you were doing before. The crew is a syndicate made up of old friends, all evenly tanned and most of them in their fifties. I was immediately intrigued by the dynamic, and as other skippers could be heard yelling at their crews, here was calm. On a full race charter there are constant questions and eternal strangers. Here there was cohesion, the ease of familiarity and the knowledge of each others’ abilities.

I sat down next to a particularly distinguished French gentleman who lived on the western edge of the bay. He explained to me how wonderful the lobsters used to be at a restaurant on a nearby island that had been closed down by the monks who owned the lease. The wind picked up a little more and Claes swung on shrouds and gave complex trimming signals to the well-manned cockpit. Having three of the four owners on board also lightened the potential hierarchy and it became evident that this was a crew of mixed ability but shared enthusiasm.

They had their rules: no shouting was one I particularly agree on; no paid crew, and they’d decided that 30 people was the maximum syndicate size – small enough to avoid confusion but large enough to provide a full crew for most regattas. Friends, and friends of friends. And when the more salubrious regattas became oversubscribed, they decided to put extra money into the funds. Everything was done with the doff of a gentleman’s agreement. Not that there aren’t any women involved. Far from it. When on board, the ladies, as well as one of the owners, Melinda Kilkenny, are known as “The Mizzen Sisters” such is their expertise at dealing with all things mizzenly.

And so we raced. And as we raced, the skipper Alex Tilleray, prised from The Blue Peter , guided us through the race, adjusting sheet cars ready for a tack, setting the spinnaker boom in case we needed it and even explaining how to tie a particular haul knot. His influence was pervasive; his racing knowledge unquestionable and his demeanour lacked that manic violence of the fanatical winner. We won, it seemed – it’s always difficult to tell – and we headed back to the old port to drink beer in the cockpit and talk of our tactics, joined by wives who’d been shopping.

It was on dry land, however, that I fully understood the advantage of a syndicate. There was, as there often is, an altercation during the race, which led to an inquiry. The inquiry led to one of Manitou ’s owners, Phil Jordan, being threatened by the skipper of the other boat in the pub straight afterwards. He was surrounded by the syndicate, shoulder to shoulder, ready to defend him. Had they been a group of strangers, that may not have been the case.

Pat told me that when they were looking for a boat to buy, Phil had said he was looking for one with significance. There can be few, if any, with more.

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JFK, the sailing President

20 Feb JFK, the sailing President

“I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came.”

 –  President John F. Kennedy speaking at the America’s Cup in Newport, RI in 1962.

Before John F. Kennedy was President of the United States – indeed, before he met Jacqueline Onassis, before he was a U.S. senator, a Congressman, a Naval hero, a Harvard graduate – he was first a sailor. It could be argued that for JFK sailing was not only his first love, it was the love of his life.

He began sailing at a young age with his family. As a racer JFK won several events, including the Nantucket Sound Star Class Championship Cup in 1936, and the MacMillan Cup and East Coast Collegiate Championships in 1938. Even as president, he took time to sail in the waters off Hyannis, Palm Beach, and on the Potomac. For JFK sailing was a respite, a way to (at least temporarily) escape the heavy burdens of his office.

JFK owned many boats, but one boat remained his favorite throughout his too brief life. On his 15th birthday, his father Joseph Kennedy gave him a 25 foot Wianno Senior, a classic wooden gaff-rigged sloop made nearby on Cape Cod. JFK named her Victura ,   Latin for “about to conquer” – fitting for a young man with big dreams. He went on to other, larger boats – most notably the Sparkman & Stephens designed S/Y Manitou , and the Presidential motor yacht Honey Fitz   –  but it was Victura that captured and held his imagination and his heart.

JFK enjoyed sailing Victura for her simplicity, ease of handling and performance. It was on Victura that he taught Jackie and his children Caroline and John Jr. to sail. There are many photos of the Kennedy family and JFK sailing  Victura , and in those pictures there’s no mistaking the huge grin on his face. It is the smile of a man who loved his boat and loved sailing it. Friends said that he often told them he was never happier than at the helm of Victura .

The next day, hotel staff were cleaning the suite when they learned JFK had been shot in Dallas. In the trash, they found a simple pencil drawing of a sailboat that looked much like Victura , beating through the waves.

The Kennedy family kept Victura and sailed her for almost 50 years. Today, Victura stands on the lawn of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston , with her bow facing out to sea. A moving and fitting tribute to our sailing President.

Did you enjoy this? Here’s another piece of sailing history you might like:  A Shamrock for St. Patrick’s Day  

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Victura: the Kennedys, a Sailboat, and the Sea

Posted by luxebeat | Apr 20, 2014 | Auto, Yachts & Aircraft , Books , Featured , History , Literature , Travel |

by James W. Graham

Book Excerpt: Chapter 1

Metaphor for Life

The day before he died President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, arrived at the Rice Hotel in Houston, Texas, taking a room freshly remodeled for their short stay. They had three and a half hours to rest and dine together before heading out for two evening appearances and the day’s end. Jack, sitting in a rocking chair, wearing just his shorts, worked on a speech and doodled on a sheet of hotel notepaper.

Later, their public obligations satisfied, they retired to another hotel closer to the next day’s events. Jacqueline saw Jack, in his pajamas, kneel by his bed to say a prayer. She told a friend a few weeks later, “It was just like a little childish mannerism, I suppose, like brushing your teeth or some- thing. But I thought that was so sweet. It used to amuse me so, standing there.” She compared his religious rituals to “superstition.” She wasn’t sure he was a true believer, “but if it was that way, he wanted to have that on his side.”

The next morning, with the president and first lady in Dallas for their motorcade’s nightmarish turn past the book depository, the Rice Hotel housecleaning staff found the doodle the president had left in his room. It was a simple pencil drawing of a little sailboat, beating through the waves.

The summer before the 1960 election. From Victura, AP Photo, August 7, 1960.

Jack Kennedy often drew such sailboats during White House meetings or while on the phone. Sometimes, he put a gaff rig on the mast, like the one on the Victura . Somewhere in their minds, throughout their lives, Jack and his brothers and sisters were always at sea. Sailing influenced how they thought, how they competed, the content of public speeches, how as a family they celebrated happy events or managed grief, how they grew close to one another.

Of the nine children of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, the ones most influenced by and enamored with sailing were Jack; his older brother, Joe; and their younger siblings, Ted, Eunice, and Robert. When they were young, sailing was a topic of ongoing earnest discussion, sometimes led by their father.

Robert F. Kennedy steers Victura with plenty of helpers. No youngster was turned away, no matter the boat’s crew capacity. From Victura, AP Photo/Bob Schutz, July 30, 1961.

They would constantly ask one another, What made us lose a race? What gear needed replacing? At what cost? What sailing instructors should we hire? What kind of sails? How do we launch the spinnaker faster? Who can we get to crew? How fast the wind and how high the waves?

As they grew older and moved into independent lives, they always came back to sailing, coordinating return trips to their seaside Cape Cod home, sometimes arranging their lives around regattas, making time for a sail every day. Their children and grandchildren were still doing the same eighty years after they first went for a sail on Victura .

When Robert’s young wife, Ethel, joined the family, she perfectly blended in, not least because she brought her own love of sailing. Jacque- line, enamored less with the races and more with sailing’s beauty, wrote poetry about and drew pictures of sailboats years before she met Jack. Whatever the lofty position a Kennedy held, helicopters, airplanes, and motorcades all eventually pointed back to Hyannis Port in time for sailing races.

Ethel and children have a mishap on Resolute. From Victura, photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection/WireImage/Getty Images, August, 1971.

Once together at sea the Kennedys riveted their attention on the race or, if just cruising, spent hours in conversation while watching sunsets; worrying over storm clouds; taking drenching waves over the gunwale; shivering, almost hypothermic; holding soggy sandwiches pulled from the cooler.

Older Kennedys taught younger ones. They grounded their boat on sandbars, at least once crashing into a buoy. They thought nothing of jumping into the water if necessary to lighten the load and speed the boat. They yelled when mistakes were made, punched one another even, laughed about it afterward.

The stronger the Cape winds, the whiter the whitecaps, the better. They took friends out who became lifelong pals after passing tests of seaworthiness or camaraderie.

Once they became parents they used sailing to connect with their children, including nephews and nieces whose fathers were lost. They learned seamanship and survival skills, which they swear saved Jack’s life in World War II. Sailing, they said, gave their lives perspective and helped them explore how to cope with the complexity that comes with being a Kennedy—the privileges, the attention, and the “buzz saws of life.” They sailed at night too, quietly taking in the infinite stars, distance, space, and horizon and said it gave them insights into life’s mysteries. “Sailing, for me, has always been a metaphor for life,” wrote Ted in his memoir, True Compass, written eighty years after the family first summered in Hyannis Port.

The family had many sailboats, but the favorite was Victura . They kept it the longest and sailed it most, over almost fifty years. It was wooden and modest in size, twenty-five feet in length, spare of accommodation, and gaff rigged, a sail configuration thought quaint today even though folks still say the shorter mast height prevents a knockdown in a gale. About two hundred one-design Wianno Seniors identical to Victura have been built for families like the Kennedys who summer or live on Cape Cod’s South Shore. Thus they fairly compete on boats of equal specifications in races around Nantucket Sound.

That Victura survived so long, a small boat in such big seas, is surprising itself. Acquired in 1932, struck  by lightning in 1936, dragged onto the beach by war-injured Jack during a hurricane in 1944, and nearly lost in a 2003 harbor fire that took twenty other sailboats like it, Victura once sprung a leak and started sinking beneath Ted’s aging and none-too-small size, as the senator resignedly watched boats in the race pass him by until he could get a tow. After they gave Victura to a museum, they bought a new Wianno Senior, called it Victura too and sail it to this day.

Now, when a Kennedy dies and his or her loved ones stand to speak words of consolation, they often turn to the imagery of sailing and to their stories of Victura . At Ted’s death in 2009, four eulogists told stories of being with him on Victura . Less than two years later, when Ted’s daughter, Kara, died of cancer at age fifty-one, her brother Patrick said, “Dad now has his first mate, his crew with him, as they set sail,” and quoted Eugene O’Neill, “I dissolved in the sea, became white sails and flying spray, became beauty and rhythm, became moonlight and the ship and the high dim-starred sky!”

Jack did not know his stay at the Rice Hotel was his last day on earth, but his thoughts went back to the Cape and the sea that night because that is where Kennedy minds always drift. All through his life Jack was sick with one illness or another, but sailing freed him, filled his lungs, tanned his skin when it was ashen or yellow, separated him from worries ashore, and gave him seclusion with family and friends.

Robert, a less accomplished sailor who married young and had less time for racing, still loved taking his children out on the water. Before he died at forty-two, after fathering eleven children, he bought a “sister boat” to Victura and called it Resolute . For years following Robert’s death, when the weather was warm enough, and even when it was not, his surviving family sailed Resolute almost every day. Brothers, sisters, and nephews of Jack bought Wianno Seniors, so Victura and Resolute begat Headstart , another Victura , and Ptarmigan . These begat Santa Maria and Dingle .

Ted, perhaps the most dedicated—some might say obsessive—sailor, lived a long life of ups and downs, the opposite of the short lives of Jack and Robert. They rose together on a steady and uninterrupted path to the White House, but Ted lived almost as long as the other two combined, beaten down by tragedies, some fated, some self-inflicted. Sailing reminded Ted to keep plowing onward, no matter the wind or current or competition. The younger Kennedys picked up on that.

The daughters of Joe and Rose Kennedy had less family pressure to achieve political success, for theirs was an era of male primogeniture, but Eunice grew up to be as forceful and effective a leader of social change in America as her brothers. Perhaps not so coincidentally she was also among the most accomplished sailors.

Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt steadied himself on Victura’s bow to capture eight-year-old Ted forward andfrom left, Jean, Rose, Joe, Bobby, Patricia and Eunice. From Victura, photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images, 1940.

Over the years the images of the Kennedys at sea defined the family brand and gave birth to the Kennedy myth. Kennedys under sail were the picture of adventurousness, wholesomeness, vigor, and family. They commanded the elements and the political world. Jack Kennedy’s navy experience in World War II became an epic tale of seafaring heroism, retold throughout his political career. A 1953 Life cover photo of Jack and Jacqueline on the bow of Victura , along with their larger storyline, presented them as beautiful, privileged, sophisticated, glamorous, and destined for something great. Media forms like television were fast evolving and multiplying, their effects just being understood, and Jack and Jackie were well cast for the new era.

As Robert and Ted grew older and entered the picture as politicians themselves, they had children who took to the sea as had their parents. The image of the Kennedys at sea became affixed in public consciousness for the rest of the twentieth century and into the next.

The story of Victura , more than the tale of a small sailboat, is a story of a steeled family and uncommon upbringing in a particular time and place, under specific circumstances, some created with deliberateness by parents who had the means, some shaped by world events and accidents of fate. All of these combined to deeply influence the lives of a few extraordinary people who, more than most, helped define America in the second half of the twentieth century. From these circumstances grew the Kennedys and all they became. Always integral to it all was a simple, small sailboat. Victura .

About the Author:

To read the Luxe Beat Magazine version of this article click on the title VICTURA THE KENNEDYS, A SAILBOARD AND THE SEA .

About the author.

For a sophisticated lifestyle...Luxe Beat Magazine is the premiere resource for all things luxury. With content provided by a consortium of the most esteemed and talented writers in the luxury and travel industry, Luxe Beat offers an uncommon perspective.

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Photos: The Kennedys' Love Affair With The Sea And A Sailboat Named Victura

• WBUR Newsroom

Photographs of the Kennedys and their handcrafted sailboat, Victura, show the famed political family's love of sailing. In his new book, "Victura: The Kennedys, A Sailboat, And The Sea," author James Graham dives into the Kennedy family's relationship with sailing, and the role the sailboat plays in their legacy. ( Here's our interview with Graham .)

• Interview Highlights: Author James Graham Discusses Kennedy Family’s Tradition Of Sailing The ‘Victura’
• November 1963: Remembering JFK

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Kennedy – the sailing President

With the speech of John Fitzgerald Kennedy at the Berlin Wall on June 26, 1963 at the latest, the American President became one of the most popular statesmen of his time in Germany. To understand JFK, his actions and the magic he spread all over, one must also know the passion of the Kennedy family for sailing and the sea.

The day after his assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963, a sketch of a sailboat that JFK had drawn during his stay there was found at the Rice Hotel, just hours before his death.

The Kennedy family, descendants of Irish immigrants owned a beach house in Hyannis, on Cape Cod in the North East of the USA. For his 15th birthday, JFK was given the dinghy VICTURA, a small boat not even 8 meters long with gaff rig. John and his brothers Edward and Robert did not miss any opportunity to sail the boat at regattas. When John survived the sinking of his patrol boat in the Second World War, his family was convinced that without his experience on the VICTURA he would not have escaped with life. The home story with the bride Jacqueline Bouvier, also on the sea and, of course, on the VICTURA, the high-gloss pictures of the later married couple on board the motor yacht HONEYFITZ and their accompaniment of the Americas Cup of 1962, when Australia with the 12mR race yacht GRETEL aimed for the “Cup” for the first time, underline the importance of sailing for the Kennedys. His instruction that the yacht MANITOU, built at Sparkman & Stephens in 1937, was to be converted into a sort of floating White House, from which he could take his official business at sea, is another proof of this enthusiasm. John F. Kennedy was born 100 years ago on May 29, 1917. With the exhibition “Kennedy – the sailing President” the YACHTING HERITAGE CENTRE would like to pay tribute to the President of the USA, the charismatic politician, but especially the enthusiastic sailor. The exhibition is daily open from May 2 – July 10, 2017 (assembly works, holidays excluded) from 11h00 – 18h00.

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John F. Kennedy sailboat sketch and doodles on a 1959 campaign programme

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Description

• A John F. Kennedy campaign dinner programme, featuring his doodles and a sailboat sketch
• Dated October 2, 1959

John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963) was the 35th President of the United States of America from 1961 until 1963 when he was tragically assassinated in Dallas, Texas. A charismatic leader, he is one of the most beloved presidents in US history, and his memorabilia is among the best selling of any former president.

An original programme for a Democratic campaign dinner held at the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis on October 2, 1959.

Kennedy attended the event as he campaigned for the Democratic nomination for President, and gave the main speech of the evening.

During the event John. F Kennedy inscribed his personal copy of the programme with notes, sketches and doodles.

The programme measures approximately 6" by 9".

With minor surface marks to the cover, otherwise in good condition.

Kennedy's doodles and notations are written in black ink, and include:

"Victory Dinner . . . Alderman gave the . . . a few . . . . Someone had but broken in and stolen the election . . . Rm. 640".

The programme also includes a hand-drawn sailboat - Kennedy's most famous doodle, which he drew throughout his life.

They represent his lifelong love affair with sailing and the ocean. And he always sketched his favourite boat the Victura, a 25-foot sloop given to him by his parents in 1932 on his 15th birthday.

Accompanying the piece is a letter from the Kennedy Library Curator Dave Powers regarding the events of the dinner. Dated 1988.

A unique piece of vintage political memorabilia featuring one of JFK's iconic sailboat sketches.

Click here to discover more about this item.

Lifetime Moneyback Guarantee of Authenticity. Free global delivery. 28-day no-quibble returns. Certificate of Authenticity.

• BUY NOW: Order online, by phone +44 (0)1534 639 998, or via email [email protected]

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John F. Kennedy sailboat sketch and doodles on a 1959 campaign programme

• A John F. Kennedy campaign dinner programme, featuring his doodles and a sailboat sketch
• Dated October 2, 1959

John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963) was the 35th President of the United States of America from 1961 until 1963 when he was tragically assassinated in Dallas, Texas. A charismatic leader, he is one of the most beloved presidents in US history, and his memorabilia is among the best selling of any former president.

An original programme for a Democratic campaign dinner held at the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis on October 2, 1959.

Kennedy attended the event as he campaigned for the Democratic nomination for President, and gave the main speech of the evening.

During the event John. F Kennedy inscribed his personal copy of the programme with notes, sketches and doodles.

The programme measures approximately 6" by 9".

With minor surface marks to the cover, otherwise in good condition.

Kennedy's doodles and notations are written in black ink, and include:

"Victory Dinner . . . Alderman gave the . . . a few . . . . Someone had but broken in and stolen the election . . . Rm. 640".

The programme also includes a hand-drawn sailboat - Kennedy's most famous doodle, which he drew throughout his life.

They represent his lifelong love affair with sailing and the ocean. And he always sketched his favourite boat the Victura, a 25-foot sloop given to him by his parents in 1932 on his 15th birthday.

Accompanying the piece is a letter from the Kennedy Library Curator Dave Powers regarding the events of the dinner. Dated 1988.

A unique piece of vintage political memorabilia featuring one of JFK's iconic sailboat sketches.

Click here to discover more about this item.

Lifetime Moneyback Guarantee of Authenticity. Free global delivery. 28-day no-quibble returns. Certificate of Authenticity.

• BUY NOW: Order online, by phone +44 (0)1534 639 998, or via email [email protected]

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You Could Own JFK’s Sailboat

On May 18, Flash II —the Star Class sailboat owned by President John F. Kennedy and his brother Joseph—will be offered at Heritage Auctions, in Dallas. “The Kennedy brothers made quite a name for themselves in the Nantucket Sound Fleet racing circuit with this boat in the late 1930s,” says Mark Prendergast, director of trusts and estates at the auction house. “It’s also been the subject of extraordinary and painstaking restoration. Not only is it a piece of American history, it’s also seaworthy and ready for adventure.” The opening bid for the 22-foot-long boat is $100,000. Watch the video below to learn more about its provenance.

For more information visit ha.com

Painting of John F. Kennedy in a Sailboat

• Gifts from Public

John F. Kennedy and PT-109

Lieutenant John F. Kennedy's encounter with a Japanese destroyer on the night of August 1, 1943, may be the most famous small-craft engagement in naval history, and it was an unmitigated disaster.

At a later date, when asked to explain how he had come to be a hero, Kennedy replied laconically, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat."

An Ambush Goes Awry

In Blackett Strait, south of Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands, the starless, moonless night of August 1, 1943, was profoundly dark. Inky blackness like this could have a disorienting effect, even on experienced sailors.

PT-109 stood at her station, one of fifteen PT boats ("Patrol Torpedo" boats) that had set out to engage, damage, and maybe even turn back the well-known "Tokyo Express." US forces gave that name to the Japanese navy's more or less regular supply convoy to soldiers fighting the advance of US forces in the islands farther south.

When the patrol actually did come in contact with the Tokyo Express—three Japanese destroyers acting as transports with a fourth serving as escort—the encounter did not go well. Thirty torpedoes were fired without damaging the Japanese ships. No US vessels suffered hits or casualties. Boats that had used up their complement of torpedoes were ordered home. The few that still had torpedoes remained in the strait for another try.

PT-109 was one of the boats left behind. Lieutenant Kennedy rendezvoused his boat with two others, PT-162 and PT-169. The three boats spread out to make a picket line across the strait. At about 2:30 in the morning, a shape loomed out of the darkness three hundred yards off PT-109's starboard bow. The young lieutenant and his crew first believed it to be another PT boat. When it became apparent that it was one of the Japanese destroyers, Kennedy attempted to turn to starboard to bring his torpedoes to bear. But there was not enough time.

The destroyer, later identified as the  Amagiri , struck PT-109 just forward of the forward starboard torpedo tube, ripping away the starboard aft side of the boat. The impact tossed Kennedy around the cockpit. Most of the crew were knocked into the water. The one man below decks, engineer Patrick McMahon, miraculously escaped, although he was badly burned by exploding fuel.

Fear that PT-109 would go up in flames drove Kennedy to order the men who still remained on the wreck to abandon ship. But the destroyer's wake dispersed the burning fuel, and when the fire began to subside, Kennedy sent his men back to what was left of the boat. From the wreckage, Kennedy ordered the men with him, Edgar Mauer and John E. Maguire, to identify the locations of their crew mates still in the water. Leonard Thom, Gerard Zinser, George Ross, and Raymond Albert were able to swim back on their own.

Kennedy swam out to McMahon and Charles Harris. Kennedy towed the injured McMahon by a life-vest strap, and alternately cajoled and berated the exhausted Harris to get him through the difficult swim. Meanwhile, Thom pulled in William Johnston, who was debilitated by the gasoline he had accidentally swallowed and the heavy fumes that lay on the water. Finally Raymond Starkey swam in from where he had been flung by the shock. Floating on and around the hulk, the crew took stock.

Harold Marney and Andrew Jackson Kirksey had disappeared in the collision, very likely killed at impact. All the men were exhausted, and a few were hurt, and several had been sickened by the fuel fumes. There was no sign of other boats or ships in the area; the men were afraid to fire their flare gun for fear of attracting the attention of the Japanese who were on islands on all sides. Although the wreckage was still afloat, it was taking on water, and it capsized on the morning of August 2.

After a discussion of options, the men abandoned the remains of PT-109 and struck out for an islet three and a half miles away.

Seeking Land

Kennedy had been on the swim team at Harvard; even towing McMahon by a belt clamped in his teeth, he was undaunted by the distance. Some of the other men were also good swimmers, but several were not; two, Johnston and Mauer, could not swim at all. These last two were lashed to a plank that the other seven men pulled and pushed as they could.

Kennedy arrived first at the island. It was named Plum Pudding, but the men called it "Bird" Island because of the guano that coated the bushes. Exhausted, Kennedy had to be helped up the beach by the man he had towed. He collapsed and waited for the rest of the crew. But Kennedy's swimming was not over.

Alarmed by a Japanese barge that passed close by, Kennedy decided to swim down into Ferguson Passage, through which the American PT boats passed when they were operating in Blackett Strait. Island-hopping and clinging to reefs, Kennedy made his way out into the passage, where he treaded water for an hour before deciding that the PT boats were in action elsewhere that night.

The return voyage nearly killed him as strong currents spun him out into Blackett Strait and then back into Ferguson Passage. Making the weary trip again, Kennedy stopped on Leorava Island, southeast of Bird Island, where he slept long enough to recoup himself for the final leg of the trip. Returning to Bird Island, Kennedy slept through the day but also made Ross promise to go out on the same trip that night. But Ross, unfortunately, did not see any sign of the PT boats either.

Looking for a Way Home

On August 4, Kennedy led the men back into the ocean, striking out for Olasana Island in hopes of finding food and fresh water but also trying to get closer to Ferguson Passage. Kennedy again hauled McMahon by the strap of his life vest while the rest of the crew clustered around the plank and thrashed their way along.

Olasana Island proved to be something of a disappointment. The coconuts were more plentiful but had a sickening effect on some of the men. The men found no fresh water, and they were too nervous about Japanese patrols to explore more than a small corner of this larger island.

When the night of August 4 turned wet and cold, Kennedy determined to try the next island over the following day. Naru Island is the last in the chain, and its eastern shores look out over Ferguson Passage. Kennedy and Ross climbed up onto its beach a little past noon on August 5.

Fearing enemy patrols, the two men stepped carefully through the brush but only saw the wreck of a small Japanese vessel out on the reef. On the beach they spotted a small box with Japanese labels. When they broke it open, they were delighted to discover it contained Japanese candy. Even better, a little further up the island they discovered a tin of water and a one-man canoe hidden in the bushes.

After a drink, Kennedy and Ross were walking back onto the beach when they saw two men out at the Japanese wreck. The men, clearly islanders, took fright and paddled away from the wreck in a canoe, despite Kennedy's hails. That night Kennedy took the canoe into Ferguson Passage once more, again without spotting any US vessels.

Kennedy decided to take the canoe back to Olasana; he stopped long enough to gather the candy and the water to bring to the other men, leaving Ross to rest until the next morning. Arriving at Olasana, Kennedy discovered that the two men he and Ross had seen at Naru had made contact with the rest of the crew. The two men, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, were islander scouts for the Allies. Their hasty departure from Naru had left them tired and thirsty, and they had stopped for coconuts at Olasana, where Thom had been

The next morning, August 6, Kennedy returned with Gasa and Kumana to Naru, intercepting Ross along the way as he was swimming back. The islanders showed the two Americans where a boat had been hidden on Naru. Kennedy was at a loss for a way to send a message, but Gasa showed him how to scratch a few words into the husk of a green coconut.

Gasa and Kumana left with the message—

NAURO ISL COMMANDER . . . NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT . . . HE CAN PILOT . . . 11 ALIVE NEED SMALL BOAT . . . KENNEDY

As they waited for a rescue, Kennedy insisted on going out with Ross into Ferguson Passage in the two-man canoe. Heavy seas swamped the canoe and so battered the men that they barely made it back to Naru. But the next morning, August 7, eight islanders appeared at Naru shortly after Kennedy and Ross awoke. They brought food and instructions from the local Allied coastwatcher, Lt. A. Reginald Evans, who instructed Kennedy to come to Evans's post.

Stopping long enough at Olasana to feed the crew, the islanders hid Kennedy under a pile of palm fronds and paddled him to Gomu Island in Blackett Strait. Early in the evening of August 7, a little more than six days after PT-109's sinking, Kennedy stepped on to Gomu. There was still a rescue to be planned with Evans, no small thing in enemy-held waters, but the worst of the ordeal of PT-109 was over.

Evans already notified his commander of the discovery of PT-109's survivors, and the base commander proposed sending a rescue mission directly to Olasana. Kennedy insisted on being picked up first so that he could guide the rescue boats, PT-157 and  PT-171, among the reefs and shallows of the island chain.

Late on the night of August 7, the boats met Kennedy at the rendezvous point, exchanging a prearranged signal of four shots. Kennedy's revolver was down to only three rounds, so he borrowed a rifle from Evans for the fourth. Standing up in the canoe to give the signal, Kennedy did not anticipate the rifle's recoil, which threw him off balance and dumped him in the water. A soaking wet and thoroughly exasperated Navy lieutenant climbed aboard PT-157.

The PT boats crossed Blackett Strait under Kennedy's direction and eased up to Olasana Island early in the morning of August 8. The exhausted men of PT-109 were all asleep. Kennedy began yelling for them, much to the chagrin of his rescuers, who were nervous about the proximity of the Japanese. But the rescue went forward without incident, and the men of PT-109 reached the US base at Rendova at 5:30 a.m. on August 8.

For his courage and leadership, Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and injuries suffered during the incident also qualified him for a Purple Heart. Ensign Leonard Thom also received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. But for John F. Kennedy, the consequences of the event were more far-reaching than simple decorations.

The story was picked up by the writer John Hersey, who told it to the readers of  The New Yorker  and  Reader's Digest . It followed Kennedy into politics and provided a strong foundation for his appeal as a leader.