{"id":8284,"date":"2013-07-17T14:02:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-17T21:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=8284"},"modified":"2013-07-22T06:14:48","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T13:14:48","slug":"fit-for-a-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/fit-for-a-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Fit for a King"},"content":{"rendered":"

July\/August 2013 | view this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

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Excuse me, Your Majesty King Mohammed Vi, Amir Al-Muminin (Commander of the Faithful). Isn\u2019t that our <\/em>yacht?<\/h3>\n

By Colin W. Sargent<\/p>\n

\"king\"<\/a>Most of the ghostly society yachts built by Bath Iron Works in the 1920s and 1930s have been summarily sunk, scuttled, scrapped, smelted, or smashed to smithereens.<\/p>\n

Most.<\/em><\/p>\n

An extraordinary exception\u2013a royal surprise\u2013is owned and operated by a king.<\/p>\n

The luxury 53-meter staysail schooner formerly known as Black Douglas<\/em>, built in 1930 for the great-grandson of John A. Roebling, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, has surfaced out of obscurity and is now the toast of the Mediterranean as the Royal Yacht of His Royal Highness, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, dubbed \u201cThe Cool King\u201d by Time<\/em> Magazine.<\/p>\n

Registered in the Cayman Islands, home-ported in Nice, and named El Boughaz<\/em> I,<\/em> which refers to the eastern Alexandrian portal to the Mediterranean, she was a wedding present to King Mohammed from \u201cthe Fire Sheikh Zayed, president of the United Arab Emirates,\u201d according to the international blogsite forummarine.forumactif.com.<\/p>\n

The yacht is significant because she\u2019s one of the first pleasure schooners of her type ever to boast a steel hull.<\/p>\n

With the help of Sen. Collins\u2019s office, we\u2019re navigating some diplomatic straits and hope to catch up with His Royal Highness to ask him how the old girl sails. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

Says Sen. Collins: \u201cFrom the great sailing vessels of the past to the most advanced warships of today, \u2018Bath Built is Best Built.\u2019 The long, 83-year life of the schooner Black Douglas<\/em> and her fascinating career demonstrate that those words are not merely a slogan, but an ongoing commitment to excellence by the skilled men and women of Bath Iron Works.\u201d<\/p>\n

King Mohammed VI was named the \u201cHeir Apparent and Crown Prince\u201d at birth, according to royalark.net. Mohammed \u201cattended Mohammed V University at Agdal, achieving a bachelor\u2019s in law in 1985,\u201d as the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco\u2019s online site reports. \u201cIn 1988, he gained a Diplome d\u2019Etudes Approfondies in public law,\u201d with further study in Brussels, Belgium. Next stop, the south coast of France, where \u201che was graduated from the French University of Nice Sophia Antipolis with a Ph.D. in law in October 1993…He was given the title of Major General on July 12, 1994.\u201d<\/p>\n

Royalark.net confirms \u201con July 23, 1999, he succeeded his father, Hassan II, as King of Morocco…Mohammed is married to Salma Bennani (H.R.H. Princess Lalla Salma) as of March 21, 2002.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC fills in the family: \u201cThey have two children together, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan (b. 2003) and Princess Lalla Khadija (b. 2007).\u201d<\/p>\n

At 10 and 6, the young brother and sister must love the breeze El Boughaz<\/em> I<\/em> kicks up as she races around the Med.<\/p>\n

Reconditioned to the moon in a manner appropriate to the King of Morocco, this cool schooner has been seen hanging out in Marseilles and other tropical points of interest in the Mediterranean along the C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur, according to NavSource. (Maybe BIW should also adopt the motto, \u201cBuild Locally, Sail Globally.\u201d)<\/p>\n

What a fantastic advertisement for Made in Maine\u2013a ship fit for a king.<\/p>\n

At press time, NavSource reports she\u2019s for sale: \u201c$7 million to $8 million.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July\/August 2013
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