Yacht Cangarda Joins Museum Collection in Turkey

A 123-year-old luxury yacht that survived a sinking, underwent a painstaking restoration, and still has her original steam engines has departed U.S. shores. The classic yacht Cangarda now belongs to a Turkish owner, who recently transported her overseas to join his museum collection. Although the fully functional 126-footer (38-meter) might no longer cruise there, her place in the history books is forever cemented.

The last remaining steam yacht built on U.S. shores, Cangarda launched in 1901 at Pusey & Jones in Delaware. The yard earned renown for its shipbuilding prowess starting in the mid-1800s, additionally building private vessels. In fact, it was responsible for the famed yacht Savarona, too. As for Cangarda, Charles Canfield, a lumber baron from Michigan, commissioned her. He chose her unusual name by combining his last name with his wife’s maiden name, Gardner. Even in the Edwardian era, the yacht stood out for being glamorous. Significantly large, she further showed off Tiffany glass skylights in her deckhouses—one a smoking lounge, the other a dining room. The deckhouses were Cuban mahogany, while even more mahogany lined the interior. Four staterooms accommodated the Canfields and special guests, attended to by eight crewmembers. Equally notable, six steam engines and a coal boiler provided propulsion.

Cangarda restoration — Cangarda’s retoration in 2007; photo by Steve Cobb

The Canfields only owned Cangarda for four years, selling her to a Canadian senator and businessman in 1905. His family continued using the yacht for decades after his death that same year. They entertained high-profile people aboard, perhaps most famously in 1927. They invited King Edward VIII of England, England’s prime minister, and Canada’s prime minister for a dinner cruise in Ontario. Since the yacht glided along the Canada-United States border, citizens from both countries waved and cheered.

Several additional ownership changes took place in the ensuing decades. Unfortunately, Cangarda also deteriorated over time. A Boston-based owner therefore embarked on a restoration in 1983. He had her steam engines dismantled, sending them to England for refurbishment. He also sent all of the wood paneling and skylights to storage. Additionally, he was able to rebuild part of her hull, which had thinning plates after eight decades in the water. Ultimately, he couldn’t finish the project, reportedly because he became ill. The yacht wasted away in Boston Harbor for a decade, tragically sinking in 1999.

Elizabeth Meyer, the well-known American yachtswoman who restored the classic J-Class Endeavour in the 1980s, acquired the yacht. Meyer had her salvaged and partially rebuilt in Massachusetts. She’d had the engines and original paneling brought back stateside, too, sitting in storage awaiting re-installation. In 2002, another American, Bob McNeil, whose love of history introduced him to classic boat restorations, learned of Cangarda. Still only partially restored, the yacht and her legacy spoke to him. He bought the yacht from Meyer and embarked on an ambitious, and complicated, restoration.

The work took seven years to complete, with McNeil laser focused on period authenticity blended with modern safety. Remarkably, significant amounts of her original mahogany paneling inside and out went back onboard. Her hull unfortunately required a full rebuild due to the sinking, but the naval-architecture drawings were available in a museum. Brand-new steel replaced the damaged and thin plating and frames. Most remarkable, the steam engines from 1901 still worked, though an oil boiler replaced the coal one.

the classic yacht Cangarda — Cangarda in California in 2010; photo by Steve Cobb

McNeil chronicled the entire restoration in a television series. Upon completion, he took the now-famous classic yacht Cangarda to a few East Coast ports, always returning her to his home state of Maine. From 2014 onward, Cangarda alternately underwent work and resided at Front Street Shipyard, about an hour from his residence. When McNeil died in 2021, the yacht remained at the shipyard and then went up for sale.

The current owner of Cangarda acquired her in September. Shortly thereafter, Front Street Shipyard carefully prepared her for loading onto a heavy-lift vessel for her transatlantic passage to Turkey. According to some reports, the owner has a significant collection of steam engines.