day and making sketches and pain tings for the other half, documenting the crew at work and everyday scenes of shipboard life. Today, Jaco b Lawrence is recognized as one the most important artists of the twentieth century. His works, including some of his wartime Sea Cloud paintings, are included in the permanent collections of numerous prominent museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Of his experience aboard Sea Cloud, Lawrence once rold an interviewer that his time there was "the best democracy I have ever known." Sea Cloud (IX-99) was decommissioned on 4 November 1944 at the Bethlehem Steel Atlantic Yard, East Boston, and returned to her owner, No. 2, Main Control Panel, Nerve Center of Ship by Jacob Lawrence (1944) along with $ 175,000 to compensate Part ofJacob Lawrence's official duties were sketching and painting daily life aboard Sea C loud. for the missing sailing rig. It is said that Mrs. Davies cried o ut loud when she saw the yacht for the first Mr. and Mrs. Davies were now sailing primarily between time after the war. Because of the postwar shortage of materials, New York, Florida, Nassau and Cuba, with an occasional cruise it took several years to restore Sea Cloud to her former glory. The to the Dominican Republic. Post-war guests included Mamie couple took their first post-war cruise, without a sailing rig, from Eisenhower, Soviet Ambassador Andrei Gromyko, the Duke and Florida to Cuba on 4 July 1946. lt rook until the following spring Duchess of Windsor, and the Vanderbilrs. In 195 5 the couple to get rhe new rig set up, and a new suit of sails finally arrived divo rced . Marjorie was 78 and decided it was rime to put her from Sweden in February 1949. It had taken over four years and beloved yacht on the market. Sea Cloud fo und a ready buyer in an estimated $3. 5 million to restore the yacht after her wartime the ruthless dictator of rhe Dominican Republic, Rafael Truj illo. service. Although rhe purchase price was never disclosed, Marjorie received a 44-passenger private airplane as part of the deal. Trujillo renamed the yach t Angelita after one of his daughters. H e reportedly spent $5 million on an overhaul, which included rhe installation of four new Enterprise diesel engines and two transmissions at an Alabama shipyard. The Angelita was
When Sea C lo ud was returned to Marjorie Merriweather Post Davies after the war, the ship was practically unrecognizable to her owner. It took four years and more than $3 million to restore the yacht to prime sailing condition. The barque has undergone numerous restorations in her 79 years. This November, Sea C loud will go into shipyard for a 5-8 month refit to comply with changes in the SOLAS regulations that will go into effect in October 2 010. The major modifications they need to make are the installation ofa new ventilation and air conditioning system and a rebuild of the crew quarters to eliminate the wooden construction in that part of the ship. While she is in the yard, more typical shipyard work will be done, including replacing parts of her deck, replacing several tanks, and renewing the rig. This work will keep Sea Cloud sailing in the passenger trade for years to come, and, although some of the yard work will be extensive, the design and character of the existing passenger areas will be unchanged. SEA HISTORY 131 , SUMMER 2010
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