A life less ordinary

From spy ship to movie star, the life of the 1930s yacht NORTHWIND has been anything but ordinary.

Recently listed for sale with Moravia Yachting, and now with a sale successfully concluded, we invited Boat International to step onboard and discover the history behind this beautiful boat that bears an enviable maritime heritage.

Read the full article here: HERE

Built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Wisconsin to a design by New York-based firm Cox & Stevens, NORTHWIND was delivered in May, 1930 and quickly began cruising the Eastern seaboard, regularly spotted in Biscayne Bay and Palm Beach.

In 1935, her commissioning owner died and little information is available on what happened next, but somehow NORTHWIND found herself in the hands of the British Government and served to aid the Navy through the Second World War.

After her service, NORTHWIND was charged with another official role – to promote British goods abroad. It’s thought this may have been a cover for an MI6 spy mission… During these years, photographs from the archive show Sir Winston Churchill painting landscapes on the aft deck, and a young Princess Elizabeth dining aboard the yacht in the early 1950s.

NORTHWIND was then acquired by a Greek shipping family, and her celebrity status grew when she welcomed America’s First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, aboard for her summer holiday in 1961. NORTHWIND remained in the Mediterranean until sold to American owners again in 1982, who returned the yacht to the USA.

Reinstated on the US registry in 1988, her most recent owner acquired the vessel in 2016 – just in time to rescue her from a fate at a scrap metal yard.

With repairs made to make the yacht operational, she landed a role in the Netflix series ‘Griselda’, and her owner had hopes of further film-making and documentary stardom but the restorative works NORTHWIND needed to truly become a yachting starlet proved too great a challenge.

Sold in early spring 2025, we look forward to seeing the role she plays for her new owner and wish them many happy days onboard.

Contact Moravia Yachting Sales Broker, Alastair Callender with any questions.

Previous news article