Horace Dodge's Steam Yacht Delphine Awaits a Purchaser

The Delphine has one of the most unique histories of any steam yacht. And it all began here in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

Built in 1921, The Delphine was the work of Great lakes Engineering Works in Ecorse, Michigan for Horace E. Dodge, the co-founder of Dodge Brothers Company. It was designed by Henry J Gielow of New York City, and was powered by two quadruple expanstion steam engines that were designed by Dodge himself.     

In 1920 tragedy struck the Dodge family when John Dodge passed away in January. Horace, grief stricken, passed away in December.

The Delphine launched on April 2, 1921—four months after Horace’s death. The Delphine was moored outside of the , which was later replaced by Rose Terrace II, where Horace’s widow Anna lived with her second husband.

A brief history

According to the SS Delphine website, which has compiled a detailed history of the ship, “In January 1942 the U.S. Navy acquired the yacht and converted her into U.S.S.  Dauntless PG61. She was to be the flagship of Admiral Ernest King, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations. Shortly after the war, it is reported that several world leaders, including President Roosevelt, went onboard to discuss war strategies with Admiral King.”

“When the war ended, Anna Dodge had to buy her lovely yacht back, and after a refit only the nine hash-marks and the navy siren remained as a reminder of Delphine’s wartime period.”

In 1955, The Delphine was back in Grosse Pointe docked at its private pier on Lake St. Clair. In 1967, it was donated to ‘the People to People Health Foundation’ where it became a part of the Lundeberg Maryland Seamanship School in 1968. It was then again renamed Dauntless.  Dauntless serve as a training ship for merchant seamen until 1986 when she was then sold to Travel Dynamics of New York City. 

There were several attempts to restore the Delphine to its original grandeur, but these plans were abandonded and it was then sold again to Sea Sun Cruises in 1989. At this time, the Delphine made its first and only Atlantic crossing, and arrived in Malta. Again plans to restore the ship were abandoned for financial reasons and in 1993 the Delphine steamed to Marseilles, France.  It stayed there until being purchased by a European businessman in 1997 where she was towed to Bruges, Belgium. This is where the Delphine underwent a full restoration.

The restoration

Recently I was able to track down the current owner of the Delphine, Ineke Bruynooghe. Several email correspondences revealed some of the more recent history of the luxury yacht, “I was the project manager during the restoration from 1997 to 2003. In 2003 she was baptized by Princess Stéphanie from Monaco. During the next six seasons we had several amazing charters and visitors. Among them the wedding of Alexander Dodge (grandchild of Horace Dodge Junior). We had several great weddings, and family charters.”

Bruynooghe also shared some of the famous and notable visitors to the Delphine in the past decade including Prince Albert of Monaco and his fiancé Charlène, Prince Hendri of Denmark, Bono of U2, almost all Formula 1 drivers, including Hakkinen and Montoya .  These visits took place during the Monaco Classic Week that is held in September every two years: 2003-2005-2007-2009. Many prominent social and political people of Monaco came onboard for evening galas and balls during Monaco Classic Week. At one Monaco Grand Prix the world champion Kimmi Raikonen of Finland came aboard. The Delphine was moored in Monaco during all these years.

The vessel did a Hollywood production of the movie The Brothers Bloom starring Rachel Weisz and Adrian Brody in 2007.  The ship was in Montenegro for the filming.

The Delphine has attracted a lot of media attention in recent years. In 2008, both the Financial Times of London and Forbes Magazine featured the luxury charter yacht.

Economic Collapse

The financial collapse of September 2008 all but destroyed the luxury chartering industry. “Therefore we decided to move her to Tunisia. Tunisia is for us a ‘normal’ place as we have our other business there since 40 years now.” Despite recent social upheaval in Tunisia, Buynooghe reports that the Delphine is safe and sound. “We had no effect of the revolution this year as she is in a touristic harbor.”

As of June 2011, still remains in Tunisia, where, according to Bruynooghe “she is still kept shipshape with 10 people to keep her clean and ready to go. Meanwhile we are searching a buyer for her. Asking price €38,000,000. She is complete ready for use, as we did a six year restoration and kept her up to all standards.”

If only there was a Pointer out there who had the means to bring her home.