It’s in our DNA, I like to think…

My Grandfather was Capt of the seas, my father Capt of the clouds, my sisters both directing Capts in music and art, myself a Capt (albeit a stretch) of expressing destiny. Pop’s been wondering what happened to The Black Douglas.  

She was my grand-dad's first command ... until The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor & one of their subs fired upon the ship, as she sailed up the west coast with Fish & wildlife scientists, bound for the Pribilof Islands to study fur seals.  The Navy took her over; Grampa J was offered a commission, but turned it down when the Navy could not guarantee him a command.

(One of my Bath, Maine great-aunts opined that my dear old Dad was conceived in a ship's bunk at the Bath Ironworks –We’ll never know if she was kidding - but it'd be nice to think it occurred on the Black Douglas!) * Dad’s words- only he could put this together.

Ahh she a beaut eh?

Here’s a little Wiki about it:

The Black Douglas (later teQuest, Aquarius, Aquarius W; now El Boughaz I) is a three-masted staysail auxiliary schooner built for Robert C. Roebling (great-grandson of John A. Roebling and grand-nephew of Washington Roebling) at the Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine, and launched on 9 June 1930. Designed by renowned New York naval architects H.J. Gielow & Co., she is one of the largest steel-hulled schooners ever built.

The ship undertook a variety of functions during her first three and a half decades: private yacht for the Roebling family, patrol vessel in United States Navy service during World War II (as a "patrol yacht – coastal"; PYc-45), and research vessel for the United States Fish and Wildlife Serviceplying the Pacific from Alaska to Baja California.

She was bought at auction by Louis Black of Santa Monica, California, to be used as a treasure hunter in the Caribbean. Black sailed the ship through the Panama Canal and then spent eight years treasure hunting in the Turks and Caicos. He eventually sold the ship to Capt. George Stoll, who turned her into a second Flint School school ship. The school closed in 1981 and she was sold, and in 1982–1983 was reconditoned at the Abeking & Rasmussen shipyard in Lemwerder, Germany, serving as a template for the first generation of super yachts. She is currently owned by King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

She was launched with a 325-hp Cooper-Bessemer marine diesel engine, later replaced by a 400-hp model from San Francisco's Enterprise Engine & Foundry Company. She now is equipped with twin 290-hp Volvo Pentas. She has flown the flags of the United States, Panama, the Cayman Islands, the United Kingdom, and Morocco (current).