April 10, 1926
The motor yacht Siele launched at the Pusey and Jones Corporation’s shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware. This vessel was designed by naval architect B.T. Dobson and built by Pusey and Jones for Detroit-area resident and banker John H. French (1881-1952). At the time, he was serving as both president of the French Investment Company and vice president of the Briggs Manufacturing Company.
While he originally called the yacht Vasanta, French ultimately decided to rename her Siele. This was an anagram of the first name of his wife, who performed the duties for launching the vessel. Kay Jones of the Press of Atlantic City newspaper reported on this ceremony.
Jones wrote, “A little before 10 o’clock on Saturday morning, Mrs. Elsie M. French broke a bottle of sparkling champagne across the bow of a yacht which shipbuilding authorities stated was the last word in marine construction, and with the words, ‘I christen thee, Siele,’ the beautiful boat slid from her moorings to begin her life on the ocean wave.”
In its own account of the launch, a Wilmington-based newspaper described Siele in rather effusive terms. The Evening Journal stated, “This vessel, with her overhanging stern, slightly raking bow, and extremely flaring forward sections, combines a striking appearance with the necessary essentials to make her a splendid seagoing craft.”
Over the next several years, Siele was extensively used by John and Elsie French for recreational trips near and far. An August 1931 article in the Detroit Free Press, for example, noted that they and their three children were traveling aboard the yacht for a pleasure cruise in the Georgian Bay region of the Canadian province of Ontario.
Siele was sold to Robert H. Wolfe, publisher of the Ohio-based Columbus-based Dispatch, in 1940. Wolfe renamed the vessel “Sea Wolf” after a smaller yacht that he previously owned. Yet another chapter for the vessel now called Sea Wolt was opened on January 13, 1941, when she was acquired by the U.S. Navy.
On April 9 of that year, Sea Wolf was commissioned into the navy as the coastal patrol yacht USS Aquamarine (PYc-7). Instead of being deployed for patrol duties, however, this vessel was assigned to the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., for acoustical research purposes.
During the few years – with the United States heavily engulfed in fighting World War II on the side of the Allies – Aquamarine was used for experimental work in underwater communications and other types of marine research in such locales as the Potomac River; Chesapeake Bay; off the Florida coast; in the vicinity of New London, Connecticut; and the Bahamas. Aquamarine also served as a navy tender helping to maintain, support, and supply the presidential yachts USS Potomac (AG-25) and USS Williamsburg.
Nearly a year after the end of the war, Aquamarine was decommissioned on June 21, 1946. On January 31 of the following year, she was transferred to the U.S. Maritime Commission for disposal. The status of this vessel over the next few years is not entirely clear. Some of the registry information indicates that she was returned to Wolfe and that he retained ownership until at least 1950, while other records state that the vessel was sold to a Columbus resident and former U.S. Army officer named Edward M. Grimm.
What is known is that the vessel was sold in 1954 to Ennolls A. Stephens Sr. of Irvington, Virginia. Stephens was the original owner of the Tides Inn, a waterfront resort along the Rappahannock River in that Virginia town. He renamed the yacht “Miss Ann” after his wife Ann Lee Stephens. Grimm ended up rebuilding major sections of the vessel with the help of naval architect John H. Wells. Miss Ann was moored in the waters behind the Tides Inn and listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register. She was listed as well on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2008, Miss Ann was acquired by new owners and homeported in Washington, D.C. She was used for several years for dinner cruises on the Potomac River. This vessel has more recently been moored at the private dock of her current owner at Monroe Bay in the town of Colonial Beach, Virginia. The accompanying photo of Miss Ann was taken in 2010.
Photo Credit: nwclassicyacht (https://www.flickr.com/people/12559296@N03) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
For more information on the vessel now known as Miss Ann, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Aquamarine
Transportation History 
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